Snowfall puts Braga and Viana districts under yellow warning

At the end of the year, in Portugal, only three circuses operate. Circus Rúben is one of them. And it is in Braga, until January 3, on a land assigned by the Parish Council of Ferreiros.

A marquee with capacity for 900 people receives a maximum of 180. “Sometimes we perform for 20 or 30 spectators”, says O MINHO, Mário Rúben, head of the circus, the family and the business. “The year was calamitous, but we are still here, for those who want to come to the circus,” argues the owner about the desire not to give up.

The pandemic caused the cancellation or non-contracting of scheduled shows or annual shows, such as the Christmas performance for Bosch workers. Adherence to the box office has also declined dramatically, forcing the circus to work with household money.

“Usually in the month of Christmas and the end of the year the number of employees increased, we hired more artists, in order to present more numbers during the shows and diversify them from year to year. This year was so bad, we cannot hire anyone, we work with the money from the house ”, reflects the patriarch of the circus O MINHO.

Life in the circus in times of pandemic is even being the subject of a documentary, with the name “A Pão e Agua”, by the film director Stephane Oliveira, who gave O MINHO the photographs that illustrate this report.

The circus is attended by jugglers, aerialists, contortionists, clowns and a tank of piranhas. All artists belong to the family and teach art, from generation to generation. “My aunt learned contortion at the circus school in Bucharest, Romania, and she teaches my nieces,” says Rúben proudly.

The 18-member family depends on the success of the circus to survive and the art of the show runs through their blood. “My great-grandfather belonged to the circus, my son was born here and I never thought of giving up, I was born in the circus and I’m going to die in the circus,” Mário Rúben tells O MINHO.

The disinfection of the space and the gel alcohol dispensaries, the reduction of the number of seats and the division of the spectators by group, the heating of the marquee, the lighting and the sound are worth, for the artists, “half the quality of the Show”.

The artists complain about the lack of support, from the State, to face the Covid-19 crisis. To negotiate the support with the tutelage, the AACP (Portuguese Association of Circus Art) was created. This year, the Braga City Council supported the circus by granting licenses and the health delegate approved the conditions of the space. The circus is set up on private land, which had the support of the Ferreiros Parish Council.

Rúben Circus will present Braga until January 3, with shows at 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, and on weekends at 10:30 a.m.

Poor clown and rich clown

Flávio Costa and Orlando Costa perform together, for the number of the rich clown, the poor clown. They both belong to the family, but Flávio’s father left the circus 35 years ago. Flávio, still young, decided to return: “The circus is part of me, this is where I feel good, in the art of the seven crafts.”

Orlando Costa was a lion and tiger tamer, with a bite scar on his arm, one less tendon on his hand: “The show got poorer without animals, now we only have the piranha tank and we have to adapt. I became a clown ”.

With no reason to smile about the crisis in the sector, Flávio Costa sets the tone for O MINHO: “Sadness does not pay debts. This is how we face this pandemic ”. Regarding the fears and anxieties of a threatened future, the clown says: “With three balls, nobody goes hungry.”

The families of the couples, with the exception of Flávio’s father, belong to the circus and the happiest day of their lives was stepping on the stage of the Porto Coliseum.