Palestinian Circus Association

The effect of the Israeli military occupation has been very difficult for young Palestinians, particularly since the outbreak of the second Intifada in 2000. They witness their homes being unlawfully demolished, experience personal humiliation at checkpoints, suffer physical abuse and arbitrary detention and many carry the grief of having loved ones killed by the Israeli military. Moreover, they face the harsh reality of mounting responsibility in a tough economy with growing unemployment rates. Too many young people ended up in the streets, where they struggle to make a few shekels by selling sweets, recycling rubbish or cleaning the windows of cars waiting at the checkpoints. The Circus School began as a small circus group in August 2006. Shadi Zmorrod and Jessika Devlieghere, initiated the idea to introduce circus arts from Palestinians for Palestinians. The substance of the circus pedagogy is to stimulate and develop the physical, mental, artistic, sensitive, social and cognitive abilities. In January 2006, the Belgian circus school ‘Cirkus in Beweging’ offered to come to Palestine to train people to become involved in creating a permanent circus education in Palestine. After three weeks of intensive training, the first performance of the school, “Circus Behind the Wall”, was presented in August 2006 at Ashtar Theatre in Ramallah. More than 250 people attended the show. August 2006 to January 2007, the group continued training without a permanent base. It succeeded in delivering 7 performances in Ramallah, and one in Bethlehem. In 2007, Mays Hajjaj and Fadi Zmorrod, part of the key group, became the first trainers of the Palestinian Circus School, soon followed by Nayef Abdallah in 2008, to guarantee the continuous training of average 80 children on a weekly basis. In 2009, the Circus School started to lay its foundations to become a real institution, and engaged its first administrative staff. In 2011, Circus School moved to the current premises.