Photo: Compagnia Compostelli e.V.

The amount of skill required to keep your balance on a unicycle, or how much courage you need to fly through the air on a trapeze: the young acrobats in Circus Compostelli know what it takes to perform before an audience, tackle artistic challenges - and overcome stage fright. They are a part of the largest youth circus in Germany, where young people, including some with special care needs, learn to recognize their own talents and develop their self-reliance.

Proving to yourself and to an audience what you’ve got in you: that is at the heart of the initiative, which has been run by Compagnia Compostelli in Schwäbisch Hall since 1996. “It costs young artists a great deal at the beginning,” says Circus board member Arnd Knapstein. “But within the safety of the community, they can try out new things and discover unexpected abilities.” Knapstein explains that social learning plays an important role: “With us, the older ones take responsibility for the younger. They instruct them in the circus tent and are important role models.”

Daring feats and trying new things happen outside the circus ring, as well: Circus Compostelli offers regular workshops in the neighboring institute for the disabled. “The expansion of circus work to include children with disabilities has had a positive effect on all participants,” explains Konrad Lampart, the responsible project manager at SAGST. “It makes the circus, started as a Waldorf school project, into an important source of new social impulses.”