00:00In Johannesburg, a circus is helping young performers from under-resourced communities to turn talent into careers.
00:09Among them is a 29-year-old Brian Ngobese who grew up in Alexandra Township.
00:18Like before the circus, it was mostly dance education, being an influential purpose in my baby brother's life.
00:28But once the circus life started, I was more than happy to show who I am, who I can be
00:36without being scared, who I'm supposed to be without being judged by other people outside.
00:40Because where I come from, you are judged for what you do.
00:43I'm doing circus, they'll be like, oh, you're a clown.
00:45Like, no, I'm not a clown, I'm a performer.
00:52Ngobese performs alongside the fellow Alexandra Dancer Zezele Letzola, who has learned to manage his fear of heights while taking
01:01on aerial roles.
01:03I've actually, I've gotten so many comments since me and Brian are literally the only people of colour in most
01:13of the productions.
01:14People are like, are you guys sure that you are people of colour?
01:17And someone would literally ask, I'd like to touch our skins to make sure that it's not like paint or
01:23like makeup.
01:23And I was like, it's not, it's very rare to see a person of colour doing this kind of performing.
01:30So for me and for Brian and myself, being able to be part of this has been like the best
01:38and craziest experience of my life.
01:44The animal-free show combines dance, choreography and gravity-defying movers on silks and hoops.
01:51Really amazing, we loved it.
01:53We loved the characters, the costumes.
01:55The fact that they cast in South Africa, it was like wonderful.
01:58She actually wants to come back tomorrow.
02:01Oh, wow.
02:02And who was your favourite character?
02:05The little star.
02:06Aww.
02:08And the lady who was speaking for the little star.
02:11The programme works with the Jersey Sarkas schools to train performance, some of whom go on to become instructors.
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