Abstract

Social circus has a radical agenda. It takes the notion of “circus for everybody,” the catch cry of New Circus, out onto the streets, and involves some of the most deprived and abused people in society. Usually, but not always, social circus is undertaken with young people, primarily youth in perilous situations, and traumatized young people. This paper explores the evolution of social circus, which is traced back to Father Jesus Silva in Spain in the 1950s. The author draws together the work of Boris Cyrulnik and Peter A. Levine to create the notion of “the resilient body,” a concept which provides a theoretical context for social circus, for Father Jesus Silva's success, and for the extraordinary results that social circus is achieving worldwide in social intervention with young people at risk.