There are two entrances to Brazil’s Escola Nacional de Circo (ENC). The two entrances reflect the past and the future of Brazilian circus.

Arriving through the front door, we are greeted by a modern airy, two-story building resembling a hangar. The broad rounded roof holds extensive opportunities for rigging straight down into the corridor-like main space. Although no doors close either end of the building, creating a breezy, shaded channel for practicing disciplines, several air-conditioned rooms line the edge of the building so that flexibility, dance, weight training, and academic courses can be held in air-conditioning – essential for the hot afternoons. But there is also an entrance at the back of the school, via the large, dark blue traditional tent abutted to the modern building. The tent accommodates training for large equipment, for instance teeter boards, Korean cradle, tumble track and swinging trapeze. Presentations and performances happen in the tent, though permanent installations under the expansive umbrella indicate that the space is primarily used for training. One of the active aerial inst...