About
Nuria
Legarda
Nuria Legarda is a theatre-maker, choreographer, researcher and teacher of performing arts.
She was awarded Best Show by the Premis Projectes d’Escenificació de l’Institut del Teatre de Barcelona for her first piece La Cena (2008), which was also nominated for Best Show at the Butaca de Teatre de Catalunya Awards.
Her work has been produced and performed at a number of prestigious venues across Europe and the United States including Black Tie at the Copenhagen Stage Festival (DK); Claim Your Place I+P at the Festival TNT Catalonia (ES), Festival Cos Catalonia (ES), Festival BAD (ES), Topia Arts Center (USA), Centro Español in New York (USA); La Cena at the Festival Temporada Alta Catalonia (ES), Sala Beckett Barcelona (ES) and Écumes at the Festival NEO Barcelona (ES), Espace Périphérique – La Villette Paris (FR), CDN Reims (FR), O Espaço do Tempo in Montemor-O-Novo (PT) among others.
Her practice emerges at the intersection between theatre and dance in dialogue with the visual arts. Through a dramaturgy of the body and the image, her work explores human behaviour and invites us to consider society as an extension of individual inner processes.
She approaches theatre devisal from a unique perspective, which is interested in the superposition of scenic layers, striving for an expansion in the potential meaning born by human & non-human elements; a relational dramaturgy, the sum of which amplifies experiential impact to a level greater than each component could elicit individually. Transdisciplinary also defines the design of her artistic teams, which are diverse in artistic skillsets and cultural backgrounds.
Her career in the performing arts combines production and research. She also collaborates as a choreographer and as a creative advisor in devising processes. She undertakes academic study of avant-garde contemporary devising methods, organising periods of subsidised research, as well as involving herself in the devising processes of other artists such as Gabriela Carrizo and Franck Chartier, directors of the Belgian company Peeping Tom; funded by an SGAE scholarship (2018-2019).
All of which has led her to develop a unique methodology rooted in physical intuition, respect and care in the workspace, and the reciprocal relationship between process and creation.
Artistic career
As a choreographer and movement director, she has worked with leading figures in the contemporary scene, as Michael De Cock in L’aquimista, Teatro Nacional de Catalunya; José Troncoso in Las Asamableístas, Mérida International Classical Theatre Festival; Carme Portaceli in Frankenstein, Teatre Nacional de Catalunya; Roberto Romei in Lehman Trilogy, La Villaroel y Grec Festival; and Julio Manrique in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, Teatre Lliure, amongst others.
As an artistic collaborator, she has contributed to the work of artists such as Paulo Duarte company la Mecanika en Andere in CDN de Strasbourg, Scène National Montbéliard, Printemps de Comédiens, Montpellier; Elinor Lewis at Orchard, at The Place’s Resolution, Livevibe dance and Choreodrome 2018 and at Aerowaves 2019; with Rubén Molina in Mátame, at the Théâtre du Gymnase, Paris; Mary Galloway in Magdalene at Arcola Theatre, Battersea Arts, London; La Zampa CDC, Toulouse; among others.
As a performer she has participated in productions directed by Franco di Francescantonio, Joan Baixas, Javier Mariscal, Joseph Nadj, Tomeo Verges among others; at Rendez-vous avec l’Espagne MiRA Festival! at the Développement Chorégraphique Center, Toulouse with choreographers Tomas Aragay, Olga Mesa, Cesc Gelabert, Sam Louwick, and Heddy Maalem; She was also a member of the companies Senza Tempo (contemporary dance) and Comediants (visual theatre).
With an extensive career as a teacher in the performing arts, she is a faculty member at the Institut del Teatre de Barcelona and has been invited to teach and direct projects at European schools such as the Guildhall School of Music & Drama (UK), Rose Bruford College (UK), Prima del Teatro and the Fondazione Teatro di Pisa (IT), as well as at the Copenhagen International School of Performing Arts (DK). Her courses and workshops focus on new forms of dramaturgy, contemporary creation methodologies, and practical tools for acting, performance and movement, approached both from directing and performing perspectives. She understands teaching as a space for creative research, and considers it an honour to contribute to the training of future generations of artists.
