The international ballet star signed by Antonio Banderas: ‘I dance better now than I did when I was 20’
antonio banderas’ latest venture, the Soho CaixaBank Theatre dance festival, has brought Lucía Lacarra to Malaga. The festival runs in April and presents Les Saisons, Folia, Fordlandia and Lost Letters across venues including the Teatro Falla and the Soho Caixabank theatre on Calle Córdoba. The project aims to turn the city into the epicentre of Spanish dance; this story was filed Wednesday, 25 March 2026, 15: 02 ET (updated 15: 07 ET).
Antonio Banderas’ Soho CaixaBank Theatre festival program
The festival, described in festival materials as the latest venture of Antonio Banderas, will stage a concise program of international and company premieres in April. Scheduled events and venues include:
- 11-12 April — Les Saisons, Malandain Ballet Biarritz at the Soho Caixabank theatre
- 16-17 April — Folia by French company Käfig
- 18 April — Fordlandia, Lucía Lacarra Ballet
- 19 April — Lost Letters, Lucía Lacarra Ballet
- Also noted: a memory of a first professional show at the Teatro Falla in Cadiz when Lucía Lacarra was 15
Organizers frame the run as a concentrated effort to place Malaga at the centre of Spanish dance activity in April. Lucía Lacarra, signed by antonio banderas for this season, appears as director and a key performer in the program.
Lucía Lacarra: from small-town beginnings to festival director
Lucía Lacarra arrives in Malaga as director of the Soho CaixaBank Theatre dance festival and as a leading figure whose career the festival highlights. She was the first Spanish dancer invited to take part in the New Year’s Concert in Vienna and has been recognised as Dancer of the Decade at the Kremlin Palace. Her awards include the Nijinsky, the Benois de la Danse, the Max and the Premio Nacional, and she has held leading roles with companies in Marseille, San Francisco, Munich and Dortmund.
On the personal record she shared in advance comments, Lacarra recalled: “I was 15 years old and it was my first show as a professional. It’s one of those moments you never forget. I remember it with great affection. ” She also said, “I only aspired to be in the back row, to make a living out of this. I never imagined being first in line. But I think I would have been just as happy being last. I just wanted to live on the stage, that my job was to go to the theatre and dance. “
Reflecting on her vocation, Lacarra added: “For me dance has been a vocation, a way of life. I’ve never treated it as a job, even though I’ve devoted everything to it, body and soul. It has given me satisfaction I never expected. I didn’t think I would even get halfway to what I have achieved. ” Her remarks underline the personal arc the festival intends to showcase.
Program notes also reference a childhood memory that shaped her ambition: a jewellery-box ballerina that turned to the music of Swan Lake, and an early VHS of a performance that cemented her aim to be on stage.
What happens next: audiences in Malaga will see the festival’s run in mid-April with the dates and productions listed above; the festival’s intent to concentrate international dance offerings in the city will be measured by attendance and the reception of the staged works. For the moment, Lucía Lacarra’s direction and the curated lineup anchored by the initiative of Antonio Banderas set the immediate agenda for April, and the city will watch how the program reshapes its dance calendar as the shows proceed.
