“For better and for worse” doesn’t always apply. Whether a loving father walks the bride down the aisle or two acrobats are paired in some form of arranged acrobatic marriage, some couples aren’t meant to reach their platinum anniversary. This is how two Finnish minds earned their peers’ respect and reached that 20-year mark.

Summoned by the European Federation of Professional Circus Schools, 20 duos converged in Madrid for its 2006 hand-to-hand convention. Porters and flyers gathered to master “petite boule” and “Diamidov,” among other sequences. Tall young men came to throw and catch their smaller female partners. Two bodies stood out in the crowd: not only for sharing similar heights, but for being both women. Having grown up in Finland where girls outnumber boys in youth circuses, Lotta Paavilainen and Stina Kopra teamed up in rather unusual circumstances! “I started out as an Icarian games flyer and getting on top of pyramids. My coach moved me to the bottom after I broke an arm and could no longer fly. Lotta broke hers when she fell off the trapeze and, seeing that I was gaining confidence as a porter, our coach pushed us to create a duo. It’s funny to think that two broken arms brought us together!” laughs off Kopra. Having spent their youth seeing sisters and cous...