Urtzi Aranburu

Urtzi Aranburu Adrada was born in San Sebastián, Spain. He began his ballet training at the age of nine with Mentxu Medel at the Thalía Ballet School in San Sebastián. At 15, he was awarded scholarships that allowed him to continue his studies with Luis Fuente at his ballet school in Madrid, where he graduated from the Royal High School of Drama and Dance.

In 1991, he joined Nederlands Dans Theater II under the direction of Gerald Tibbs, where he danced for two seasons. In 1993, Jiří Kylián invited him to join the main company, Nederlands Dans Theater I, where he performed for a further fourteen seasons and toured internationally.

Urtzi worked closely with Jiří Kylián and also performed works by renowned choreographers such as William Forsythe, Ohad Naharin, Johan Inger, Hans van Manen, Mats Ek and many others.

From 2009 to 2013, he returned to Nederlands Dans Theater as assistant to artistic director Gerald Tibbs and as ballet master. Since 2013, Urtzi has worked as a choreographic assistant to Jiří Kylián, staging his works for numerous dance companies around the world, including Lyon Opera Ballet, Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, Norwegian National Ballet, Compañía Nacional de Danza (Spain), Paris Opera Ballet, Washington Ballet, Denver Ballet, Zurich Ballet, Boston Ballet, and Staatsballett Berlin.