NITEROI, Brazil (AP) — 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.

“After we

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