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This circus in South Africa lifts poor young performers into the spotlight · Best of: Features

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  This circus in South Africa lifts poor young performer into the spotlight.
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  This article is being read by an automated voice, generated by Everlet.
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  Johannberg, the AP, clutching an aerial hoop on a Johannesburg circus stage,
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  a young performer pauses for a split second before launching into the
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  air and gliding, drawing cheers from the crowd below. For twenty nine
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  year told Brian Gobese, who grew up in South Africa's impoverished Alexandra
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  Township, moments like this mean more than applause, the circus has given
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  him a stage, a livelihood, and a way to turn his talent
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  into work. We just want to show people that we can make
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  it out of the township, Gobisi told the Associated Press. What you
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  want to accomplish, you can actually make it. Behind the colorful spectacle
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  is a social program that helps performers from under-resourced communities turn talent
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  into opportunity and paid work. Alexandra is one of Johannesburg's most densely
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  populated townships, marked by high poverty and unemployment, despite being just a
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  few kilometers from Santon, a major financial district dubbed the richest square
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  mile in Africa. For many young South Africans, missing out on training
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  opportunities often means spending years on the fringes of the labor market.
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  Many tend to stay unemployed, rather than move into informal work. The
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  Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said a circus that gives jobless
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  youths an opportunity. Michelle Falk, an organizer of the social program, says
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  the goal is to create pathways into professionally. Circus to help jobless
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  young people. Unemployment among eighteen to thirty four year old South Africans
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  was about forty five percent in twenty twenty five, according to Statistics
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  South Africa. There's so much talent and so much skill in this
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  country. We just need a platform to launch, she said. Performers train
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  for years to build the strength, flexibility, and discipline needed to work
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  professionally. Some become instructors, while others take paid work with production companies
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  or the Circ, a professional Johannesburg circus company. The program is designed
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  to sustain itself through training, performances, and other circus work rather than
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  relying entirely on outside funding. Fox said South African performers bring a
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  distinctive rhythm and flow to circus, shaped by the country's mix of
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  cultures and backgrounds. He went from hip hop dancer to the circus.
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  Gobisi's older brother first introduced him to South African street and social
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  dancing. He later moved into contemporary hip hop and other styles, building
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  on a love of performing that began in childhood. He found Circus
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  almost by accident after auditioning as a dancer for a Joburg Theatre
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  production in twenty nineteen. What began as a short job became a
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  career when the Cirque invited him to stay and train. Gobis received
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  support for training and transportation through Josie circus School's Youth Development Program.
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  The school partners with the Circ, where he now works. Cirque was
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  like an adventure, he recalled. When I saw people flying, I was
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  like, Is this what they're doing here? Okay, this is life. I'm
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  like, let's go for it. Years later, Ngobese would quickly mend a
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  tear in his costume, his eyes streaked with red and yellow makeup,
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  as he prepared to go on stage. The Animal Free Circus Show
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  blends choreography with gravity defying acrobatics on silks and hoops. Gobiz plays
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  a little star journeying through oceans, fantastical lands, and fiery fortresses in
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  search of what will make him shine. The role reflects Ngabisi's own
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  journey into a world he had never imagined for himself. Circus also
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  brought Nobis together with Zenzele Letsuela, a fellow dancer from Alexandra. I'm
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  grateful to Sirk for bringing me another brother I didn't know I
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  actually needed in my life, Gobi said. Together they combined dance with
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  circus skills, and began attracting attention beyond the school. People were like,
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  Where are those guys? We want those guys. We want to see
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  more, he said. One performer defied his fear of heights. Letzoella, thirty
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  eight, trained in ballet and pansula, a fast paced South African township
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  dance style, moving into aerial acrobatics brought an unexpected challenge. He is
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  terrified of heights. I wouldn't say I've learned to overcome my fear
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  of heights, but I've learned to work around it, he said. Hoisted
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  about two o meters above the stage as a magical tree, Letzoella
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  stays in character despite the nerves. People don't see that I'm actually
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  nervous going into the air. I look very comfortable, he said, and
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  I'm like, if only you guys knew I am dying inside. Another
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  act hangs by her hair. Megan Nielsen, twenty two, sprays her hair
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  with water and conditioner, braids It into a tight bun, clips a
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  carabiner into the knot, and attaches herself to a five meter rope.
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  She lifts off the ground, swinging into a dizzying routine, her full
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  weight suspended by her hair, as she moves through a pencil spin,
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  an arabesque, and a pike pose. When you start, you literally cry,
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  Nielsen said. It's not even because of the pain, it's because of
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  how much tension it releases afterward. Her mother is proud but refuses
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  to watch. There is room to grow. But the program cannot accommodate
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  everyone who wants to join. It can only fully support four participants
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  a year, Fox said. You only have a certain number of slots,
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  Fox said. You gave to turn people away. Co founder Orlando Vargas
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  said the program grew out of a need to develop performers in
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  a country with relatively few opportunities for formal circus training. If you
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  want to do something for the continent, for the world, it's from
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  Johannesburg, Vargas said. I really believe it's from here. On stage, that
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  ambition was embodied in one little star. By the end of the
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  show, Nobiz, glittering in gold as the little star who has finally
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  found where he belongs, was back in the air hanging from an
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  aerial silk by one arm as gasps gave way to more cheers.
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  The AP Africa News.