Editor’s note: This story was reported and photographed from February 2019 to March 2020. The text has been updated to reflect the activities of the circus during the pandemic.
Phelelani Ndakrokra prefers not to talk about his past. But what the 23-year-old acrobat will say is that if he hadn’t joined the circus ten years ago, he’d probably either be dead or in prison by now.
“Where I came from it’s hard to know what would have happened to me on the streets” says Ndakrokra, who grew up in a part of Cape Town where gang violence is rife. “The circus gave me a platform to feel free and do…
