lino sprizzi

Chapitô is a Circus School, in Lisbon, created by Maria Teresa Madeira Ricou or Teté, a clown woman. Teté was the mentor and director of her project, promoting professional training through the arts and crafts of the show.
In 1986, under the management of Ministry of Justice, the Chapitô, definitively based close to the Castle, was named and publicly recognized. After the intense restoration works of the place, the space Chapitô opens its doors in 1987-88, and starts with the realization of an innovative course of the FSE (Circus / Youth Project - Circense Expression Course), which Over the course of three years, formed a first group of professionals, who became the first generation of circus artists in the labor market.
in October 2016 I was in Lisbon for a project to portrait Portuguese artist and I was informed from a friend of mine about Chapitô. The day after I went there with my friend, the painter Licinio Saraiva, to ask the permission to take photos during the lessons. Two day after I was there again and I spent five hours shooting and talking with the teachers and the students who decided to tell me their story. Part of them were coming from diffcult reality that they were trying to overcome with the help of Chapitô project.
While I was talking with them, my idea of the reportage was to accompany the movement of the students who were surrounding me, avoiding using flashes and using only the low light inside the theater. The final edit gave me back the hectic atmosphere of that moments. The reportage will be exhibit in Lisbon in 2017.