Biography
Carmen Mar was born in Santander, Spain and began her early training in ballet and flamenco at the Escuela de Danza Belin Cabrillo. During her dance training, she achieved a BA in Teaching and MA in Psychology and Education through the University of Cantabria and Valladolid before moving to Leeds, where she obtained a BA (Hons) in contemporary dance at the Northern School of Contemporary dance and had her first experience with yoga which helped her to develop her strength and to prevent injuries.
Since graduating, Carmen Mar has performed internationally with Cirque du Soleil, Angie Hiels, Entrepasos, Balbir Singh, RJC, Neshima, Aalto Theater Essen, Allora & Calzadilla, Monica de la Fuente, Enriqueta Mo Danza and many other projects. She has also a keen interest in choreographic projects, mostly through collaboration with other artists and research. In 2011, she choreographed Samson &Delilah Opera at the Auditorium of Valladolid, Spain and recently created a site specific performance with the Canadian composer Julia Kent in Düsseldorf, Germany.
Her ecclectical professional career has led her to discover many forms of dance and movement such as Indian forms including Bharatanatyam and Kathak, African, Butoh, Ballroom, Street dance, martial arts and yoga. Since her first experience with classical Indian dance, in particular Bharatanatyam with Monica de la Fuente and Rama Vaidyanathan ,she felt very connected with the Indian culture and in 2011 went to India to fulfil one of her dreams: to live in an ashram to learn the ancient practice of yoga and explore a new way of life.
In 2011 Carmen Mar went to india to live in an Ashram to learn the ancient practise of yoga and explore a new way of life. She attained a yoga teacher training at the Sivananda Vedanta Dhanwantari Ashram, Kerala recognized by the Yoga Alliance. At the end of this intensive program, she was given the spiritual name of Induja which in Sanskrit means daughter of the moon and Narmada river, one of the seven holy rivers in India. In 2015, Carmen Mar attended the International Yoga Festival in Rishikesh (Himalayas) where she got to know other disciplines of yoga and met several gurus, spiritual teachers and inspirational people along the way such as Mooji , Lama Thupten Phuntsok, Gurmuk and Gurushabd. Three years later in 2018 she came back to Rishikesh to achieve 2 more teacher training courses in Tattva yoga school (Ashtanga) & Nada Yoga School (yoga of sound).
Currently, she dances at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf/Duisburg, Germany and teaches dance and yoga whilst she continues developing her choreographic ideas within the CAMASHA VILAYA COMPANY.