The Company

Castellano

Zen del Sur project was born from the union of two artists, Carlos López and Antonio Vargas with a solid Circus and Dance professional background. They both decided to merge their personal pathways and experience to develop an artistic proposal in order to integrate the fusion of different arts forms like Acrobatic Dance, Music and Circus.

Zen del Sur emerges from a common and deep research work between dancers, acrobats, contemporary musicians and designers who focused on the aim developing a creative dialogue between sound and movement, chasing emotion. The company is committed to a form of learning where improvising and exploring new languages are crucial during the whole creative process. The multitalented character of its artists should be highlighted, as well as their abilities to generate expectation and to convey a particular sensitivity through body control and expressivity, merged with music. This is indeed reflected in their first production, Heian.

The primary objective of Zen del Sur is to move the audience through the integration of several Arts disciplines, enabling the audience to participate on the ideas and feeling shown in the stage.

“The word Zen can be defined as complete attention to the movement in the present. A lived experience, a non-thought one. Something similar happens on stage, a kind of meditation where artists and audience converge towards a common emotional state, where the mind is released and we feel a sense of happiness invading us”. Carlos López.

Zen del Sur consolidates as an artistic company in January 2011. Featuring a fragment of their work in the Call for Cultural Samples “Málagacrea 2011,” Carlos Lopez and Antonio Vargas obtained the first prize in the Category of Performing Arts.
That same year, in December, they perform in the theatre El Apeadero (Granada), the premiere of their full work called Heian, with the recent incorporation of cellist Marta Gonzales.
In 2012 they manage to get into the programming of the Circus Festival of Seville “Circada 2012” acting in the CAS and in the Gran Gala Circada.
After that, they present their work in the circus Festival of Bilbao “Kalealdia 2012”. After working as dancers and acrobats in the Educational Concerts “CORPOREL 2012” with the City of Granada Orchestra in the Manuel de Falla Auditorium and participating in some circus cabarets in several cities of Andalusia, they perform in the competition “TALENT MADRID 2013” getting First prize in the category Circus / Cabaret and the Final Award “Talent”.

During that same year, they act on the 62nd Festival of Music and Dance of Granada, getting a great reception from the audience, and later on, in the Etnosur Festival, joined this time by percussionist Miguel Hiroshi, consolidating in this way a great show of musical richness and artistic originality. The show Heian is being currently performed in different communities of Spain and is being recognized both in the Circus as in the Dance sector thanks to its ability to fuse dance and circus and provide technical quality in both disciplines. This show has received several prizes:

Awards:

• Prize to best “lighting design 2014 awarded by Asociación de Circo de Andalucía (ACA)”.
• Best Show Award ” Noches FETEN 2014″.
• Best Show Cabaret/Circus and Winners of the “TALENT MADRID 2013″.
• First Prize in the 5th Young Street Artists Competition in Molina (2013)
• Second Prize to Best circus show in the Street Artists Festival of Aranda de Duero (2013)
• Nomination in the prizes for PAD 2013 to best street show.
• First Prize from the audience in the 10 Senses Dance and Integration Festival – Competition (Valencia 2013).
• First Prize in the Performing Arts Competitio “Málagacrea 2011” in the category Performance. (2011).

Colaborations:

The artists of this company have made special collaborations in:

• Les 7 Doigts de la Main (Canadá). Antonio Vargas expands his career as part of the show “La Vie” of this internationally recognized company, which travelled through several countries in Europe and South America, performing the show “La Vie” Les 7 Doigts de la main. Youtube.

• Albadulake Company (España). . Carlos López and Antonio Vargas have performed with this company in the show 3NKJA – www.albadulake.com

• Compañía Dánzate (Granada). Han colaborado en algunos Cabarets celebrados en la ciudad de Granada.

• Orquesta Ciudad de Granada (España). Antonio Vargas and Carlos Lopez participated as dancers and drummers in the 3rd edition of the OCG Didactic Concerts with orchestra percussionists, Jaume Esteve and Noelia Arco, in the show CORPOREL. CORPOREL Auditorio Manuel de Falla