20 young Palestinian circus artists are coming to Belgium to perform together with Belgian circus acts. The youngsters can be seen in Ghent, Anderlecht (Brussels Region), Bruges, Mechelen and Leuven.
The Palestinian Circus School is coming to Belgium for the second part of an exchange that started last summer. Back then, the Belgian youngsters travelled to the Palestinian territories, but at the end of the day, it was too dangerous to put on real performances.
Due to the security situation, the group could not travel to various Palestinian cities to perform as planned and were forced to stay in the town of Ramallah. "Still, it was very exciting, several times we heard reports that the Israeli army had invaded somewhere," says Lieven Leemans, one of the coordinators.
"Meanwhile, violence in Gaza and the West Bank has reached unprecedented proportions. It makes the exchange extra challenging; we sometimes fear that the situation will escalate and the young people might not be able to fly to Belgium. We try not to worry about that and hope everything will work out."
"Once they are here safe and sound, it will be nice for these guys to see the friends they made last year. Belgian youngsters are very involved in what is happening in Palestine. They are monitoring the situation and are concerned. For the Palestinian youngsters, on the one hand it is a relief that they are coming to Belgium, and on the other hand their thoughts are with their homeland."
The aim of the exchange is to offer young circus talent a way to deal with the situation: "Circus is a universal language. They can use this language to tell their personal story, speak out freely without censorship, and talk about issues that matter to them. It allows them to express their worries, dreams and fears. "
"When you put circus kids together, a bond is formed even though they have no real common language. They start juggling and they understand each other. The Palestinian youngsters are in a pretty isolated situation, coming to Belgium gives them a broader view of the world and they feel they are not alone."