ANDREA PEÑA, choreographer & artist (born in Bogotá, Colombia; based between Paris, France and Montreal, Canada) is a choreographer, cultural thinker, and artist whose bold conceptions create new forms of storytelling. She is the Director of Andrea Peña & Artists (AP&A), a Montreal-based dance company founded in 2014.
Peña brings a distinctive blend of experience to her work— merging a master’s degree in industrial design into choreographic practice. She draws from Colombian ancestral memory to construct alternative universes in which the body operates as a site of hybridity and empowerment.
AP&A brings together artists from diverse creative backgrounds to orchestrate immersive choreographic worlds that unfold within constructed, staged environments.
The company has toured across continents, from Europe to South America and Asia. Peña is the recipient of the 2024 Ballet BC Choreographer and the New Choreographies Award at La Biennale di Venezia - Danza in 2023.
Most recently winner of the 2026 CHANEL Next Prize, recognizing her contribution to redefining her discipline.
Collaborations | Partners
BalletBC
La Biennale di Venezia
TanzKassel
National Arts Center of Canada
Sadlers Wells
CHANEL
Milano Oltre
Rombaut
DanseDanse
Agora de la Danse
Dance Umbrella
Musee des Beaux Arts de Montreal
Phi Center
Mattress Factory Museum
Muse d’Art Contemporaine de Montreal
Awards
CHANEL Next Prize | 2026
La Biennale di Venezia International Co-production | 2023
BalletBC Choreography Award | 2024
Canada Council for the Arts Core Funding | 2026-2030
Banff Arts Center Clifford E Lee Choreography Award | 2019
Hong Kong International Festival Award | 2028
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Andrea Peña is a Colombian-Canadian choreographer, designer, and cultural thinker whose work explores the body as both material and agent within complex performative systems. Based between Montréal and Europe, Peña is the founder and artistic director of Andrea Peña & Artists (AP&A), an interdisciplinary contemporary dance company recognized for creating immersive choreographic environments that merge movement, scenography, sound, and material research.
Through her company Andrea Peña & Artists, Peña has developed a body of work that includes creations such as REPLICA, BOGOTÁ, UAQUE, and 6.58: MANIFESTO. These works investigate hybridity between the organic and the constructed, often placing performers within sculptural or architectural systems that challenge conventional ideas of embodiment and collective agency. Her choreographic practice draws from her background in industrial design and engages questions surrounding the body, technology, and the politics of space.
Andrea Peña’s work has been presented internationally across Europe and the Americas and has been supported by major cultural institutions and festivals. She has collaborated with presenters and partners including international dance platforms, research centers, and interdisciplinary art institutions committed to experimental performance.
In 2026, Andrea Peña was named a laureate of the CHANEL Next Prize, recognizing her contribution to contemporary artistic innovation. Her work has also been connected to the international contemporary dance landscape through collaborations and presentations linked to leading curatorial platforms such as the Venice Biennale Danza.
Across her creations, Andrea Peña continues to develop a distinctive choreographic language that situates the body at the intersection of design, ritual, and technological imagination, positioning her practice as part of a new generation of artists shaping the future of contemporary performance.
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Andrea Peña’s artistic practice unfolds at the intersection of choreography, design, and material research. Drawing from her background in industrial design, Peña approaches the body not only as a performer but as a material in constant negotiation with space, architecture, and sound. Her works construct immersive environments where movement emerges from systems of tension, friction, and collective physical intelligence.
Central to Peña’s work is an inquiry into hybridity. Her choreographic language explores the porous boundaries between the organic and the constructed, the individual and the collective, and the fragile and the resilient. Within these environments, performers navigate sculptural or architectural conditions that generate states of vulnerability, resistance, and transformation.
Peña’s practice is informed by her Colombian heritage and engages broader questions surrounding decolonial imaginaries, queer embodiment, and the politics of the body in contemporary society. Rather than presenting fixed narratives, her works function as evolving systems where the audience encounters bodies in states of becoming—unstable, imperfect, and profoundly human.
Through the work of Andrea Peña & Artists (AP&A), Peña continues to develop interdisciplinary creations that merge choreography, scenography, and sonic environments, positioning the body as a site where cultural memory, technological imagination, and collective experience intersect.
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Works by Andrea Peña and Andrea Peña & Artists (AP&A) have been presented internationally across Europe and the Americas through collaborations with leading contemporary dance institutions, festivals, and interdisciplinary platforms.
Peña’s choreographic works have been presented or developed with partners including Danse Danse, Agora de la Danse, Push Festival and Usine C in Canada, Carreau du Temple in Paris, La Biennale du Venezia, MilanOltre Festival in Milan, Tanz Bremen in Germany, Rum för Dans in Sweden, Dance Umbrella and Sadlers Wells East in London and through research and development residencies with institutions including TanzKassel in Germany.
Through these international collaborations and touring activities, Andrea Peña has established a distinctive presence within the global contemporary dance landscape. Her works continue to circulate through festivals, theatres, and interdisciplinary cultural institutions committed to experimental performance and choreographic innovation.
Selected venues and platforms include:
Sadler’s Wells (London)
La Biennale di Venezia (Italy)
TanzKassel (Germany)
MilanOltre Festival (Italy)
Dance Umbrella (London)
Carreau du Temple (Paris)
Agora de la Danse (Montréal)
Usine C (Montréal)
Tanz Bremen (Germany)
Rum för Dans (Sweden)
Push Festival (Canada)