It's not an easy life and the obligations are many and varied, but three young artists from the World Circus wouldn't trade it for anything. Walking with the house on your back, from land to land, is part of their DNA and has been for generations, in the respective families.
Axel Noronha, Carol Mariani and Dário Monteiro have an easy laugh and it was with great ease that they spoke with the Sul Informação and with Rádio Universitária do Algarve RUA FM, taking advantage of its time in Faro, where they will work with Municipal Swimming Pools today, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The youngsters aged 13, 19 and 23, respectively, talked about living and working in a circus and how the daily lives of those who dedicate themselves to this secular spectacle work. In between, going to school and the growing criticism of the use of animals in circuses.
The three guests on the radio program “Impressions” were born into families who have dedicated themselves to doing circus for several generations and have never known any other life than this one. At the moment, they are members of a “community” of about 35 people, who work “together for a common good”, each one contributing to the benefit of world circus.
In the limelight, Carol is a trapeze artist and snake and crocodile tamer. Darius is a juggler and young Axel is a clown. “We are all one, we are all working for the same. We are a small circus community that gets together for shows and that, outside the stage, we are also together», he said. “The circus is like a company, if we don't help everyone, things won't move”, illustrated Dário Monteiro.
When you are a circus performer, your life is spent on the road, which leads to some hesitation when you ask if they have a place to call home. “A physical house that doesn't have wheels?” asks, laughing, Carol Mariani. «We are like the snail, we always walk with the house on our back, we do not have a fixed address. We do have an address where our mail goes. Mainly the fines!», he revealed.
«I have a house in Pinheiro de Loures and we have a farm in Moita, where we keep material. But we ended up not using them much», he said.
As young artists of the so-called traditional circus, these young people and others linked to this art bear the responsibility to innovate. Something that involves not only the creation of new numbers, but also the adaptation to new technologies, with the presence on the Internet, namely in the social network facebook.
“The Circus Mundial has the advantage of being very young and we try to differentiate a bit and change. Although the role of the traditional circus in society is the same, we always try to evolve and try to change the circus concept,” said Carol Mariani.
Now the school moves with the circus performers
For those who are always moving from land to land, going to school can be complicated. Nowadays, with Escola Móvel, things are not so complicated. Axel benefits from this method, where lessons are taught by computer. «We have a chat where we talk to the teacher and where she sends work. And we do the tests on the computer», he described.
“Up until the fifth year, I studied from school to school, from land to land. If you were here in Faro, came here to school. Before, we were in Olhão and would be there for a week», explained Axel.
Carol and Dário had to live with this reality for a long time, although they still had time to study at the Mobile School, which they debuted. After the 9th grade, they don't think about studying anymore, because they always want to stay in the circus.
«Whoever is born in the business, rarely wants to go out, because we are born with the pet. I already had the experience of leaving because of school, because the Mobile School didn't exist yet and I felt like a fish out of water. For me, it was stressful, I had crying spells», she said, with Dário Monteiro reinforcing this idea with a shake of his head.
“Being outside the circus is something weird, we're used to travelling, meeting new people and it even feels like we're stuck,” said the young juggler.
Animals are well cared for and control is tight.
The use of animals in circuses is increasingly contested and there are even countries, such as the United Kingdom, that are considering banning their use for these shows. But Carol Mariani, who has a number with animals, refuses to be abused or abusive treatment of animals, at least in the World Circus.
“People demonstrate, and we accept. For us, traditional circus is with animals, it has always been like that. Our circus has its own veterinarian who comes every month from Spain on purpose. Have daily cleaning, hygiene and health every day. We have a truck with only the meat designated for the tigers and another with the hay», he explained.
Currently, the Circus Mundial travels with tigers, snakes, crocodiles, dogs and ponies, but there were once «many more animals», but the cost turned out to be unaffordable. “We've given animals to many zoos,” says Carol Mariani.
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