A Circus in Chincha ~ by CHRIS

It’s our first day off on our second tour and I finally find myself with the time and creative energy to write. I’m not going to attempt to capture everything that has transpired or inspired me in these past two weeks. I’ll save that for the book I am still committed to writing about these tours and the greater life experience that the Dreamtime Circus has sent spiraling into motion for me. Rather, I’d like to take a narrative snapshot and capture just a moment or two to give my friends and family at home and around the world a taste of life on a charitable circus tour in Peru.

As I write this, the women in the troupe are visiting a shelter for about twenty girls, all survivors of abuse, all with children as a result of that abuse. The whole troupe, including the men, will visit this shelter again before we leave Chincha, but we decided that sending the women was the best way to introduce the girls to the circus. And every woman in the troupe volunteered to go, on their day off, with a bag full of make-up and other girly things, to spend an afternoon connecting, role-modeling, and allowing these young mothers to just be girls for a day. I feel fortunate to have played a role in making afternoons like this possible, even when I’m not participating in the particular activity. And I am so grateful to the amazing women in our troupe (nine of the thirteen members currently in Peru) who trust me enough to technically lead this organization and ultimately drive the circus agenda as much as I do, if not more. I believe the hearts of women will ultimately pull the world out of its war ravaged misery, and I want to do what I can to support that transformation.

Mayten, our incredibly generous host in Chincha, is one of these women on a mission to transform the world. She regularly works with the girls at this shelter and another one with about 80 girls nearby. And, she opens her door not only to charitable circus troupes from the US, but to all the children in the neighborhood where she lives. A lot of these kids have extremely difficult family lives and, since the earthquake in 2007, live in houses that have been scrapped together with whatever materials could be found – bits of wood, bamboo, sheet metal, and a plastic tarp for a roof. Mayten provides these kids a safe haven, where they know that anyone she introduces them to is “non-toxic” (won’t hurt them in any way). One of her passions is to help the kids that, through the trials and tribulations of a very difficult life, have lost their voice. She helps them find their voice through music, art, and other activities that build their self-esteem. Some of the kids I met, kids that came up and kissed me on the cheek and started a conversation with me, had literally lost their voice when they first started visiting Mayten. I mean they literally couldn’t speak anymore.

So thirteen of us are crammed into a couple of rooms in this hot, concrete house with no ventilation, sharing one bathroom amongst us which often means using the toilet while someone is in the shower and someone else is brushing their teeth. It’s the fast track to getting to know each other, that’s for sure. And, we’re attempting to put a show together in a handful of dusty, trash-filled spots because it’s the only shade around. We endure frequent interruptions because someone needs to run back inside and (urgently) use the toilet. But we’re all loving it, mas o menos, because we all wanted to come here and do exactly what we’re doing. We love having the kids around each day, getting to know them, learning their names, teaching them, playing with them, becoming friends with them. And we are all inspired, perhaps awe-struck, at the work Mayten is doing, and we want to be a part of it.

The work on the show is slow going. Key performers have been sick, we all went to the beach and everyone of us burned the heck out of our skin even though we all put on sunblock (imagine hooping, fire spinning, or acro-balancing with skin too sensitive to touch), and we’ve intentionally slowed the pace of our show development in order to invest more time in workshops with the kids. But now we’ve set a date – the first big show of the tour is a week from today, Friday March19^th, and the whole community is invited. It’s going to be a crazy week as we prepare the show, continue workshops, and squeeze in a few more shelter visits, but it will be all be worth it. Chincha has welcomed the Dreamtime Circus with open arms, and the least we can do is put on a spectacular circus show in return!