New circus or contemporary circus (also known as nouveau cirque or cirque contemporain in French-speaking countries) is a genre of performing arts developed in the late 20th century in which a story or theme is conveyed through traditional circus skills.

Animals are rarely used in this type of performance, and traditional circus skills are blended with a more character-driven approach. Compared with the traditional circuses of the past, the contemporary approach tends to focus more attention on the overall aesthetic impact, sometimes on character and story development, and on the use of lighting design, original music, and costume design to convey thematic or narrative content.

This gropu takes its roots from the needs that were diagnosed – hostility among society, the need for respect towards others, increased tolerance toward people of various religions or races, fight for animals rights against which there are still a lot of acts of violence, and furthermore, these acts are not punished properly. Bearing in mind the need for self-development in the context of one’s own talents, it is good to know that some circus arts are a non-institutional and non-formal, strong point in the development of circus art. This art is still evolving and now is enriched with some fields comprising theatre, education, resocialization, or free time animation. New Circus is just a combination of different arts which give youth a lot of developmental possibilities.

It is worth remembering that jugglers, acrobats or clowns are people who, through their artism, ironically show various social issues and a recipient is obliged to decode the message. As for many initiators circus art is a great passion, young people would like to demonstrate that each talent, passion and determination may make every single individual do a dream job, proving one’s stubbornness and firmness in reaching lifetime occupational goals.

Group objectives:

• raising the socially important issue of human rights

• promotion of animals rights (in an educational and social dimension)

• popularizing the attitudes of tolerance and human dignity

• increase of intercultural awareness

• stimulating creativity and a sense of entrepreneurship among young people

• reinforcement of European cohesion for the common welfare

• development of passions and interests for the future career choice

• promotion of civic responsibility among youth in order to combat discrimination