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History

A company across three decades.

Since 1995 we have fused contemporary circus, storytelling and stage technology. Large-scale work without animals, with animatronics as our signature.

  • 1995 — 2026
  • Galicia · ES
  • Three decades
Timeline · 1995 — today

Milestones along the way.

  1. Scene I

    Founded in Argentina

    Abel Martín founds La Fiesta Escénica in Cipolletti, Patagonia. A contemporary circus company with no real animals.

    Portrait of Abel Martín, founder and artistic director of La Fiesta Escénica.
    Abel Martín, founder. Later portrait, company archive.

  2. Scene II

    Early repertoire

    La Hormiga Tomasa tours for five years running. Arcángeles (1998) is the first large production: its own choir and ballet, and the first flying scenes.

    Archive photograph: three performers in full period skirts before a red window.
    Company archive, 1995—2007. Images not attributed by show.
    Archive photograph: performers in colourful costumes on stage.
    Archive photograph: cast in period costume and a girl dressed in white on an urban set.

  3. Scene III

    Base in Galicia

    The company settles in Mougas, Vigo. Spain becomes its production base + springboard for touring Europe.

    Re-enactment of the Arribada on the beach at Baiona: characters in period costume beside a cart and, in the background, the replica of La Pinta.
    Arribada del Descubrimiento, Baiona (2005).

  4. Scene IV

    Monte-Carlo Festival

    Beauty and plasticity in their purest form. A milestone that opens doors to international programmers.

    Encho Keryazov performs a handstand on a pole atop his pedestal, before a packed arena.
    Encho Keryazov, hand balancer.
    Poster for Provoke in Venezia, presented by Circo Deros.

  5. Scene V

    The animatronics are born

    In Circo de Venecia the company presents its animatronic animal act for the first time, which would become its signature. That same year, Circo Acuático turns the ring into an aquarium.

    Company workshop: a sculptor, barefoot on the frame, shapes a large white horse.
    Company sculpture workshop.
    Circo Acuático set design: a large suspended circular structure releases a curtain of water onto the ring.
    Circo Acuático clown, in a conch-shell hat and blue ruff, sitting on a rubber ring.

  6. Scene VI

    Tempodrom Berlin · Ekus

    Premiere of Ekus at Circus Roncalli, Tempodrom Berlin. "A tribute to the origins of circus".

    Bernhard Paul, founder of Circus Roncalli, in the ring beside four animatronic polar bears on a seesaw.
    Animatronic polar bears in the Roncalli ring.
    Poster for the Roncalli Weihnachtscircus at the Tempodrom in Berlin, 18 December 2009 to 3 January 2010.
    Berliner Morgenpost cutting headlined «Die mit den Bären tanzen» about La Fiesta Escénica's polar bear act at Roncalli's Christmas circus.

  7. Scene VII

    Galtük

    Flagship production: large-scale animatronics. "Where dreams are born". Korea Tour 2012.

    Scene from Galtük: a ringmaster in a red frock coat takes a bow astride a large rocking zebra.
    Galtük, where dreams are born.
    Poster for Circo Galtük, «where dreams are born», with a hoop acrobat.

  8. Scene VIII

    Roncalli Award

    La Fiesta Escénica receives the Roncalli Award for innovation in the world of circus.

    The Roncalli circus ring with a symphony orchestra in the background, a clown and an animatronic hippopotamus.
    Roncalli Christmas circus with symphony orchestra.

  9. Scene IX

    Cenerentola

    Auditorio Mar de Vigo, the "Circo y libro" season. A circus version of the classic.

    Scene from Cenerentola: an acrobat inside a large golden clock, in a palace lit in violet.
    Cenerentola.

  10. Scene X

    New season

    Bespoke productions for theatres, festivals and events. Availability 2026—2027.

    Silhouette of a performer with open arms before the lit stage of a proscenium theatre.
Manifesto

Four pillars of the company.

  • No real animals.

    Animatronics as an ethical and theatrical substitute. Polar bears, golden horses, hippos: creatures that exist only on stage.

  • Large-scale as a calling.

    Productions conceived for theatres, auditoriums and squares. Scale as a narrative tool, not as ornament.

  • A company that is a family.

    Artistic direction, sculptors, sceno­graphy, costume and design: the same core team for three decades. Each show is the exact sum of them all.

  • Circus as contemporary ritual.

    Where circus meets theatre, the body and the symbol. What happens on stage is not disposable entertainment: it is an event.