Recortadores
A Leap of Faith
“There’s a chance I won’t come home alive.”
He straps on his rucksack and marches out the door. He has just showered and hasn’t eaten a thing in 12 hours. If a bull were to gore him in the arena, there’s a chance he’d need to be operated on. And doctors prefer to operate on someone with an empty stomach.
It’s a 4,000-year-old dance – an ancient contest in which the only participant in danger is a young man attempting to evade a charging bull in the most artistic manner possible. The margins are tight and injuries are frequent but for the bull-leapers of Spain, it’s about a love for the bulls and the thrill of performing in the shadow of potential disaster. Before bull-leaper, Eusebio Sacristán leaves his parents’ home on the morning of a significant competition, he says something no mother wants to hear.
Regardless of generations of experience, the days and hours prior to a competition is packed with emotion, nervous energy and anticipation of the danger that lies ahead
Saúl Rivera kisses his rosary beads before the semi-final in Madrid. He is religious, as are many other recortadores.
Euseblo Sacristán, twenty-seven, from the Castile and León region is the Spanish bull-leaping champion. His trademark move sees him somersaulting over the bulls
A tense calm: recortadores waiting to go on in the wings at Las Ventas
A traditional Spanish quartet invigorates the crowd with punctuated musical riffs as the event takes place
A Spanish fighting bull from the Toro-pasión stable. The toros bravos can grow to 1,325 pounds and sport lethal horns
A fighting bull in the bowels of the arena
Only the most skillful recortadores attempt somersaults over the bulls. Saúl Riviera and a perfectly executed salto del ângel
The Las Ventas in the Salamanca district of Madrid is the crucible of Spanish bull sports. It has a capacity of 23,000.
Last-minute evasion: the recorta sees the bull-leaper turn his bak on the rushing bull
Graceful, dynamic and calculated split-second moves are skills that are taught and passed on by each generations of the of the recoratadores familes
The graceful skill of evading the charging bull is judged on the proximity to the bull that the recortadero places himself as near as possible without injury
Bull-leapers combine courage and risk-taking with perfect timing. Spaniard Pakito Murillo at Las Ventas bullfighting arena in Madrid
An injured recortador in the arena, a badge of honor, proudly displays the bull's horn puncture that nearly missed his heart
Recortadores show their bulls respect. Bull-leaping doesn't injure the animals
Winding down after the competition: recortadores return unharmed. On Monday they'll go back to their regular jobs
Euseblo Sacristân learned to be a recortadero from his father, and grandfather, he teaches his son at an early age to respect the bulls and will soon begin to introduce him to bull-leaping