Theatres, residences and institutions
CAT
National Theatre of Catalonia
Barcelona Grec Festival
Temporada Alta Festival
Teatre Lliure
La Perla 29
Sala Beckett
Terrassa Noves Tendencies Festival, (TNT)
Festival Internacional de Teatre Visual i Titelles
Festival Noves Escenas Obertes, (NEO)
Cos Festival, Reus
L’animal a l’esquena, Celrà
French Institute Barcelona
Hangar
La Brutal
Eteri productions
Graner Creation Factories
Estruch Creation Factories
Can Massó Art Center, Reus
Institut del Teatre de Barcelona
Eòlia Escola Superior d’Art Dramàtic
Catalan Institute of Cultural Industries, Generalitat of Catalunya
Ramon Llull Institute
ICIC Indústries Culturals Catalanes
FR
Montbéliard National Scene
TJP National Dramatic Center Strasbourg
Aerowaves Spring Forward 2019
Gymnase Theatre, Paris
Théâtre des 13 vents National Dramatic Center Montpellier
Festival Les Nuits Euphoriques, Tournefeuille
National Dramatic Comedy Center of Reims
Peripheral space - La Villette Paris
MIRA Festival!
Mecanika I Paulo Duarte Co, Montpellier
Rubén Molina Co, Paris
La Zampa Co, Toulouse
Pseudonym Co, Reims
Paris Flamenco Institute
Croisées scenes from Lozère, Mende
City of Tournefeuille
City of montpellier
ORCCA Reims
2024 – CREA Grant. Research period for Todo Por Ti. Barcelona City Council.
2024 – Performing Arts Thinking, New Creative Sectors and Thought Scholarship. Research period for Todo Por Ti. Government of Catalonia
2018 – 2019 – SGAE Fellowship. International Development Practical & Research with the company Peeping Tom, with Gabriela Carrizo and Franck Chartier, Brussels (BE). General Society of Authors of Spain.
2016 – 2018 – Advanced Scholarship in Performing Arts Thinking, New Creative Sectors and Thought. Full scholarship for MA Performance Making studies, Goldsmiths University of London. Government of Catalonia.
2014 – Performing Arts Thinking, New Creative Sectors and Thought Scholarship. Research period for World of Wolves. Government of Catalonia.
2010 – Performing Arts Thinking, New Creative Sectors and Thought Scholarship. Research period for Claim Your Place I+E. Government of Catalonia.
2009 – La Cena. Nominated for Best Production, Butaca Theatre and Cinema Awards of Catalonia.
2008 – La Cena. Winner of Staging Projects Award, Institut del Teatre de Barcelona.
2001 – Arts Stage International Scholarship for Young Actors. With François Roy. Fira de Tàrrega and Avignon OFF Festival, France.
2001–2002 – Advanced Fellowship in Performing Arts. Professional training placement at Théâtre du Mouvement with Yves Marc and Claire Heggen, Paris (FR). Government of Catalonia.
1997–2000 – Artistic Studies Extension Scholarship. Full scholarship for Drama studies at the Institut del Teatre de Barcelona. Government of Navarre.
2018–2019 – International Practice & Research. Developing Your Creative Practice, DYCP. From a physical approach, with Gabriela Carrizo and Franck Chartier of Peeping Tom, Brussels. In collaboration with Teatre Nacional de Catalunya and Royal Flemish Theatre, Brussels.
2018 – Sport. Theoretical-practical theatre research project by Nuria Legarda. Goldsmiths, University of London.
2017 – Research laboratory. Conception and direction by Nuria Legarda, Grec Festival, at Graner Creation Centre for Dance and Performing Arts, Barcelona.
2014 – World of Wolves. Research and conception project. Government of Catalonia.
2012 – Theatre research workshop. Direction by Andrés Lima, guest choreographer. Matadero Madrid.
2010–2012 – Euroregion cultural project. Co-direction by La Zampa and Nuria Legarda, Moebius Collective. With the support of Euroregion Pyrenees Mediterranean, Toulouse CDC, Nuits Euphoriques Tournefeuille Festival, L’Estruch de Sabadell, La Caldera Barcelona, Théâtre des 13 Vents CDN Languedoc-Roussillon Montpellier, ADDA Scènes Croisées Mende.
