Children learn Spain’s deadly art of bullfighting
Holding the red cape outstretched, one boy practices making an elegant swivel as his fellow pupil slowly sweeps past with a pair of bull horns held in front.
They are students of the Bullfighting School at the Las Ventas bullring in Madrid, where children as young as nine can begin learning this deadly dance of human and beast so closely associated with Spanish identity.
The school was closed from March to August when Spain went into one of the world’s strictest lockdowns to stem the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bullfighting, whose decline in Spain corresponds with a rise in an interest for animal rights, has barely come back since the lockdown, with the public still not allowed into large outdoor events including professional sporting events.
Pupils perform with their capes at the Bullfighting School at Las Ventas bullring in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2020. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Pupils practice with their capes at the Bullfighting School at Las Ventas bullring in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2020. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Pupil Nicolas Sanz Luna, 10, holds a pair of plastic bull horns at the Bullfighting School at Las Ventas bullring in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
A pupil holds a set of plastic bull horns at the Bullfighting School at Las Ventas bullring in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
A pupil practices with a 'Carreton' (bulls horns attached to a metal frame with wheels) at the Bullfighting School at Las Ventas bullring in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Pupils holding red capes and a sword arrive at the Bullfighting School at Las Ventas bullring in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2020. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Pupils perform with their capes at the Bullfighting School at Las Ventas bullring in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Pupils exercise in a gym at the Bullfighting School at Las Ventas bullring in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2020. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
A 'Carreton' (bulls horns attached to a metal frame with wheels) is pictured as pupils practice at the Bullfighting School at Las Ventas bullring in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Text from AP News story, AP Photos: Children learn Spain’s deadly art of bullfighting, by Manu Fernandez
Photos by Manu Fernandez
