"While balancing atop a precarious stack of bolsters and tables, a young juggler sends four bright balls up into the air. A fellow performer stands on the floor nearby, observing the skillful toss against the backdrop of a wall-mounted tent in bright, primary colors. Veiled in a warm glow, the photo by Constanze Han offers a rare glimpse into a practice session at Escuela Nacional de Circo, Havana's center for circus performance."
""Founded after the Cuban Revolution, the school was part of a broader effort to make professional arts education accessible to young people across the island," Han shares. "With Soviet support in the late 1970s, it blended technical rigor with Cuban creativity and style, shaping a distinct circus tradition that continues today." Circuses have an enduring role in Cuban culture, one that began in the 16th century "as a family-run, traveling tradition, especially in the countryside," the photographer adds."
A warm-glow photograph shows a juggler balancing atop bolsters and tables while sending four bright balls into the air, observed by a fellow performer near a wall-mounted tent in primary colors. The school, founded after the Cuban Revolution with Soviet support in the late 1970s, combined technical rigor with Cuban creativity and style to shape a distinct circus tradition. Cuban circus traditions date to the 16th century as family-run traveling troupes and later blended rumba, folklore, and Afro-Cuban influences. The images portray ambitious young performers and offer an alternate view of cultural life amid economic hardship and a mass youth exodus.
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