How did you get to the circus world?

I started studying circus very late. I used to do lots of sports: karate, swimming, artistic gymnastics, taekwondo, sokatira… and when I arrived in Madrid I also learned African dance, theatre and clown techniques besides the circus.

Did you specifically go to Madrid to study circus?

About twenty years ago, I decided to leave Pamplona. I first went to Italy and then to Holland. I worked in Italy picking apples and in the Netherlands tagging the packages that had to be sent to a logistics company, the Nippon Express. You don't know how well I was doing those physical tasks. I met people from Madrid and went with them to Madrid for a few days. Then I went back to Pamplona, but within a week one of my friends called me saying that I had given my name at the circus school in Alcorcón, hoping that I would like it. It was like going to the amusement park. In addition, it was cheap and worth it. The second year, in addition to the circus, I went to theatre school and study African dances. At first he lived in Puente Vallecas and then in Navalquejigo.

What are you looking for from Pamplona?

I was very comfortable, but I needed to leave Euskal Herria, because this town catches you, and more if you're an active person. I didn't know, and I haven't learned to say no yet. It's a matter of militancy that catches you, you get into a thousand things, and I felt the need to get out, I breathed to be able to come back one day. Now I am happy again here and ready to work for Euskal Herria and Euskera when necessary.

How did Zirika Zirkus emerge?

Boli [Luis Lainez] and I met in Madrid and it was a sudden love. We studied at the Circo Municipal School in Alcorcón and, at the same time, we worked in a theater circus company. As soon as I walked into school, the director of the company asked me if I knew how to walk through the shovels of my feet and I started walking with them immediately. Shortly afterwards he was the protagonist of a play. It was magic, but it's always happened to me that way in my life.

After a while I proposed to Boli to create our show. This is how the characters Loretsu Traketsu and Bolitxe Zalaparta emerged. At first, Boli's clown didn't speak. Boli is from Vallecas and still did not know Euskera. We offered our performance in Pamplona and on the same day they proposed to go to three other places. They welcomed us very well and we saw that we could have many opportunities here. As we lived in a house occupied in Madrid, there was no problem in leaving everything and coming here. When we arrived, I went to chat with the members of Topagune, Xole Erbiti then responsible for the Euskera section of the Department of Education, and with Iñaki Azkona, Euskera technician of the City of Pamplona, who were my angels. I will always thank you for the help you gave me.

You started with few resources.

We started going to a lot of schools. Because we didn't have anything, our cache was pretty small. We arrived with one suitcase each. We didn't have anything else. A friend painted us a kind of great poster to stage, my aunt left me an old string of music and friends would take their cars to the sites. A large network was formed. My sister, our crew… we have always shared everything. We've given a lot, and they've always given us a lot.

Shortly afterwards we got the driver's license and some friends gave us an old camper. So, little by little, we've been growing. We have been living on this for a few years and we are reassured. We have paid a salary of EUR 1,100. Along with us, there are a lot of people who also work in the shows, especially Maribel Martínez, Txetxu Collado, Oier Bravo and Sergio de Andrés.

What are you doing in Zirika Zirkus?

Theatrical circus shows for the whole family that combine different techniques: equilibria, acrobatics, acroatoms, clowns, games with music and dances; plays full of humor, all made with a lot of affection.

The most spectacular of your shows are the transport. Is it a hard physical exercise?

Yes. In the world of sport it is called akrosport. In the show we are going to première now, above all we do akroyoga. They are acrotrays, but with some accessories taken from yoga: breaths, sensations…

How are your workouts?

I go to the gym and next year I want to work more pilates and yoga. Others practice martial arts, exercises with fabrics or others. Each one of them. The aim is to achieve strength, flexibility, balance and confidence. Trust is especially focused on the courses we take with children and young people, because in addition to the scenario it is necessary in all areas of life.

Do you take special care of food?

This is what we need to do, because eating well and resting are essential for such a job. Anyway, it's not always easy. In the calm streaks everything is more balanced, but when you get into a whirlwind, as we are at this end of the course, with a lot of boluses, doing end of course sessions and without brand new our new show, everything is more difficult. We don't have time or time to buy. I've been eating for two days in a restaurant. But it's not common. We eat normally at home and in a balanced way. We live in Irañeta and consume organic vegetables from the Sakana, for example.

