Marielena Mencia      

 

 

Artistic Director, Choreographer, was born in Cuba and spent her childhood in Miami, receiving her early training at Ballet Concerto.  In 1976, Ms. Mencia joined the International Ballet of Caracas as a principal dancer. In 1980, she became a principal ballerina with the Bavarian National Ballet being extremely well received by the European public and widely acclaimed for her interpretations of Juliet in John Cranko's "Romeo and Juliet”, Lise in Sir Frederick Ashton's “La Fille Mal Gardee”, Marie in John Neumeier's "The Nutcracker", as well as "Eugene Onegin", "The Taming of the Shrew", "Giselle", "The Sleeping Beauty" and an extensive contemporary repertoire.  The Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet invited Ms. Mencia to dance the role of Katherina in Cranko's "The Taming of the Shrew" on tour throughout England where she won the hearts of audiences and critics alike.

 As a frequent partner of her husband, Yanis Pikieris, gold medal winner at the Moscow International Ballet Competition, Ms. Mencia appeared with various companies in Latin America, the United States and Europe.  She was a principal guest of the Australian Ballet dancing the role of Giselle on tour through Australia. Ms. Mencia has also performed with the Ballet Centrum Berlin "Gala of Stars" all over Europe, as a guest artist with the Deutsche Oper Berlin and as principal ballerina of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Dusseldorf,

In 1986 Ms. Mencia joined Miami City Ballet as a founding principal ballerina. With this company, she performed most of the roles in its extensive Balanchine repertoire.  She then joined the Ballet du Nord in France as principal ballerina and ballet mistress.

Returning to Miami, Ms. Mencia performed with Maximum Dance Company and founded along with her husband, the Mencia-Pikieris School of Dance. She now  serves as Artistic Director of the Miami Youth Ballet.