Joaquin Abella studied choreography and contemporary dance at the Conservatorio Superior de Danza ‘María de Ávila’ in Madrid and at the Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático in Valladolid.
As a stage actor he has worked with directors including Robert Carsen, Marta Pazos, David Alden, Krzysztof Warlikowski and Andrés Lima. Since 2014 he has regularly appeared in Christoph Marthaler’s productions, most recently as Movement Leader (Giuditta) at the Bavarian State Opera. In 2019 he began a collaboration with the much-acclaimed Spanish author María Velasco. He has also appeared in numerous productions at the Teatro Real in Madrid, including La traviata in 2005.
In 2016 he appeared in Otello with the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra and as an actor and choreographer in Marthaler’s production of Die Wehleider at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg. In 2021 he performed the role of Cassio in an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello at the Teatro de La Abadía in Madrid.
The other productions in which Joaquin Abella has taken part include the dance project Una Exposición Coreografiada at the Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo in Madrid and Marthaler’s Universe, Incomplete at the 2018 Ruhrtriennale. At the Autumn Festival in Madrid in 2020 he appeared as an actor and choreographer in María Velasco’s stage play Talaré a los hombres de sobre la faz de la tierra. He was an assistant director on Velasco’s La espuma de los días at Madrid’s Teatro Español.
In 2013 Joaquin Abella won five prizes in the choreography competition of the dance platform Pasoa2 in Madrid for his piece Scontro.
