Biography

Gonzalo Preciado-Azanza (Zaragoza, 1994). Research Fellow of the Department of Art History at the Universidad de Zaragoza (Spain). He has been a member of the Latvian National Ballet between 2015 and 2022, making history by being the first Spanish dancer to be part of this institution. He graduated in Dance  from Middlesex University (London) in 2018 with First Class Honours, he holds a Master’s Degree in Cultural Management at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya-Universitat de Girona and a Master’s Degree in Advanced Studies in Art History at the Universidad de Zaragoza with Extraordinary Prize and awarded for his Dissertation. He trained artistically at Conservatorio Municipal Profesional de Danza, the Estudio de Danza de María de Ávila and in 2014, finished his studies at the prestigious English National Ballet School, after receiving the Dance and Drama Award from the Government of the United Kingdom and the Beca de Ampliación de Estudios Artísticos by the Diputación de Zaragoza. His repertoire as a dancer includes more than 25 Solo roles, as well as dancing all the classical ballets as well works by Boris Eiffman, Krzystof Pastor, Edward Clug,  Leo Mujic, Attila Egerhazi, Julio Arozarena o Paul Chalmer. Previously, he participated in productions with other companies such as Ballet de Zaragoza, LaMov Cia de Danza or English National Ballet. He has performed more than 500 times in Germany, Italy, Spain, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania or the United Kingdom. His repertoire as a choreographer includes more than 10 creations, including So far, yet so close (2017) and The Essence of Time (2018), both commissioned by the Spanish Embassy in Latvia. At the same time, he has developed his own Solo Tours, including Phoenix Tour 2018 and he has also co-organized the Photo Exhibition De Zaragoza al Mundo. He is an associate artist at the DancingStrong Movement Lab within the research area SPACE+DIGITAL+DANCE. His results have been presented in international journals and congresses in United States, United Kingdom, Italy, Greece, Latvia or Spain. He is also a regular contributor of the magazine Danza en Escena in Spain, as well as being a critic and writer of Dance Europe. He is a member of Dance Studies Association, the Asociación D+I: Danza más Investigación, the Academia de las artes del folclore y la jota de Aragón, the UNESCO International Dance Council and he was included in the Latvian Encyclopedia of Dance and Ballet.