AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! I’m Amy Goodman. We’re here in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Edinburgh International Festival is taking place here and the massive Fringe Festival, and we’ve just come to the Meadows Circus Hub, where the Palestinian Circus has just finished performing. They will be here for the next three weeks, every day at 2:00. We’re joined by the artistic director. Can you say your name and talk about what is the Palestinian Circus?

NOOR ABO ALROB: So, my name is Noor Abo Alrob. I’m the artistic officer at the Palestinian Circus. The Palestinian Circus is a Palestinian circus organization. Basically, we try to work with kids and Palestinian youth. We work with around 100 freelance circus artists and trainers, that they are all over the different cities in the West Bank and Gaza. And last year, we worked with 4,000 children in Palestine, also including Gaza and the West Bank. So, we bring people together. We work on trust between them, communication.

AMY GOODMAN: What do you mean, “trust”?

NOOR ABO ALROB: Trust actually is a basic human value that we miss as a human being, to trust other people. And in the circus, technically, it doesn’t work without building trust. So, if someone is going to fall from three meters high and the group is going to be there to catch him, they need to trust each other. So he’s trusting the group to catch him.

So, actually, the circus art itself, it brings people together. It creates trust and communication. At the same time, this is what we miss in Palestine. Everyone is spread apart. We are there. We work with children from different cities, different refugee camps, different places. They are disconnected by checkpoints.

So, we believe in circus that we can use circus art to bring people together, to create together and to create shows. We believe also circus is a tool where people can express themselves and share, like, their emotions between them. So, yeah, that’s why we believe circus is very important to bring people together during hard times.

AMY GOODMAN: How did you end up at Fringe in Edinburgh?

NOOR ABO ALROB: So, this show that we are performing in the festival, it’s called the “Step and a Half.” And it’s a show that talks about Palestinian identity, Palestinian culture, Palestinian celebration, and merging circus arts and Palestinian traditional dance.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you introduce us to one of the performers?

NOOR ABO ALROB: Of course. Layan. Layan is here. She was flying on the show.

AMY GOODMAN: Hi, Layan. Can you say your full name?

LAYAN RAFIDI: Layan Rafidi.

AMY GOODMAN: And wait a second, Noor just said you were flying in the show. Where are you from, first of all?

LAYAN RAFIDI: Palestine, the West Bank, Ramallah. I do the dancing trapeze, so I fly around the stage.

AMY GOODMAN: And how has the circus changed you?

LAYAN RAFIDI: Circus built my character. I built my character in the circus. So, it gives me a space to express myself without talking.

AMY GOODMAN: Can circus members leave Gaza?

NOOR ABO ALROB: Yeah. So, we — there are several circus groups in Gaza, and we are located also on the West Bank. Physically, we could never be able, like, to meet together. And we worked together since 10 years. And especially during the past three years, when the genocide started over Gaza, all the circus groups there, they didn’t stop for a single day of performing and teaching children until today in the refugee camps, like around Gaza.

And for us, this is really the real inspiration for us. They are in really, like, the worst situation that someone can imagine. At the same time, they are trying to do everything they can to not stop giving the chance for children to practice circus. At the same time, you know, we are disconnected physically. We never could meet together, actually, but we work together since 10 years and until today. And hopefully, one day in the future, that we can really meet together physically and work together.

AMY GOODMAN: So, there you have it, the Palestinian Circus, performing every day just behind us in the Circus Hub in the Meadows at the Fringe Festival here in Edinburgh, Scotland, from August 8th to August 29th at 2:05 p.m. each day. I’m Amy Goodman. This is Democracy Now!