Armed with some basic juggling implements, a few tumbling mats and a flair for costume-making, a circus in a small Ethiopian town has turned itself into a professional troupe, bringing shows to local villages and to audiences in Africa and Europe. Circus Debre Berhan is based in the town of that name, a few hours north-east of the capital, Addis Ababa. It started in the late 1990s as part of a network of amateur circuses and has now developed its own professional troupe. Their latest show Cargo ran for several weeks in Sweden, in collaboration with the group Angereds Teater. The troupe stays away from trapeze and acts that need complicated or expensive material. They concentrate on manipulating objects with their hands or feet. Circus director Teklu Ashagir describes the circus troupe as belonging to the whole town and as “very deep in the community”. He believes everybody in Debre Berhan feels “this circus is my circus”. The circus includes disabled, blind and deaf performers.
