The Travellist Issue 3 | Page 39

Culture - Marco Marucci - Il Circo di Nando

In the morning , the workers are busy spreading the tickets on the benches , cleaning or involved in maintenance work while the performers start to sweat from seven in the evening when preparations begin for the show . Everything commences from the makeup and keeps going right up until the end of the show . After , they prepare and rehearse the performances for the next show , after midnight , to take advantage of the cooler temperatures , under the huge empty chapiteau . old Italian movie from the ‘ 70s . While Lenny begins his warm-up juggling in the back stage , the women are working hard to reproduce the same strong makeup that needs to be easily visible under the soft light of the stage yet also easily perceived from afar . Standing with the performers in their caravans as they undergo their long preparations before heading to the stage , I also try to get some answers to the many questions that I have about the nomadic life they lead . In particular , I am interested in their childhood . How did they arrange things with school ? What about the friendships ? The answers that I receive are not something that is easy to understand for those who do not live a life on the move , a life made up of places that are constantly changing under the wheels of the trailer , of characters who bring stories from near and far , of new and young artists who learn the art of circus and propose

When the sun sets , the lights and the projectors are switched on so that the big tent is illuminated in the darkness and soon , the music will begin to play . It reminds me of something out of an
The Travellist | Issue 3 | July 2015 p37