2010 – Claim Your Place. Research and conception project. Government of Catalonia.
2007 – Research laboratory. Direction by La Zampa at Micadanse, Paris, guest performer.
Originally from Pamplona, Nuria Legarda developed her artistic and academic training in Barcelona and London, while also engaging professionally with contemporary theatre, dance, and performance companies in Paris and Brussels
She began her studies in music and cello at the Pablo Sarasate Conservatory, alongside classical and contemporary dance at the Navarre School of Dance, where — under the guidance of José Laínez, a pioneer of contemporary dance in Spain and former dancer with the Het National Ballet (Netherlands) — she gained her first experiences at the forefront of dance-theatre, creation, and improvisation.
These formative years were decisive in the construction of the technical and artistic foundations of Nuria Legarda, as well as in shaping the values forged during that time which continue to define her artistic identity: commitment and curiosity, which define her as an artist; the pleasure of exploring with rigour, and visual composition as a form of narration.
She graduated with distinction in Music Education from the University of La Rioja, and later received an Excellence Scholarship from the Government of Navarre to pursue a Degree in Drama at the Institut del Teatre de Barcelona, which she completed with her final piece: Allá voy!, awarded with distinction for its compositional originality and interpretative strength.
With fifteen years of experience as a performer, theatre-maker, choreographer, and teacher — enriched by her study of disciplines such as the Alexander Technique, Anatomy for Movement, Yoga, and Traditional Chinese Medicine — she was awarded a full scholarship from the Government of Catalonia to undertake the MA in Performance Making at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Her final piece, Sport — conceived, directed, and performed by her — was awarded distinction and described by interdisciplinary artist Graeme Miller as “a sublime articulation of her movement skills and her highly individual sense of scenography.”
Two artistic periods decisively shaped her approach to physical and visual theatre: her professional training with Théâtre du Mouvement in Paris (2001–2002), directed by Claire Heggen and Yves Marc; and her research with Gabriela Carrizo and Franck Chartier of Peeping Tom in Brussels (2018–2019).
These experiences inspired the methodology that grounds Nuria Legarda’s artistic practice and research. A methodology that legitimises the body as a source, vehicle of creation, and embodied memory.
«Nuria Legarda has the necessary knowledge, talent, intelligence and courage as a director and performer, to crystallise the qualities of emotion, truth and beauty in her theatre.»
«Nuria Legarda stages ideas, images, compositions, and concepts using any discipline necessary to create a conceptual and visceral world. She establishes a strong complicity with the audience, and guarantees a captivating experience.»
«She is considered one of the most unrelentingly driven artists, and consequently, one of the most unclassifiable in the Catalan panorama.»
«Nuria’s work is bold, authentic and distinctive. Back of the brain, and mesmerising.»
Press
About Nuria Legarda
About productions
ON ‘DARK BEAUTY’
Dark Beauty is a great example of how the artist uses photography to fix the system of symbols of any work. The spaces in which the action takes place constantly refer to abandoned aged places, architectures destroyed or half done, absolutely devastated spaces where the only thing that still persists is the protagonist’s body (also abandoned and mistreated). The protagonist is an anonymous woman, an individual who personifies the idea of the search for female perfection, while only knowing how to exist from a relationship of domination, of absolute subjugation and total abandon
– by Greta I. Galeana
ON ‘CLAIM YOUR PLACE I+P’
«A small format show that talks about the wars of the 20th century and that owes much of its strength to the audiovisual that is projected as well as to the conception of the space in which it is developed.»
– by EL PUNT AVUI
«Nuria Legarda premieres a piece on the violence of war at BAD in Bilbao.»
– by ELCORREO.COM
«The monster we carry inside.»
– by ELCORREO.TV
A creative bomb of dance and theatre
«A video and performance installation that reflects on the vacuum that follows violence. It is Claim your place, by Nuria Legarda (Masia Freixa. 18.00 to 21.00).»
