Mariano Agustín Messad

Mariano Agustín Messad is a dancer, choreographer, and educator with deep roots in Argentine and Latin American folk dances. His artistic career is characterized by a continuous exploration of dance as a cultural expression, a living memory, and a collective experience. As a university professor of dance at the University of Córdoba and a teacher of Argentine and Latin American folk dances at the Estudio Superior de Danzas “Nilda y Eduardo Ballerini,” he combines academic reflection with lived stage experience.
His training covers a wide range of traditional and popular dance forms in Latin America – from Argentine folklore, malambo, tango, and milonga to dances from Mexico, Peru, Chile, Colombia, and Brazil. Numerous workshops, seminars, and further training courses with renowned masters from various countries have deepened his technical precision and broadened his aesthetic perspective.
Messad has been active both on stage and in the educational field for over two decades. As principal dancer of the Ballet Folklórico Latinoamericano “Santiago del Estero,” he has embodied the diversity and power of regional traditions since 2002. At the same time, he works as a lecturer in dance academies, cultural institutions, and social contexts, where he understands dance as a space for encounter, identity formation, and intergenerational dialogue. His choreographic work has taken him to the National Folklore Festival of Cosquín on several occasions, where he has worked as an assistant and deputy choreographer for the official delegations of the province of Santiago del Estero. He can be seen as a dancer in the Düsseldorf/Duisburg production of “María de Buenos Aires.”