Carlos Martinez

CARLOS MARTINEZ is originally from Guadalajara, Mexico. At the age of 10, he began his dance studies at Escuela de Artes with Javier Zavala, Michelle Monreal, Diana Garcia, and Nazira Yakuboba. At the age of 13, he was awarded a scholarship at the National Ballet Competition of Mexico to attend Idyllwild Arts in Idyllwild, California, where he trained with Patrick Frantz, Jonathan Sharp, Ellen Rosa-Taylor, Hai Cohen, Stephanie Gilliland, and Lauren Smith. There he also had the pleasure of working with choreographers Alexandre Munz and John Pennington, and companies including BodyTraffic, California Dance Theater, and Inland Pacific Ballet. Upon graduation, he was offered a full scholarship to attend George Mason University, where he trained with Susan Shields, Roger Jeffrey, Christopher d’Amboise, Ethan Brown, and others. While there he had the opportunity to work with Alexander Hille and Pier Loup in Andonis Foniadakis’ Kosmos; Jean Emile in Nacho Duato’s Na Floresta; Fiona Jopp in Rafael Bonachela’s Variation 10; Susan Shields in Sun Lit Song; Mora-Amina Parker in Camille A. Brown’s City of Rain; and Alejandro Cerrudo’s Silent Ghost. In 2022, Carlos graduated magna cum laude with a BFA in Dance and a minor in Arts Management. This is Carlos’ third season with First State Ballet Theatre, where highlights include Viktor Plotnikov’s Dracula, The Nutcracker, Don Quixote, Bluebird Pas de Deux in The Sleeping Beauty, and Zachary Kapeluck’s The Breath Between. Carlos had the opportunity to set his choreography on the company for last season’s Up Front on Market and looks forward to creating new works this season at FSBT.