We ate very soon before we work. If we have to do a mid-afternoon physical representation, for example, I don't have lunch.

And how did you start to give courses to children and young people?

I'm from the Txantrea, and when we came in, I saw that it was very important to teach the kids in the neighborhood everything we had learned. So we started teaching in Auzotegi 15 years ago and we stayed there. Some kids are with us from the very beginning and they know more than we do. We're trying to bring something to the neighborhood. We now live in Irañeta and we also teach in Etxarri. The circus is a means to work many other things: solidarity, mutual help, teamwork, lack of competitiveness…

And clown courses?

With children you can't work the clown because they're clowns. We learn a lot from them. We teach them theater, looks, sensations, circus techniques -- and above all, overcoming challenges. More than technicians, we attach importance to teamwork and effort. We don't use the word "evil."

The name of the new show is as follows: Who are they descendants of?

The protagonists are Miren and Nekane. Their ancestors have regained the circus session they created 500 years ago. Live music, claqué, acroportions, stunts and humor, mostly humor. In the classic circus, families perform shows for many years and move from parents to children. We wanted to highlight it and demonstrate it in our spectacle of the fifteenth anniversary.

What do you think about the circus in general?

I don't accept circuses that have animals. However, there are good classical circuses that have the spirit of Continuum, that is, that classical shows are transmitted from generation to generation. I really like classic clowns. We've picked up a lot of them.

What's the difference between clown and clown?

A friend said clown is a clown with studies. Clown is the person who works a theater technique, and clowns are funny characters from the classic circus. However, clown takes a lot from clowns. For example, a clown would be Charles Chaplin.

All clowns are different. It unites them to be fairies and take everything from the positive side. Pantxika Lamur is my clown and in this character I mix many features of the buffets. It says a lot of things, very right in most cases, but with good intent. Each clown can make different characters. Pantxika cannot be the same in all places and situations. Lara Larika, a show that tells stories to young children, cannot be the Pantxika that goes to high schools or the Pantxika Makarra that works with adults. Clown is the essence, but you play with it. Pantxika performs very different sessions: awards distribution, sessions in favor of the Basque country, presentations… of everything. The Pantxika is the character that Zirika Zirkus sends to do anything.

You are shy and he, earthquake.

And sometimes Pantxika imposes itself and acts on its own. I don't know how to explain it, and you'll think I'm crazy, but it's true. Sometimes I realize with horror that Pantxika is working alone. It's a very nice feeling and I'd like to know how it happens, but you can't let it escape. You can't leave Pantxika alone, because it's very bad.

What is Pantxika like?

It has a lot of freshness and it's a shame. As an adult woman, she feels a terrible freedom to say what she thinks. She's a forever solterone, but because she's chosen her. It is certainly much more modern than I am and very affective. It plays a lot with people. In the show, for example, choose some spectators to do a couple of stunts. The last one was about the mayor of Aoiz, Unai Lako.

Everyone has to do their own clown. To me, at the time of training, I was told that my clown was a beneficence lady, and that's partly my Pantxika. That is why it can provoke so much laughter, because you do not imagine that a woman who looks like this has such care. It's a terrible contrast. Another professor told me that I had a lot of sensuality, and although at first I took it wrong, then I saw that it was the truth and that I can also use it.

Pantxika says anything you think about, and that's why I'm afraid, because you can't say anything. Some say comedians shouldn't have limits, but we need them.

What limits?

For rape, you can't make humor, for example, and I've heard a woman make a joke about it. I do not think that can be done.

What would Pantxika do by seeing the masked character who came out the day before in the demonstration in favour of the flag that was held in Pamplona?

By seeing the facha of the facha, it would become a semiconductor, taking its side more geek. I'm sure the Pantxika would be placed next to you and could also make a little spark, but a vegan. He's also super Navarro, but macrobiotic.

Do we like laughing at ourselves?

Today, in our model of society, for most people, it's so important to be just and perfect that we find it hard to laugh at ourselves. But I think that we have to devalue those ideas, those pressures.

You have a relationship with the Pallasos group in absentia. Do you want to go out with them?

Yes, of course. They go to places of conflict to take some joy. We would like to leave out, of course, but it is not easy to take time and opportunity. We do not ask for subsidies, because we believe that the institutions must manage the money well. Our philosophy is not to demand anything and we live without anticipating anything. We cannot miss the opportunity to act.