– by EL PERIÓDICO
«Legarda’s affected image is confused with the pain transmitted by the images. A strength that contrasts with the devastation. A committed and straight forward piece.»
– by Jordi Rico, actor
«Nuria Legarda offers the viewer the opportunity to pass through a space open to meditation. The labyrinth, the installation, becomes a place of human searching (with the theme of 20th century wars as a reference) but which she does paradoxically from a visual work based on textures, colour, light, and video screening, not at all aggressive but based on an invitation to the placid observation of someone walking through a forest, surrounded by sounds and sensations that we would find in nature. Later, the intervention of Legarda’s performance is completely honest and appeals to the feeling of anger and impotence through the fragility and strength of the performer’s naked body. The repetitive and obsessive movement of the dancer-actress, her frenzied soldier-army march, is a good exercise in conciseness through gesture. An image that remains on the retina: the woman wrapped in the material we previously walked through, broken, with her head vanished, the beauty of the body contrasted with the military boots, in the middle of the degraded environment. An intense work, at once delicate and daring.»
– by Ricard Gázquez, playwright and stage director, Barcelona
ON ‘LA CENA’
Dinner at La Beckett
«The actress and dancer stars in La cena, a piece about a dinner among friends full of bitterness and frustration.»– by EL METRO
Last dinner
«The table is laid. Five friends get back together, after three years, for dinner. They talk about trivia, but deep down…»
– by TIME OFF
La cena
«“The Sala Beckett premieres La cena, a multidisciplinary piece with dramaturgy by Carles Mallol and Nuria Legarda…»
– by LA VANGUARDIA
«…that a relatively young actress like Nuria Legarda does not limit herself to more or less comfortable forms of performance and has the passion for research and experimentation in contemporary theatre with a cross-over view. This is why it is so praiseworthy that La cena is a sensitive, intelligent, visually delicious and technically impeccable piece…»
– by DIARI DE GIRONA, Jordi Sala, 26-10-08
«…the research consists of the combination of different narrative languages (dramatic text, dance, minimalist movement, pre-recorded image), fruit of the conviction that any story has to seek out and find its own means of expression, and that they become clear as the narration advances. A brilliant concept endorsed by the technical expertise of the performers…»
– by DIARI DE GIRONA, Jordi Sala, 26-10-08
«Laying or clearing the table prompts a studied choreography of oriental inspiration, while the visual aspect is resolved as an installation where the arrangement of the subjects in innovative chromatic and spatial associations gives the show a dimension full of humour and freshness (…) There is a constant stylization of violence and a stylization of perversity… the text is full of silences and vacuums of information and places us at the same level as the audiovisual image… and as the pictorial composition obtained with light and objects…»
– by EL PUNT AVUI, Francesc Massip, 20-11-08
«…La cena is an exquisite combination of theatre and dance. The sharpness of the dance and the strength of the dramaturgy create a setting full of tension that seems to challenge the audience who are incapable of being indifferent to it. I’m amazed by the capacity of the director, Nuria Legarda, to shed light on the fragile feelings of the characters through movement and dance (something extremely subjective) and that the audience can grasp at all times the essence of this Dinner (or anti dinner, as Legarda herself would say). The work is an internalisation of each one of the characters, which implies subjugation to their incoherencies, their irrationalities, their fears… But do not be afraid, because it is impossible to get lost in this show.»
– by El Blog de las Odiseas, Manel Haro, 17-11-08
«… Pieces like this make everyone feel a genuine passion for theatre and dance. God bless the whole team that has worked on La cena.»
– by El Blog de las Odiseas, Manel Haro, 17-11-08
SOBRE ‘ÉCUMES’
«… Écumes, by Paulo Duarte and Nuria Legarda, is a captivating work. Simply magnetic, enchanting.»
– por Francesc Massip
Published in OMNI Magazine
Press kit
Web design: Ariadna Cabré and Nuria Legarda
Photographies: Felipe Mena
Remaining photos: Pep Dauré, Michael O’Relly, Joanna Walton, India Gillett, Ludovic Descognets, Tom Elkins, Paulo Duarte, Isabelle Duverger, Yann Marquis, Loran Chourrau.