Rising Stars: Meet Jade Zafra of Madrid (Spain)

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jade Zafra.

Hi Jade, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I took my first step into Kung Fu purely by intuition, with no martial arts references. I came from a background as a dancer and actress, with a very flexible body that allowed me to learn the extreme movements of the discipline very quickly and with precision.

But there was something my shifu, Dani Galindo — a recognized Kung Fu master in Spain and founder of Shaolin Huwei — kept repeating to me constantly:

“You are missing Kung Fu.”

Missing Kung Fu? What did that even mean?

Over time, I understood that I could only truly understand martial arts when I started fighting myself. It was that mental rupture that also broke the energy open in my body. Training after training, I started to feel my body vibrating in every punch. I felt the energy expanding and being released through every movement. And I was releasing myself too.

That metamorphosis became a turning point for me as an artist. My beginnings at ESAEM, a recognized performing arts school where I studied multiple styles of dance, acting, and singing, fused with my journey in Kung Fu, unleashed both my imagination and my body.

One day, while training sword and listening to Rosalía’s “Malamente,” I imagined a character trapped in a dark flamenco universe full of symbolism, fighting against a bad omen, with a sword as the silent witness to the whole story. That piece became one of my first personal projects and opened the door to continue creating worlds where I fuse Kung Fu, fiction, visual aesthetics, and emotional storytelling.

I am especially interested in how martial arts can become a visual language to tell deeply human stories, because the subconscious of the fight is universal, unique, and intimate. And I feel martial arts know how to tell it better than anything else.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Myself. I am my biggest springboard and also my biggest obstacle.

When I started dancing at 17, I thought I was late. I saw girls who had started when they were eight years old, and at that age, that feels like a whole world.

When I found Kung Fu, I was 26, and I was facing the same question again: I could feel too old to start, or I could believe it was the perfect age and give everything as if I were eight years old.

It was crazy, but I chose the second option.

My ignorance in martial arts actually played in my favor. In dance, at least at that time, there was this belief that you had to start very young to become a dancer. But with Kung Fu, I had no idea about anything. I had no references, no fixed image of what a martial artist was supposed to be.

And the fact that it was an unknown place for me allowed me to set my imagination and my energy free.

What started as a personal challenge ended up breaking all my life patterns. I have been training like a beast for years, and Kung Fu is now my creative engine.

And I feel this is only just beginning

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Besides working as a hero performer for a well-known Spanish filmmaker, I have starred in music videos for Spanish artists such as Pablo López and Melendi. Both projects explored the universe of love: “Quasi” held love like a double-edged sword, while “Mentiras Arriesgadas” became a mental catharsis after a jealousy-driven emotional fight.

I have also performed live for the artist India Martínez, in “EnjoyTheProcess” by ESAEM, in projects connected to the world of video games, and in personal pieces such as “The Devil’s Fan,” a universe of power that you can see on my social media.

All my work comes from a mix between Kung Fu and fiction, where I try to show the subconscious of the fight behind every character, every emotion, and every universe

So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
Knowing myself.

And it is only in the vertigo of limits that our true self appears. Kung Fu trains me to hold that better and better.

Believing in myself allows me to connect with my fearless side, with strength, and with a fight that elevates us and ends up becoming one of our greatest teachers.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jadezafra.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jade_zafra/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100058007921953
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Jade_Zafra

Image Credits
Cris Cascajo, Dani Gómez, Alberto Novoa, Claudia Herrán, Laura Sánchez