Biography
Melania Olcina Yuguero (Barcelona, Spain, 1982) is a choreographer, performer, video artist, artistic director, and researcher. In 2023, she was awarded the Spanish National Dance Award in the category of Performance, a distinction that recognised her outstanding contribution to contemporary dance and consolidated a career devoted to artistic creation and the exploration of the body as a space of perception, memory, and transformation.
Her transdisciplinary practice brings together dance, moving image, writing, and artistic research, developing projects that investigate new forms of scenic and audiovisual experience.
National Dance Award & Education
Melania Olcina is a member of the Spanish Academy of Performing Arts. She holds an MA in Contemporary Performance Thinking and Creation from the Higher School of Dramatic Arts of Castile and León (2021), a BA in Art History from the Complutense University of Madrid (2009), and a Diploma in Contemporary Dance from the Mariemma Professional Dance Conservatory in Madrid (2008).
She is currently pursuing a PhD in Humanities, Arts and Education at the University of Castilla–La Mancha, where her research explores the relationships between performance-making, artistic practice, and audiovisual creation through the framework of Practice as Research (PaR).
Performance Career
As a performer, Melania Olcina has collaborated with many of the leading figures in Spanish contemporary dance. During her training, she worked with Pedro Berdayes, José Reches, Jesús Rubio Gamo, and Teresa Nieto, participating in choreographic productions that marked the beginning of her professional career. She also performed with the Carmen Roche Ballet and the Teatro Real in Madrid, taking part in productions directed by Els Comediants and Krzysztof Warlikowski.
In 2010, she began her collaboration with choreographer Antonio Ruz, performing in works including Recreo 01, Ignoto, Ojo, Libera Me, Beautiful Beach, Double Bach, Presente, Aún, La Noche de San Juan, the music video A la Deriva by Vetusta Morla, and the zarzuela production El Barberillo de Lavapiés at Madrid's Teatro de la Zarzuela.
Since 2013, she has been a member of the Sharon Fridman Company, performing in productions including Caída Libre, Free Fall, Hasta Dónde, All Ways, Arte Sella, Tú y las Formas, Barro, A Piedi Nudi, Dose of Paradise, Exprime-me, Europa, La Quinta Dorada, and La Quinta en Flor. Many of these productions have received MAX Awards and other prestigious national and international distinctions.
Artistic Creation
Alongside her career as a performer, Melania Olcina has developed an independent artistic practice centred on the investigation of the body, perception, and the poetic experience of movement. Her projects combine choreography, performance, and audiovisual creation, forming a distinctive artistic language that explores the relationship between presence, image, and thought.
Her major stage works include Solo Orgánicos (2008), I Have the Ambition of an Ant (2015), The Silent Declamation (finalist for the 27th MAX Awards), HALO (2024), TACTUS (2025), and HÁBITA (2026).
Video Art
Melania Olcina's work as a video artist extends her choreographic research into the moving image. Her films have been presented and recognised at international video dance and experimental film festivals.
Woman on Background received an Honourable Mention at the International Videomovimiento Festival (Colombia), while GALMATOPEIA was awarded the International Grand Prize at the festival's ninth edition.
Her most recent audiovisual works include HOMO (2019), NÍOBE (2021), and ICARE (2024), in which moving image becomes an extension of her artistic research into embodiment and sensory experience.
Choreographic Collaboration
As a choreographic assistant and movement collaborator, Melania Olcina has contributed to large-scale productions and international projects. These include the IX South American Games, directed by Franco Dragone, as well as numerous creative processes alongside Sharon Fridman for institutions and companies including the Spanish National Dance Company, Ballet Nacional del Paraguay, Kukai Dantza, Theater Bielefeld, Nova Galega Danza, Eduardo Guerrero & Seda, and several higher dance conservatories.
Teaching & Research
Alongside her artistic career, Melania Olcina teaches workshops, laboratories, and professional training programmes at universities, conservatories, festivals, and specialised institutions in Spain and Italy. Her pedagogical practice focuses on improvisation, contemporary creation, somatic research, and the relationship between body, movement, and image.
She is currently undertaking doctoral research in Practice as Research (PaR), investigating methodologies that integrate performance, audiovisual creation, and artistic thinking.