Leandro Mendoza Artagaveitia (Ramos Mejia,Buenos Aires,1976) Artistic Director, artist, Circus builder, technician and designer. Since 2008, he has been the Head of Cíclicus circus Company that has done 14 productions. From 2017 to 2022, he has been the artistic director of the “Trapezi, Fira del Circ de Catalunya” festival, considered the most important event of the sector in Spain.
In the 90s, he received training at the Videla brothers’ Escuela de Circo Criollo in Buenos Aires – Argentina. In the 2000, he settled in Barcelona where he consolidated his professional career as an artist and became part of the Pedagogical staff at the Rogelio Rivel Circus School in Barcelona.
In 2001 he created the Curtcirckit Festival of Montgat (Barcelona) and co-directed it artistically and technically with José Antonio Hernández (Joselito) for a decade. Between 2004-2007, as a member of La Vela Residence Center, he was one of the founders of the “Circ de Nadal” (Winter Circus) in the city of Vilanova i la Geltrú.
Between the years 2008-2012 he conducted the construction and organization of La Central del Circ de Barcelona where he elaborated the technical design of the space as Technical Director (2008), and later, he became the Artistic Director (2011-2013).
In 2008, he founded with Tanja Haupt his own circus company “Cíclicus”, whose first show (also named Cíclicus) was directed by Joan Busquets and remained on the tour until 2013. That same year (2013) he directed the show “Retalls” at the Mercat de les Flors produced by the Grec Festival. With this production, he opened a new path in his career as a stage creator/director. In 2014 he presented “La Tartana”, an itinerant show on tour until 2018. These early works paved the way for his own contemporary circus proposal with organic and emotional essence, where nature became a fundamental part of the scenic architecture, aesthetics and poetic force, and where live music is always present.
He directed “Pals” in 2015, a co-production between the Grec Festival of Barcelona, the Buenos Aires Polo Circo Festival and the Ministry of Culture of the City of Buenos Aires; this work received the Special Jury Prize at the Zirkolika 2015 awards. The following year, he directed “Guadual”, a production of the Sánchez Aguilar Theater in Guayaquil – Ecuador, a work with which he received the 2016 City of Barcelona Circus Award. In 2017, he premiered “Pequeña historia de un gran paisaje” (“Little history of a great landscape”) at the La Mercè festivities (Barcelona), a large-format show that focuses on the intergenerational essence of the circus. As from these productions, he developed a whole proposal for the construction of circus equipment as landscape tools that has accompanied all his future creations.
In 2019 he works as circus advisor in the show “Un somriure al peu de l’escala” directed by Ramón Simó and produced by the Teatre Lliure de Barcelona, and also premieres two shows: “Rodada” in Barcelona and with the Barnabô circus company, the show “Rústico” in Sao Paulo – Brazil. In 2021, he premiered at the Santiago a Mil Festival – Chile, “Fuego Rojo” (“Red Fire”), a show co-directed with Martín Erazo and which represents the first collaboration between the La Patogallina Collective and Cíclicus.
Leandro has been a member of the jury of important awards such as the Barcelona Circus Award (2017, 2018, 2019) and the National Circus Award of the Spanish Ministry of Culture (2017, 2019 and 2020). In addition, he has been a member of the State Council of the Instituto Nacional de Artes Escénicas y Música – INAEM (National Institute of Performing Arts and Music) of the Spanish Ministry of Culture and Sports and also a member of the Circus Artistic Commission, both from 2018 to 2020. In 2018, he provided technical advice in the circus infrastructure at the “Teatro-Circo Price” in Madrid.
During 2020 and 2021, he was the provoker of the Intersectoral Circus Worktable with important discussions on the problems of the sector that had 3 editions (Fira Trapezi, Circored and La Bau). In 2020, invited by the International Contemporary Circus Market (MICC) – Canada, he created, together with Julia Sánchez (Cedacirc – Mexico), the “Cartografía Iberoamericana de circo” (Ibero-American Circus Cartography), a digital platform that seeks to map and make visible Ibero-American circus projects to stimulate the circulation of its academic and artistic knowledge and promote its development.
In 2021 he opened La Bau in Barcelona, an independent space for the creation and training of professional contemporary circus artists. And, in 2022 he premiered the documentary “Trapezi, art, ¡espectacle i vida!” (Trapezi, art, spectacle and life!) which commemorates the 25th anniversary of the Fira Trapezi de Reus.
Leandro is a regular speaker at Festivals, Meetings, Encounters, Fairs and Circus Markets around the world. Now, he is creating a new show for the Vetus Venutas company in co-production with Switzerland that will premiere in April 2023, while continuing his work as a promoter of circus art.
Barcelona 2022.