Acrobat, equilibrist, contortionist, juggler, trapezist. Miriam comes from the seventh generation of the Orteney family from Belgium. She was born and brought up in a circus owned by her grandfather. Her parents are Arturito and Nilda Lavínia Brueyne. She debuted at eigh as a juggler and performed all her life in grand style, using a 15 centimeter high-heel shoes. Miriam married Jorge Madureira. Together with their daughter, Claudia Orteney and her son in law Alex Brede, she runs the Cia do Circo, a circus school in Campinas, São Paulo.