The Pernambouc Circus School: art as a tool for social transformation

Fátima Pontes is the executive coordinator of the Pernambouc Circus School, located in the Brazilian state of the same name to the north east of the country. The school works in close collaboration with Emmaus de Recife and will be present at the Emmaus International World Forum of Alternatives. Fátima Pontes answers our questions about the power of art and culture for social transformation

Cirque 2

What work does your circus school do and which artists will be taking part in the Forum?

We are a collective of artists that has been applying the ‘social circus’ methodology for 22 years. This involves creating socio-educational opportunities with children, teenagers and young adults who frequently come from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Four members of our school will be going to the Forum – three artist-educators and myself – and we will share our experience of education and inclusion through circus arts.

How can art and culture be tools for social transformation?

Art is important for all humans – it is a means of looking at the world differently, with kindness and tolerance towards others, in particular those who are ‘different’. That is how art and culture are worlds of understanding. Those interested in culture or who practise some form of art are often more generous and aware of each individual’s rights and responsibilities as a human being.

To change society, these are important values and we need to fight to make the dreams of each child and teenager a possibility. As Paulo Freire* said, “to exist, you need to free yourself from oppression.”

How can artistic expression deal with subjects linked to injustice and exclusion?

Through raising awareness of each individual’s role as a citizen in the fight against inequality. It is important to remind and to teach that we are all equal, and that we all have rights and responsibilities as well as the power to take action to create a fairer world.

This responsibility and this power should be fostered from a very young age, within families, groups of friends, communities, cities and countries!

How does your troupe connect with the audience and how do you encourage the fight against discrimination?

In general, our work is based on the ‘Social Circus Methodology’. This uses the circus arts as a means of pedagogical dialogue within a process of informal education and with the aim of promoting social transformation. In addition, the topics that our shows deal with are explicitly social and political.

That is how the concept of the ‘social circus’ moves beyond simply putting on technical circus performances that are part of our social project. Our approach is political teaching aimed at creative development and strengthening a sense of citizenship based on needs, opportunities and the knowledge of working-class children and young people.

Using circus to teach uses the joy and the power of this age-old art form to strengthen each individual’s feeling of citizenship. From its origins, circus was based on diversity, acceptance of the other and promotion of the imaginary, but also overcoming obstacles to live together and to create together.

The performance and the game are therefore also taken seriously. Social circus dreams of a different world, one which is tolerant, which stands in solidarity, and which is accepting of what it is: our world belongs to all of us, it is a world with an open sky, round and ever-moving.

* A Brazilian teacher who developed a method of teaching literacy, ‘teaching the oppressed’, designed as a means of fighting oppression.