Iratxe Ansa is originally from San Sebastian, Spain where she attended the Conservatorio Superior de Musica before graduating from the John Cranko Schule Stuttgart, Germany. She danced with Basel Ballet and Ballet Gulbelkian before acting as muse to Nacho Duato in the Compañia Nacional de Danza Madrid, Spain, having many roles and pieces originally set on her. Iratxe danced with Lyon Opera Ballet before becoming a member of Nederlands Dance Theatre under Director Anders Hellstrom. She has worked with choreographers such as Nacho Duato, William Forsythe, Jiri Kylian, Mats Ek, Jacopo Godani, Johan Inger, Medhi Walerski, Crystal Pite, Ohad Naharin, Wayne McGregor, Alexander Ekman, to name a few.
Iratxe’s flare for choreography started while dancing with Nacho Duato and the CND, winning prizes and mentions in choreographic competitions such as the International Solo Tanz Theater Festival, Certamen Coreografico de Madrid and was awarded for her artistic trajectory by the Association of Dance Professionals (Spain) in 2007. She has created and set original choreography on companies, such as Lyon Opera Ballet and as a freelance artist has choreographed, danced and given workshops in different projects and countries around the globe. Her most recent choreographic works include The R corner (2013)(Kunst-stoff, San Francisco, USA), Identities (2013) and The other body (2014) (Alonzo King’s Lines Ballet training program, San Francisco, USA), Kokkala (2013)(Northern California Dance Conservatory, California, USA), The missing body and I’ve seen similar stones (2014)(Arts Umbrella, Vancouver, Canada). She has taught workshops in high demand across the world in such locations as Cave (New York), Jove Ballet de Catalunya (Barcelona, Spain), Dantzaz and Nudans (San Sebastian, Spain), Arts Umbrella (Vancouver, Canada), ODC (San Francisco, California), Northern California Dance Conservatory (California), Alonzo King’s Lines Ballet training program (San Francisco, California) and Sydney Dance Youth Company (Sydney, Australia).