Performers twisted and twirled above the sand on a beach across the bay from Rio de Janeiro in an aerial circus show that sought to draw attention to the widespread problem of violence against women in Brazil.

Six women and two men performed the piece titled “Alone we are petals, together we are roses” for the first time on Saturday in Niteroi city with Rio’s famed landmarks — the Christ the Redeemer statue and Sugarloaf Mountain — in the background.

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.

Juliana Berti Abduch created the Suspended Circus Acrobatics project in 2020.

The group’s first performance in 2023 focused on domestic violence.

She said the new piece isn’t a continuation of that show, but a way to keep addressing and fighting violence in its many forms.

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.

"We use art to overcome pain, right? I believe the body screams, it speaks, and through art, we can reframe these traumas and pains from all types of violence. Today, I understand that just being a woman means we are constantly subjected to violence." Berti Abduch said after her piece’s debut.

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.

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.

AP Video shot by Mario Lobão