In Cuba, the circus is not just a fantasy

Inside an abandoned movie theatre in working-class Havana, Cuban children as young as nine pursue dreams of joining the circus.

Aspiring acrobats – some 70 of them – climb a rope while young jugglers toss pins back and forth, and others take turns on the trampoline or parallel bars. No one seems to mind the dilapidated conditions, at least as long as the weather is dry. Several corrugated tin laminates are missing from the roof, exposing the sky.

“Ever since I was little, I always say, ‘I want to join the circus,’” says 12-year-old Daniela Rodriguez, who likes training at heights. “At first I was a little scared, but not anymore.”

The circus is a lucrative career path and a rare opportunity for Cubans to make real money on the communist-led island. Cuban circus artists working abroad make a minimum of 800 euros (RM3,300) a month, and usually much more than that, a relative fortune compared to the meagre salaries back home.

Practice, practice, practice: It may seem dilapidated but this circus school in Havana, run in an abandoned cinema, is the place where dreams are made. – Reuters

Odelmi Hernandez, 42, who once worked briefly as a circus clown, guides the students for three hours daily at the Havana school, where some students commute from as far as two hours away.

“A lot of these children come from disadvantaged homes, have shown bad conduct, or come from family conflicts,” says Hernandez, whom everyone calls Kiko. “Through this project, we help them incorporate socially. They also learn values here.”

On a recent day, the programme includes physical exercise, from push-ups to chin-ups to running, with most of the students dressed in leotards.

One teenager balanced on a board placed over a cylinder starts jumping rope, blind-folded, and with young Daniela on his shoulders. “My heart is up here,” says Ivette Rivera, grabbing her throat as she watches her daughter participate in the stunt.

All for the future: These Cuban kids are placing their hopes in the circus as the ticket to a successful career in the limelight. – Reuters

Rivera says her daughter hopes to enter Cuba’s National Circus School and then perform professionally, even if that means long stretches overseas. “It scares me but it’s what she likes to do,” says Rivera. “I’ll accompany her all the way to the airport if she makes it. She’s fighting for her dream.”

Youth circus training is fairly common internationally, whether as pure recreation or career training. “Circus education is on the rise all over the world,” saysAmy Cohen, director of the US-based American Youth Circus Organisation. The Cuban National Circus tours as a company and also hires out its talent to companies such as Ringling Brothers and Cirque du Soleil.

Even though the Cuban state takes a cut of their salaries, the circus gives students a clearly defined profession, says Jose Manuel Cordero, spokesman for the Cuban National Circus. “They know that in the circus they have a future as a person, as an artist,” says Cordero. “They can triumph doing what they love.” – Reuters