Cuban acrobats Leosvel and Diosmani 'raise' their flag in Berlin

Berlin, Aug 25 (WHICH).- For seven minutes they evolve around a mast planted on the stage and the number concludes with a unique acrobatics: a human flag, a display of "pure strength", which Leosvel and Diosmani are rehearsing these days in Berlin.

The two Cuban acrobats raise this particular flag again now in the German capital, aware that other professional colleagues want to gain the secret, to copy it, of a circus act that they perform with the utmost difficulty.

"There is no secret, the only thing is to go to the gym every day," he tells Which one Leosvel, 37 years old and a native of Pinar del Río, in western Cuba, during a break in rehearsals for the show in which they participate in the historic Wintergarten in Berlin.

"They call it the Chinese stick and they say that they were the first to do it," this trained gymnast, who has lived in Mexico for 19 years as his mast partner, concedes about the origin of the number.

Diosmani is 42 years old, is from Camagüey and recognizes that age is beginning to make this stunt more difficult, although Leosvel remembers that both have managed to maintain a "very high level."

The two arrive at the show "Staunen" (Amazing), which the Berlin venue opens at the end of August to perform for six months, with a resume full of recognitions, such as the one they obtained in 2013 in Monaco, the Silver Clown, at the Monte-Carlo International Circus Festival.

Flag, handstand and balance of strength on one hand on Leosvel's side is the succession of elements in the acrobatic demonstration that both will star in front of an audience that, as is tradition in this type of shows in Berlin, may be enjoying dinner at that time or consume a drink.

For their part, they confess that when they return to visit Cuba they have to resist temptation so as not to accumulate kilos and Leosvel remembers how his mother asks him to eat well and abundantly, but the thing is clear for both of them: without being full of form the number does not come out.

That Cubans are exhibited in the Wintergarten responds precisely to the current trend in this type of shows, where artists come not only from Russia, Ukraine or China, but also from all over the world.

This is how he explains it to Which one Georg Strecker, director of the Berlin establishment, was delighted to be able to count on Leosvel and Diosmani for "Staunen."

"The artists come from all over the world but currently many still come from Russia and Ukraine, countries where there was practically state support and where it can be said that mass artists were produced, just as they produced Olympic athletes," says Strecker.

The legendary establishment, which in its heyday was located not far from the Friedrichstrasse railway station, emerged around 1870, the same year in which the building that now houses it on Potsdamerstrasse was built.

The original Wintergarten was destroyed during World War II by a bombing in June 1944 in which its spectacular starry vault disappeared, illuminated with dozens of light bulbs that had made the place the natural setting for the Varietés.

The concept, which emerged in Paris in the 19th century, basically consists of a show with no common thread or story to tell and that exhibits various musical and acrobatic numbers that, in the case of the current Wintergarten, also allows you to dine or have a drink at the same time. .

"The special thing in relation to the Varietés and Berlin is that today there are only two theaters that program them practically all year round," Strecker highlights about this particular form of entertainment that consists of stringing together musical, dance or acrobatic numbers.

The other large venue dedicated to the genre is the Friedrichstadt-Palast, this is a huge theater that boasts of having the largest stage in the world and that programs great variety shows.

"Here, before the war, in the twenties and early thirties, Berlin could be said to be the world capital of Varieties, there were about 70 or 80 theaters, large and small, that had a varied program, with acrobatics , magic and dance," recalls the Wintergarten director.

The Cuban acrobats, for their part, are preparing for a long stay in Berlin and say that in Germany "there are more job opportunities."

"The German public is one of the best, they know what they see," says Leosvel, who mentions the numerous theaters, venues and circuses that are used to programming shows that maintain a tradition from which acts with animals disappeared long ago.