Orihana Calcines

Orihana Aide Calcines (born August 21, 1996) is a Dutch writer, composer, lyricist, playwright, director, editor, and performer. Calcines was was born in San Antonio de Los Altos, Venezuela. Growing up, she was a precocious child, being interested movies and music, particularly animated classics and the behind the scenes specials of her father's extensive DVD collection. Her parents moved to the Netherlands to pursue a better future for her younger and her sister when she was five years old. In school, she excelled in languages and was passionate about stories. Because she had trouble getting along with other children, her mother signed her up for musical theatre classes at age eight. She went to a high-school with a broad media program, offering a wide variety of classes and courses regarding the performing arts and film. During this time, she also had a year of cello and clarinet lessons. She started making videos for others at the age of 15, and professionally at the age of 17, while maintaining a strong passion for theater and music. During this time, she started auditioning and acting in semi-professional theater and movie productions. In 2014, she won 2nd Prize for her documentary 'Venezuela: En Mis Palabras' at the National Film Festival for Students, she judged at the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam, and was finally admitted at a prestigious art school in Rotterdam, praised for her eloquence and sense of humor. After several arguments with teachers and having trouble adapting to the liberal and impractical way of study, she dropped out after two months. Wanting to gain experience, she landed an internship at a news station as a writer and photographer. After that, as a content creator for The Hague Symphony Orchestra, and finally as a communications and marketing intern for the National Theater in the Hague. After deciding working behind the scenes was not for her, she started focusing on writing, directing and producing more of her own original work. During this time, she befriended a young conductor, with whom she would write her first productions for the stage. They also successfully translated the Broadway show 'Dear Evan Hansen'. After his passing, an abridged version of their translation was performed in his honor by musical theater students in Tilburg. Orihana won the Audience Award at the Hague Film Awards (2018) for her hip-hop music video' Super Freek' and the 2nd Prize at the 72Hrs the Hague Film Festival, receiving the title 'Honorable Mention' for her short film 'Fandango'. She is currently studying music and writing scripts for the screen and stage.