Africa Guzman, was born in Madrid where she began her ballet studies with her mother
at the Africa Guzman Ballet School. She obteins the degrees of the Royal Academy of
Dance of London and the Real Conservatorio Profesional de Danza of Madrid, both
with Honors.
Africa furthered her education with a Superior negree in Dance. Speciality:
Coreography and Dance Interpretation Techniques.
Principal dancer of the National Dance Company of Spain and the Netherland Dance
Theater, and with a career of more than 20 years on stage, Africa began under the
direction of Maya Plisetskaya dancing leading roles of the classical repertoire and later
with Nacho Duato, being one of his muses, will be a fundamental dancer in both the
creative and performance processes.
Africa has also worked with numerous choreographers and has in her repertoire a wide
variety of works by Jiri Kylian, William Forsythe, Mats Ek, Ohad Naharin, Paul
Lightfoot and Sol León, Jorma Elo, Johan Inger, and many more.
Her first choreography was for the Choreographic Workshop of the National Dance
Company of Spain in 2000, since then she has a large number of ballets having
premiered at the Joyce Theater in New York and at the National Choreographic Festival
in Salt Lake City with Ballet West with her choreography Sweet and Bitter and at the
Symphony Space in New York with her choreographies Fire of Passion, Calm Tide and
Baroque among others.
Africa Guzman creates in 2020 her own dance company, Africa Guzman Dance Project
where she continues to perform her choreographic works.
International teacher, Africa Guzman has been invited with the National Ballet of
Uruguay, SODRE by Julio Bocca, The Netherland Dance Theater, in The Hague, the
School of Oregon Ballet Theater, in Portland, The Academy of Performing Arts in
Prague, the Joffrey Ballet School in New York, with the New York Dance Project in
Sidnay, Australia and the Area Jeune Ballet in Geneva.
Guzman is Nacho Duato’s assistant repetiteur. Setting his ballets she is invited to work
at the Bolshoi Academy in Moscow, Ballet Nacional del Uruguay, Oklahoma City
Ballet, National Ballet of Finland in Helsinki, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago,
Mikhailovsky Theater in St. Petersburg, Stanislavsky Ballet Theater in Moscow,
Africa Guzman continues today to transmit her experience to new generations of
dancers as Artistic Director of the Africa Guzman Ballet School and Teacher and
Choreographer of the Classical Dance Workshop of the Carmen Amaya Professional
Dance Conservatory in Madrid.