Amantes is a physical theater company directed by Tesa Avino composed of eightdancers/co-creators. The company creates poetic universes where absurdity, logic,and fantasy are in constant dialogue. With the concept of paradise at the core of itsartistic practice, Amantes works by challenging what is possible and findingindividual and collective freedom in expanding the imagination.

Through a somatic approach, the company works the relationship between movement and text, character development, and composition of story telling.Amantes has multidisciplinary interests. The company learns from the strategies of the literary resources of poetry, the spatiality and characters of painting, and the use of sound and silence in music to understand and apply compositional tools. Through these strategies, Amantes explores research questions such as: Who are we when we are someone else? What steps should we take to achieve the impossible? and how can we make our dance immortal?

Amantes views beauty as a form of resistance. That is why it chooses to create curious, eccentric, and welcoming paradises, which take the form of stage productions, research projects, and social projects. In this way, the company aims to have a real impact on society and reach it through a variety of formats. The company’s definition of beauty is deeply rooted in Mediterranean culture. This is reflected in the color palettes used, the way time is portrayed, its relationship to care, and the importance placed on small, everyday details.

“What Teresa conveys is sincere, authentic.”

— Jacques de Leeuw Award Jury Report.