Students of the Kiev circus school fled to Prague from war.
“They don’t have petrol for their cars; some of them are walking. Right now they can hear explosions,” Rostislav Novák, the principal of Cirk La Putyka, informed the public about the situation of the Ukrainian circus students at the end of February. Shortly after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, more than three dozen students, their teachers and parents from Kiev arrived in Prague. The students studied at the prestigious Kyiv Municipal Academy of Performing and Circus Arts. Some of them headed to other countries, for example to Berlin or Budapest.
In the Czech Republic, the cultural space Jatka78 and the ensemble Cirk La Putyka took care of them and their teachers and parents, first providing them with transport from the Polish-Ukrainian border, an interpreter, a psychologist, and accommodation. In the following days – and weeks – they provided them with food and helped with paperwork, as well as circus lessons. Now, the students already have lessons in movement, acrobatics, dance, and Czech or English.
Workshops with experts from the Czech Republic and abroad are also in the pipeline. On March 22, the students from Kiev presented themselves to the Czech audience together with the youngest generation of artists from Cirk la Putyka in the performance entitled Boom Vol. 1. “We won’t lie to you, sometimes we communicate using our hands and feet, sometimes we don’t understand each other at all without an interpreter, but we’re all in this together,” writes Cirk La Putyka.
Help from the audience and supporters
The teams of both organizations also worked together to find, renovate and furnish a house where the students will stay. Thanks to the audience and followers on social media, they were able to do this incredibly quickly. Immediately, they also launched a charity campaign on the Darujme.cz platform, where people can donate money for the students, material help, and psychological support.
On the first weekend in March, the Cirk La Putyka ensemble had the last performance of its Batacchio production. “During the Batacchio performance, Cirk La Putyka raised CZK 257,202 for our new students from the circus school in Kiev. Thank you all!!” informed the Jatka78 organization on its social media. It remains to be seen what will happen with the students in the future. Recently, more parents and Nina Araya Berrios, the vice-rector and teacher of the Kiev school, have arrived in Prague as well.
What happens next?
The students are safe at the moment, which is the main thing. But the near future raises many questions. The students are between fifteen and seventeen years old, with several boys soon to be eighteen, so they will probably have to leave Prague and will be called to arms if the war continues in the coming months.
Unlike other European countries, the Czech Republic has no circus arts secondary school, leaving the students without proper education, although Jatka78 tries to provide them with as adequate education as possible. Even if the Ukrainian students complete their secondary education, they will not have an easy path to further education, as circus arts are not taught at any university in this country. The question arises whether it is not time to consider establishing such education not only for their sake, but also for the sake of the tradition of the new circus, which already has a firm place in the Czech cultural space.