Circo Ponte das Estrelas – Circus Star bridge

A lawn, in the centre training mats, colour full bed sheets hanging and behind it colourful costumes, unicycles, juggling - balls and clubs … this is the rehearsal, the stage, the circus. 

And then as fast as the wind everything is packed into a little trailer, two hours later the curtain rises in a school in Sao Paulo, 300 pupils are excitedly awaiting the start, artist with colourful costumes rush on the stage magnetise the audience with little stunts, juggling balls, rings flying about, a theatre scene stirs the dreams, crying, laughing, there is a unicycle and on the shoulders of the cyclist a balancing act is taking place, then skipping ropes comes out, three ropes being skipped into another and a unicycle jumping through it … is it possible? At the end of the performance a childrens pyramid with five levels and the applause from the audience simply will not stop.

Are these the same children from the favelas on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, the school drop outs, and the difficult children, those who everyone has given up on?

This is the Circus “CIRCO PONTE DAY ESTRELAY”

Circus work – hope for the children from the poor districts.

Our project for children and youths from the outskirts of Sao Paulo began in a crèche for HIV positive families. Celia Cristina Santána, Katrin Burgert and Regina Klein – the founding members from Germany and Sao Paulo – started the work with siblings from the crèche, other children and youths from the surrounding favelas (ghettos), doing training in the discipline of circus acts on weekends. Very soon there was such a growth in numbers that it became clear we needed more time and space, an own club, an own project.

In our third year of the project we now have temporary space available, and work with children and youths five days a week and every fortnight on weekends we overnight. The Estrelas is an independent communal association. Our work is largely voluntary.

Life in the favelas is hard and often merciless. Brutal scenes on the streets, police raids, shoot outs of drug dealers with the military police are daily occurrences. Families have a lack of structures – they are mostly torn apart from this extremely hard every day life, poverty the battle of survival in such a gigantic metropolitan city. In many families parents are ill, drug dependent, imprisoned and much domestic violence. The children and the youths are at the mercy of it all, learn at a very early age to keep with the pace, to eke out a living, carries to much responsibilities to soon... for themselves, their siblings, their sick parents. Many children are pushed onto aunts and even grand parents some are even excluded from schooling. A real childhood is missing, there are no role models, no real values. In many cases there are concentration weaknesses, behavioural problems, aggression, eating disorders, no desire for learning, escape into scenes of drugs, sex and suicide.

The aim of our work is to give the children a possibility to find a healthy way back to themselves, their families, their schools and their community. To learn to have trust in themselves, in others and to be sociable. To develop an interest and joy for learning and the strength to become a totally healthy person, young adults that have the courage to take their destiny in their own hands and shape it feely.

Curative doing: accompanying schools, circus work and artistic activities.

The children come to us daily either before or after school, here in Sao Paulo children are taught in different time shifts. They get two full meals and a snack in between. We practice in theatrical form different circus acts and works through an annual programme that is performed during the summer holidays in different schools, culture centres and theatres in Sao Paulo.

A condition a prerequisite to participation in our circus is that the children must be in school or at least have the wish to once again at some point and time go back to school. We support and follow their school development, give help with homework and give extra subject lessons like foreign languages, music lessons and artistic activities (clay modelling, water colour painting, drawing). The is also the domestic science activities like bread backing, knitting, crocheting, weaving sewing juggling balls, building our own props, woodwork etc.

The foundation of all our work is based on Waldorf education and we focus on artistic and handwork activities. For these “apparently strong and aggressive” children, living in the chaos of violence and no structure there lives deep within a deep insecurity, a feeling of having fallen out of the world, nothing seems to connect and the world seems to be an unreal place.

Activities that help to make life meaningful – like backing bread and eating it, or sewing juggling balls and then juggling with it – help the children to find context and feel integrated. Working with the body and schooling its movement gives equilibrium and balance out the weakened motor skills.

The daily work, the daily practice and struggle for ones own hidden aims allows these youths to get to know themselves, they practice discipline and persistence and slowly there grows an inner security and self confidence.

Hard work gets rewarded when performances begin. The pride steams from the eyes each single individual and the whole group, the applause is an honest recognition of the work of each individual. Suddenly everything makes sense, we have given the joy and pride of parents and schools back to the community. The circle is once again complete and no words are needed because the experience speaks for itself.

The curtain closes and the applause simply will not stop, the children’s red cheeks as they carry their props to the trailer a sign that the world is real after all?

Our year 2007 and a big thank you

This year was our third year doing appearances – and to our amazement and great joy the next performances and its stories were already being awaited and our performers were received as artists and were celebrated at the end of a performance.

This is a great gift, as the success and the glamour of the performances are only short shining moments not only of hard struggles with each and every circus act, but much more with the daily working through of ones own personal weaknesses – to recognises these weaknesses at all and then to be able to bear criticism and having the ability to stand with all of this in front of the group.

The group has grown in strength and was able to during this year to take on new youths and carry them. For each performance is dependent on the cooperation of the whole group.

Our story “O mundo de Santiago” (the world of Santiago) has been performed at the cultural centre of Monte Azul (4x), Dia do SESC in Monte Azul, Associação ACOMI/Colègio Waldorf Micael, Movimento Comunitário Estrela Nova, Horizonte Azul, Colègio Terra Brasilis, Colègio Concórdia (3x), Escola Waldorf Veredas Campinas (2x), Escola EMEF Aracy, Associação Beneficente “O Semeador” (under the participating institution “Pequeno Príncipe”) und Associação Travessía.

We would like to give a big thanks to the Associação Beneficente Tobias (ABT) in Sao Paulo who made our work and our tours possible this year. Thanks to the Freunde der Erziehungskunst Rudolf Steiners and the Mahle – foundation it was possible for us to acquire the need props of the running productions as well as the backlog payment for the starting of the new building. A great thank you to the city of Sao Paulo, as well as the mayor Campo Limpo who enabled a process which could allocate us the property needed for our own circus grounds.

We would like to thank Henrys/Karlsruhe, and BallaBalla/Köln for their donations of maces and diabolos, the Waldorf kindergarten Lübeck and the Eurythmy shoe donation from Bleyer and the circus Faustino from Überlingen, the diligent sock knitters from Germany and for all the donations of unicycles, juggling balls and diabolos etc, Da. Christina for the clay to do modelling and TERARTE for the donations of water colours and chalk for our artistic activities. Thank you, to all our spontaneous friends and donors for material, food and voluntary help.

And lastly we wish to thank from the depths of our hearts all those who received us so warmly, for all the help in setting up the performance dates, organising, helping with setting up and taking down of the stage, afternoon meals, snacks, flowers, gifts, hugs, smiles and all the good ideas and wishes and for the applause. Without all this help our work would not be possible. You are all included in our pride when we review this last year and we joyously look forward to cooperative work in the future.

Regina Klein

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