No, I am not going to start a traditional story that is almost always told to children to make them sleep, no, I would like to share with you an experience that more than one person from Camagüey lived in the sixties of the last century, when we received the news that a circus was in the city and almost always they set up their tent in the old Méndez Square, today Joaquín de Agüero Square, the first work intervened by the Office of the Historian of the city in 1999, a question that, by the way, infinitely thanked the population.

Distant memories

Well, yes, there in that savannah, in one of the few trees that existed, they tied the elephant Tana, a name that became popular and became emblematic, perhaps belonging to Santos and Artigas, Montalvo and Pubillones, or another renowned circus that regularly visited us. I confess that I always had a predilection for this art, because the acts they executed seemed super risky to me, and especially the dangerous ones captivated me, I speak of the aerial ones such as the flight of the bird, the tightrope and also the trained lions, which continued to impress me when I was enjoying ours, El Areito, created on September 17th, 1976, which I attended not only as a spectator in its beginnings, but as a civil servant later, already in the 90’s. I always say that this city is very lucky because it has institutions that others do not have, and this one I am talking about today is an example.

Valuable news

This circus company, which is now 45 years old, has many stories to tell, some prosperous and others not so much, because in the period when it lost its tent, back in 1990, a disenchantment took over most of the artists that forced many to take other jobs and some even retired, being forgotten and almost destroyed the group, until, contradictorily, in 2020, in the midst of a pandemic, it was granted a headquarters and they began their artistic restructuring again, thanks to the audacity of a young member who assumed his direction and began to bring together those who could, and others who joined.

With great joy I read an article published by the weekly Adelante in September of last year, where this group was referred to, it recognized its worth in commemoration of the anniversary, and it predicted a rebirth of the same, despite the few conditions they have, since they were preparing a street show and another for theater entitled: “One, two, three … take off!”, and also, they were in the process of evaluation.

And as the epidemiological conditions improved, we were already able to enjoy them with their new project and, although without their traditional tent, but with great desire to do so, we once again dreamed of their acts, and in the future we will see again those with great illusions, and even, perhaps, those in the air, who more than once gave “the chills” to the people of Camagüey, who like me love this art.

Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García