Circus arts help Syrian children make new life

Laughter rings out and there is an atmosphere of excitement and joyful chaos. Children are perched on stilts and others spin plates or happily perform aerial dances.

This is not a big top circus in a major city but a house in southeastern Turkey, where Syrian refugee children learn circus tricks in an innovative program to help integrate into their foreign host country. 

The Her Yerde Sanat Association (Art Anywhere) works with 120 young people aged three to 20.  

Just north of the Syrian border, at the house in the Mardin province, there is a beautiful view over the Mesopotamian plain to Syria, which 80 of the youngsters once called home. The other children are Turkish.

On the ground floor, some 15 children alternate between aerial dancing from ribbons suspended from the ceiling, juggling and the trapeze, while younger ones in a second room play percussion instruments with an impressive intensity.  Upstairs, Turkish is being taught to Syrian children so they can integrate into school.

Some learn the circus arts every day because they are unable to go to school; for others it is a weekend activity. Some become good enough to perform publicly in shows or regional festivals.

Fifteen-year-old Eyad Haj Mahmoud, originally from Aleppo in northern Syria, believes the classes are helpful.
"I learned things here that have allowed me to become a better person," he said. 

It is a chance for the children to temporarily forget their past - adult instructors, most of whom have a professional or amateur circus background, are told never to ask about their origins.

Surrounded by the sound of laughter and raucous activity, Pınar Demiral said the children "are just here to create circus art."

"We use...