José Antonio Menéndez Egües

Cuban dancer and choreographer. His artistic expressions on stage range from the cultured to the popular, as he is equipped with highly rigorous and professional artistic training. He is currently the artistic and general director of the School - Workshop and Company of major spectacles.

He has been hired by important artistic promotion agencies, record labels, entertainment industry societies in Europe and America, such as: Latin Word, Bis-MUSIC, the Unicornio label (Producciones Abdala), EGREM (Cuba), SFINGE, and ART-STUDI of Italy, among others.

His maternal grandmother was a music teacher and his mother a professional pianist who studied ballet and journalism and later earned her bachelor's degree and doctorate in Literature. His father was an engineer and university professor.

"I come from two likeable, natural, spontaneous beings. Artists. I remember that my mother would teach me poems and I would catch them on the fly. Since I was small I recited, sang, played musical instruments, until she took me to art schools. That's how I studied guitar, piano, ballet, singing, recitation, so many things..."[1]

When he was a ten-year-old boy, he used to appear with groups of youngsters on television programs. Then his parents were the ones who took him wherever he was needed. He participated, among others in Escenario escolar, Que siempre brille el sol, and many festivals (of theater, music and dance).

Professional Career

Then came the programs Para bailar, Joven joven, Buenas tardes, Juntos a las nueve, Para sentir amor. And in that last space he remained for years while leading a dance section called Temas inolvidables, for which he prepared various pieces with his Company. As time passed, other musicals came: Los domingos no están contados, Para que tú lo bailes.

During the five years he studied at ISA, he worked as a choreographer at the Karl Marx theater. That is where his Company took shape, which performed at national and international events.

He was able to have a space provided by the Asociación Hermanos Saíz (AHS). From there they moved through several places, until reaching what is today the Company's theater, located on Reina street between Rayo and Galiano, in Centro Habana, where the school and orchestra are also located.

He has represented Cuba, the Caribbean and Latin America at prestigious international festivals and events and has carried out extensive and successful artistic tours, as well as fulfilled important agreements and contracts with television networks and recognized agencies, companies and institutions of the entertainment and performing arts industry in different parts of the world. He has visited and performed in the capitals and most important cities of:

France, Italy, Russia, Spain and the Canary Islands, United Kingdom, Principality of Monaco, United States, Switzerland, Finland, Ireland, Denmark, Canada, Bulgaria, Hungary, Austria, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Japan, Brazil, Panama, among others.

He has shared the stage in Cuba with the most prestigious popular music orchestras such as:

Los Van Van by Juan Formell, NG La Banda by José Luis Cortes (El Tosco), Paulo FG and his Orchestra, Dan - Den, Rumba Habana, Moncada, Mayohuacán, Bamboleo, Azúcar Negra, Baculeyé, Maracas, Baby Lorens, Edesio Alejandro and others.

He has shared the stage with Cuban artists such as: Omara Portuondo, Chucho Valdés, Rosita Fornés, Amaury Pérez, Elena Burke, Pablo Milanes and Silvio Rodríguez.

As well as, on the international stage with first-rate groups, orchestras and singers, such as:

Eros Ramazzotti, Phil Manzanera, Alfredo de la Fe, Hedí Palmieri, Jovanotti, Oscar de León, Grupo Roca Banda, Grupo La Zaranda, Grupo Yusyacani, Mimo Fialka, Roberto Gil, Grupo El Clan, Carmela de la Roca, Ana Maria de Ángelo, Remsso Philipetti, Eugenio Barba, Teatro Ridotto, and other personalities of Spectacle and Performing Arts of international level.

As an actor, he has played leading roles in various telenovelas in Cuba, children's series, dramatic and adventure productions, comedic serials, films, choruses and feature films, documentaries, theater works and performances.

He was hired as Professor of Dance and Acting by the University of Lyric Dance and Theater of Italy in Milano, and invited as First Dancer and Choreographer of the Contemporary Ballet and Dance Company of Italy.

As an Actor
Television
Furia Blanca
El Príncipe y el Mendigo
Que siempre brille el Sol
Escenario Escolar
Periodismo Infantil
Luisito viene a La Habana
Así era entonces
El Guajiro
En casa de Tía Chely
Conflictos
Nuestros Hijos
Convivencia

Theater
Cinema
Caravana
La Edad de Oro
La Vida de Charles Chaplin
El Héroe
FAR Visión
Nené y el Señor Don Pomposo
La Vida de un Mártir de la Revolución
La Escuela de Danza y Teatro de Nuevo Tipo
La Compañía de Ballet-Teatro
Puntos de Vista

Theater
Cecilia Valdés (Musical Theater)
Hamlet
Marucha (Spanish Zarzuela)
Romeo and Juliet
La Principesca de la Charda (Italian Opera)
Othello
Chin-Chin-La (Italian Operetta)
Richard III
Time Ball
MacBeth
La Ventana
Salvation Army
El Viaje del Barquito de Papel (Children's)
Life is a Dream
El Lagartijo Daltónico (Children's)

Distinctions and Awards
Grand Prize for best choreography of the millennium - Italy
Grand Special Prize at the European music and dance festival
Special Prize as foreign artist - Canary Islands
Lucas Awards
Prize for best show of the year in Moscow - Russia
Grand Prize of the International Latin Salsa Festival in Milan - Italy
Grand Prize at the International Latin Salsa and Pop Music Festival in Liverpool - United Kingdom
Special Prize for Choreography at the Cuban Disco Festival - EGREM, Cuba
Grand Prize at the International Fashion and Spectacle Festival Europe - 2000
Grand Prize for best staging at the International Percussion Festival "Percuba"
Grand Prize Berlin Bear - Germany
Grand Prize at the International Festival Flags for Peace - Bulgaria
Grand Prize at the Matha International Festival - France
Grand International Prize for Spectacle and Television - Milan-Italy 2011