Cia Manolo Alcántara
(Distribution in Catalonia and internationally)
Current productions:
I am self-taught, and I consider myself more of a craftsman than an artist. I create performances entirely through intuition, play, and curiosity (which sometimes leads me to think that I know nothing about circus). I embrace the risk inherent in circus and transform it in order to share it with the audience. I understand, live, and create circus through evolution — a personal journey that moves through different stages, all of them important. In fact, I cannot understand the present moment without any of the previous stages. This journey began with a purely demonstrative interest and has led me to where I am today, where I enjoy concealing the technique and placing it in service of the performance.
Throughout this process, I have developed certain constants, like a kind of DNA that endures from one production to the next (emerging in every creation): patient, unhurried creation; a preference for suggestion rather than explicit storytelling; careful attention to the visual aspect through the use of innovative structures; and live music.
Premio Nacional de Circo 2021
REFUGI
Refugi is a show based on balance: the physical balance that keeps you from falling off the tightrope, and the emotional balance that allows you to reconcile fears and hopes.
Refugi is a journey that begins in the heart, moves through the gut – where intuition plays a decisive role – and ends on stage, so that the audience can continue along this path. The show is also a struggle with the physical and energetic decline that comes with age, overcome through the tenderness and vulnerability of a character who reluctantly accepts all their own limitations.
Refugi strips away the glamour of the artist, so that the weaknesses, insecurities, simplicity, and sincerity of a character who emotionally bares themselves may emerge: emotions and feelings that become the very essence of the piece.
Production details
Age recommendation: all audiences aged 9 and above
Outdoor / Indoor
Performance duration: 40 minutes (approx.)
Scenic space: request the technical sheet
Cast and crew
Concept, creation, direction and performance: Manolo Alcántara
Movement assistance: Jon López and Martxel Rodríguez (Led Silhouette)
Set design: Manolo Alcántara
Set construction: David Anglès and Manolo Alcántara
Costume design and creation: Rosa Solé
Musical composition: Laia Rius
Acting support: Clara Manyós
Sound design: Pepino Pascual / Ivan Tomasevic
Technical design: Ivan Tomasevic
Light and sound technician: Ivan Tomasevic
Management and production: Clàudia Saez
Communication: Eva Romero and Clàudia Saez
Photography and video: Laura Carrau
Production: Cia. Manolo Alcántara
Co-production: Ajuntament de Tarragona_Cultura
Executive production: Clàudia Saez (La Destiŀleria)
With the support of: ICEC Generalitat de Catalunya
Collaboration: El Convent de Les Arts d’Alcover
Thanks: Lesaka City Council, Led Silhouette, Teatre L’Artesà d’El Prat, KandengueArts, A+Soluciones, Histrión Teatro, Ute Classen, Xavi Erra and Raquel Garcia.
National Distribution (Spain): Portal71
Catalonia and international distribution: AlaPista!
Upcoming dates
| Date | City | Venue | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13/05/26 - 14/08/26 | Reus | Estrena REGUGI – FIRA TRAPEZI | 7:00pm |
| 30/05/26 - 31/05/26 | Paris | MAÑA – Le Printemps des Rues | 4:00pm |
| 06/06/26 | La Fatarella | REFUGI – NILAK | 7:30pm |
| 07/06/26 | Rubí | REFUGI – Teatre sense Teatre | 8:00pm |
| 25/06/26 | Tarragona | REFUGI – Cultura o extinció | 8:00pm |
| 03/07/26 | Görlitz | MAÑA – Festival Görlitz | 6:00pm |
| 04/07/26 | Görlitz | MAÑA – Festival Görlitz | 6:00pm |
| 12/07/26 | El Prat de Llobregat | REFUGI – a concretar | 8:00pm |
| 18/07/26 | Olost | REFUGI – Festival Cantilafont | 6:00pm |
| 27/07/26 | Mataró | REFUGI – Les Santes | 9:00pm |
| 01/08/26 | Andorra la Vella | REFUGI – Plaça del Poble | 9:00pm |
MAÑA
MAÑA is the transmission of knowledge from a grandfather to his grandson, through my own perspective, bringing about a transformation from craftsman to artist.
A performance-installation that revolves around ingenuity — a universal, timeless, and cross-disciplinary attribute — approached through both an artistic and artisanal lens. I present the process of building a giant arch made of very heavy boxes, using as a premise the economy of effort and movement, relying on an ancestral yet still highly relevant technology: the lever, the pulley, the wheel…
Choreographing an everyday action such as assembling a stage set becomes the performance itself, where craftsmanship plays an essential role, becoming the main protagonist. It moves away from smart materials and tools so as not to limit my effectiveness as a craftsman, positioned halfway between knowledge and intuition.
My father taught me how to build arches, and MAÑA is the way I would teach my son to build them.
Production details
Age recommendation: all audiences
Outdoor
Performance duration: 60 minutes
Scenic space: request the technical sheet
Cast and crew
Concept, creation, direction: Manolo Alcántara
Performers: Manolo Alcántara i Joan Trilla
Set desing: Manolo Alcántara
Set construction: Joan Trilla i Manolo Alcántara
Costume desing and creation: Rosa Solé
Musical arrangements : Joan Trilla
Sound desing: Oriol Planas
Management and production: Clàudia Saez
Production: Cia. Manolo Alcántara
Production support: La Destil·leria
National distribution: Portal71
Catalonia and international distribution: AlaPista!
Awards
Award for “Most Innovative Performance” at TAC Valladolid 2022.
Susana Herreras Award for Best Performance at the Festival ARCA, “for being a surprising, innovative, and hypnotic performance within a minority genre in street arts such as installations,” according to the jury, 2022.
Upcoming dates
| Date | City | Venue | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13/05/26 - 14/08/26 | Reus | Estrena REGUGI – FIRA TRAPEZI | 7:00pm |
| 30/05/26 - 31/05/26 | Paris | MAÑA – Le Printemps des Rues | 4:00pm |
| 06/06/26 | La Fatarella | REFUGI – NILAK | 7:30pm |
| 07/06/26 | Rubí | REFUGI – Teatre sense Teatre | 8:00pm |
| 25/06/26 | Tarragona | REFUGI – Cultura o extinció | 8:00pm |
| 03/07/26 | Görlitz | MAÑA – Festival Görlitz | 6:00pm |
| 04/07/26 | Görlitz | MAÑA – Festival Görlitz | 6:00pm |
| 12/07/26 | El Prat de Llobregat | REFUGI – a concretar | 8:00pm |
| 18/07/26 | Olost | REFUGI – Festival Cantilafont | 6:00pm |
| 27/07/26 | Mataró | REFUGI – Les Santes | 9:00pm |
| 01/08/26 | Andorra la Vella | REFUGI – Plaça del Poble | 9:00pm |
