Aïssatou

I began ice skating when I was five years old. Over the next ten years, I competed across Spain, joined the Catalan Ice Skating Federation, and trained very, very hard. With fifteen, the teacher who had guided and pushed me all those years announced that she was moving away to start a new cycle in her life. I was left with a choice to make: Continue to skate or go back to my studies, my friends, my adolescence. It was indeed time for a new cycle. I chose the latter. After graduation, I studied tourism and leisure management in university and got a master’s degree in production and cultural management.

Soon after, I started studying theatre at the Nancy Tuñon School of Dramatic Arts. I moved to Brussels for work and got into contemporary dance, trapeze and the silks. Something started to awaken within me. A spark that I hadn’t felt since my days on the ice.

A workshop at the Jacques Lecoq school in Paris; trapeze and silks in Barcelona. I wanted to do everything! And then, my first trapeze teacher, Asvin, introduced me to the rope. The moment I started to climb, the spark inside me roared to life. This was it! This was what I wanted to do. Everything I wanted to express, the thoughts and feelings I wanted to share, the passion I needed to unleash – it all came together as I climbed that rope. My studies in the dramatic arts fused with this discipline of the circus, unfurling a path I knew I must follow.

In 2015, I needed fresh energy. I moved to Berlin, planning to stay for only six months. But life has its own plans and the city quickly became my home. It is never easy to start from zero, alone in a new city, but if you stay strong, trust in your dreams and stay true to your passion, then life will bring the light you seek. As soon as I arrived in Berlin, I discovered the Katakomben, a training space for performing arts and new circus. There I met Yoka and, after training together a few times, asked her if she could help me find a new teacher. She saw my dedication and the passion with which I pursued the rope. She introduced me to Solrak.

The first time we met, my heart sank when Solrak said that if I truly wanted this, I was not to touch the rope for six months. Instead I was to start from zero and focus on the basics. That was his challenge. And if I succeeded, the rope would be mine. That period of time was not easy, and even on the day when the rope was once again hung and stood ready for me to climb, I knew that this was just the beginning of my journey.

And now, as part of the Fuego Rojo family, every day is still a test of my dedication, of my passion, of my belief in myself.

But I am patient and persevere. For I will achieve my dream.