“I'm a clown in order not to be alone when with others”
Born in Cádiz (Andalusia-Spain) as Jose Sampalo Torres (16-11-74)
and reborn in Portugal as Clown Enano, where he has lived for 23 years.
Enano is Jose Torres' alter ego.
Diploma in Social Work from the University of Seville.
He started in the arts at the best existing school, the most authentic, pure and complicated: The STREET; it was there where he began to create a personal language as an artist until in 1997, he made the leap to Portugal to study at the Lisbon Circus School (“Chapito”), where he began to feel what he is now, a proud “Portunhol” ( a Spaniard living in Portugal) which is how he presents himself around the world.
Enano is passionate about the street; it's his favourite place to perform which he calls “The Theatre of Liberty” and after having won over audiences on five continents with his spontaneous madness, he takes refuge in the beauty and silence of his Alentejan hills in Odemira.
Enano is one of the main references in the “clown universe” in Portugal and Europe. His varied shows have travelled around the world to the most prestigious International Street Theatre Festivals, where he stands out with his freshness, spontaneity, daring and high capacity for improvisation.
He has performed in over 200 cities in 45 countries on all continents.
From the cold of Siberia in Russia to distant Australia and New Zealand, passing through the skyscrapers of Singapore, experiencing the Mexican hospitality, the samba of Brazil and the tropical African climate of Cape Verde.
If there is any particularity that the public loves about the “Made by Enano” language, it is its refined improvisations, the emotionality and the certainty that anything unexpected can happen in his presentations, with the particularity that no two shows are the same, because as he says “my shows are like every day, all are different”.
His presentations are universal, simple, easy to understand, hence the fact that he has worked halfway around the world, as any culture surrenders to the innocence and spontaneity of Clown Enano.
However, when the occasion calls for it, he performs in theatres, halls, closed spaces, private events, schools, celebrations… he's at home in all spaces and places.
He's an artist with a social conscience. In his presentations he always leaves a message for a fairer, humane world of solidarity , believing in art as a tool for social transformation, considering himself an “Activist Clown.”
President and Founder of the Hospital Clowns Association “Remédios do Riso” from 2004 to the present, he continues to visit hospitalised patients as “Doutor Clown”.
Enano has also directed several shows as well as holding different workshops and master classes for theatre schools, theatre companies, businesses…
He has received awards and recognitions at several International Street Theatre Festivals in Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Germany, Cape Verde, Russia, Mexico and Ukraine. Although the prize he considers most valuable is being able to live off what he loves.
His biggest hobby is sport especially long-distance cross-country running and he's already run marathons.
