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NITEROI, Brazil —\u00a0NITEROI, Brazil (AP) \u2014 Performers twisted and twirled above the sand on a beach across the bay from\u00a0Rio de Janeiro<\/a>\u00a0in an aerial circus show that sought to draw attention to the widespread problem of violence against women in\u00a0Brazil<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Six women and two men performed the piece titled \u201cAlone we are petals, together we are roses\u201d for the first time on Saturday in Niteroi city with Rio\u2019s famed landmarks \u2014 the Christ the Redeemer statue<\/a> and Sugarloaf Mountain<\/a> \u2014 in the background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the beginning, a woman in a pink bodysuit and with an attitude struts around on stilts. The male artists knock her to the ground. But the victim reappropriates her body by exploring its physical strength and gains courage from her connections with other women. At the end she returns on even higher stilts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAfter we go through all of this, we grow even more. We become stronger. Not that this is a good way of learning how to be a woman, but we end up stepping into it,\u201d said Rosa Caitanya Hamilton Azevedo, a 31-year-old artist who plays the victim\u2019s part and who has also suffered from gender-based violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Juliana Berti Abduch, who has also been a victim of this form of violence, created the Suspended Circus Acrobatics project in 2020. The group\u2019s first performance in 2023 focused on domestic violence. She said the new piece isn\u2019t a continuation of that show, but a way to keep addressing and fighting violence in its many forms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Partaking in the project can be healing for the artists who have been subjected to gender-based violence, who arrive fearful and traumatized, according to Berti Abduch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFrom the moment they start the classes, they begin to overcome their limitations. This helps a lot in life in general. I\u2019m certain that the project helped make the women feel much more secure,\u201d Berti Abduch said after her piece\u2019s debut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Approximately 100 people gathered to watch the performance, some of whom were passing by and stopped, intrigued by the visually striking sight involving aerial hoops, trapezes and silks, on a beach packed with people lifting weights and playing volleyball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI found it impactful,\u201d said Fabiane Curione de Medeiros, who was in the audience. \u201cI think the message \u2014 that women need to unite and expose the violence \u2014 needs to become a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n More than one in three women in Brazil was a victim of sexual or gender-based violence over the course of a year, according to a 2025 report by the think tank Brazilian Forum on Public Safety, the highest number since records began in 2017. All forms of violence against women have increased since then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n