- Screenshot_20220217-020224_2.jpg (150.43 KiB) Katsottu 1032 kertaa
06 DECEMBER 2013
https://www.helsinkitimes.fi/finland/fi ... sault.html
"Black Superman" performing again after assault
Omar Marcus was attacked during one of his performances in Helsinki centre near Lasipalatsi but he has no intention of giving up on his tightrope act.
On Saturday, 9 October, the news service Metro.fi reported that the tightrope walking Superman had been assaulted. The news quickly spread to other media, causing an instant uproar. A natural reaction, as everyone out and about around the Lasipalatsi building in the centre of Helsinki would have seen shows by the performer
Omar Marcus.
The police and Marcus gave identical reports on the events.
Dressed up as the famous superhero, Marcus, 43, was balancing on a rope tightened between two trees in front of the shopping centre Forum.
Two men and a woman, all evidently drunk, arrived at the scene and seeing the performance, one of the men yelled that he was going to shove Marcus off the rope.
“No, don’t do that,” Marcus called out to him.
The drunken trio left but shortly after, one of the men returned with the woman, who started shouting things at Marcus, with the man yanking the rope at the same time. Marcus fell on the street, suffering injuries to his head, neck, back, hand and fingers.
Lying on the ground, Marcus asked a group of adolescents standing nearby for help and one of them stopped a police car. The police soon caught the man and the woman.
As of yet, Marcus has been unable to climb back on the rope.
Raising himself up from the sofa in his home in Vantaa, Marcus shows how the man and the woman had positioned themselves, seemingly deliberately, in a way that prevented him from seeing the push coming.
“I can usually prepare for things but this came out of the blue.”
An acrobat by training, Marcus does not often injure himself.
Originally from Guyana, in South America, Marcus grew up in a family in which the father, a police officer, and brothers were all involved in acrobatics.
“Everything I do has come to me naturally and by practising, I haven’t studied any of it at school.”
An owner of a Mexican circus saw 16-year-old Marcus performing on a street and recruited him and his brothers to perform as acrobats. Marcus spent next six years working at the circus.
“That was such a great time. I performed on a trapeze, did magic tricks and all sorts of other minor stuff. We mainly toured in South America. We had nice costumes, enough money and a great show. We performed for example in an international five-star hotel in St. Maarten,” explains Marcus.
Finnish connection
After his time at the circus, Marcus ran a vegetarian restaurant in Guyana where he also drove a taxi. Nine years ago, Marcus met
Aino at the Guyana airport.
“We had already been chatting on the phone and writing letters to each other.”
Marcus and Aino fell in love and moved to Finland.
In 2005, before Christmas, the family ran into financial trouble and Marcus decided to earn some extra money by doing a tightrope show dressed up as a Father Christmas. He enjoyed performing so much that he decided to continue after Christmas, swapping the long white beard for a Superman costume.
It gives me a peace of mind and I get to meet new people. I’ve been booked to perform at weddings and in people’s homes. It also gives me an opportunity to get people to hear my music,” says Marcus.
“When people are on their way home after a long day at work, seeing Superman cheers them up.”
However, not everyone is happy to see the acrobatic superhero performing his tightrope act.
“Last summer, somebody turned up with a knife and threatened to cut the rope. I shouted for him not to do it. He took out a gun and said that one more word from me and he’d shoot. I calmed him down and he left, but something like that ruins your day.”
Hardly a week goes by without an unpleasant incident. Marcus would like bystanders to intervene in threatening situations to stop him from getting hurt, adding that Helsinki on the whole would benefit from such interventions.
Tour guides in Helsinki sometimes tell tourists that they may well bump into a tightrope walking superhero in the centre of Helsinki. Marcus has also been featured on postcards.
Hardly a week goes by without an unpleasant incident. Marcus would like bystanders to intervene in threatening situations to stop him from getting hurt, adding that Helsinki on the whole would benefit from such interventions.
Tour guides in Helsinki sometimes tell tourists that they may well bump into a tightrope walking superhero in the centre of Helsinki. Marcus has also been featured on postcards.
Even though threatening behaviour and indifference shown by passers-by always take Marcus by surprise, he says he has settled well in Finland.
Big return
The showman, who satisfies his enthusiasm for performing through his music and tightrope act, was given an opportunity to show his skills to a bigger crowd recently.
After hearing about the assault on the performer, sports manager
Aleksi Valavuori contacted Marcus, inviting him to perform his Superman act during the Eurocup match of the basketball team Loimaa Bisons at Energia arena in Vantaa.
“That really cheered me up.”
Marcus is not pining for his old circus life.
“There is a time for everything. I have a family now and the circus is no job for someone with a family.”
JOSE RIIKONEN – HS
NIINA WOOLLEY – HT
PHOTO: HS / KAI SINERVO
. Silmistä näkee ettei ainakaan ole tunnetuissa länsimaisissa huumeissa.
