Azirkarte – Circo Social e Inclusivo – Vitoria-Gasteiz

Azirkarte is a social and inclusive circus association based in Vitoria-Gasteiz , in the Basque Country.

The project was born from the desire to offer young people with functional diversity accessible physical, educational, artistic and cultural activities during their free time.

The association uses circus arts as a tool for inclusion and overall personal development.

The adventure began in 2016 with an experimental social circus workshop organized for young people in special education.

Experience quickly shows that circus disciplines offer participants a particularly suitable space to express themselves, develop their abilities and find their place within a group.

The project gradually transformed into an extracurricular activity and then into an independent association.

Azirkarte today brings together a stable group of young people exhibiting different forms of functional diversity.

The sessions take place every week in Vitoria-Gasteiz.

They are accompanied by a team of educators with experience in physical, sporting and recreational activities.

The main objective is not the pursuit of technical performance.

The circus is first and foremost a means of promoting personal development.

Each participant progresses at their own pace.

The exercises and equipment can be adapted according to individual abilities.

This approach allows everyone to find a discipline in which they can progress and enjoy practicing.

Juggling is one of the activities that are regularly used.

Participants can work with balls, clubs, rings, or other objects.

The exercises are adapted to each person's level of coordination.

One person may start by manipulating two objects while another is already working with three.

This individualized progression allows personal achievements to be valued.

The diabolo is also part of the equipment used.

Hula hoops allow for the exploration of manipulation, movement, and body expression.

Scarves offer a particularly accessible approach to juggling.

Jump ropes help develop coordination and rhythm.

Stilts are also used.

The association has different models allowing the activity to be adapted to the abilities of the participants.

Balances constitute another important family of techniques.

Cycling and unicycling help to develop balance, coordination and independence.

Some participants use adapted bicycles, while others progress towards unicycling.

The objective remains the same: to offer an achievable challenge allowing everyone to experiment, try and progress.

Acrobatics can also be part of social circus activities.

More broadly, the project draws on the major families of the circus: juggling, acrobatics, aerial disciplines, balancing and clowning.

The sessions are structured to combine technical learning and personal development.

Participants typically work on several disciplines during a single session.

The difficulty level is tailored to each individual.

Mistakes are considered a normal part of learning.

This philosophy helps to develop perseverance.

Young people gradually learn to try a new activity without immediate success being required.

Every step forward can become a source of satisfaction.

The practice also helps to develop self-esteem.

Completing an exercise that one thought was impossible can change the perception of one's own abilities.

The circus then becomes a way to discover what one is capable of doing.

Trust is another essential dimension of the project.

Some disciplines require trusting one's own body.

Others require trusting educators or other participants.

This relationship helps to build a safe environment.

Azirkarte specifically seeks to create a space in which young people can be themselves.

The sessions are also times for discussion and collective life.

Participants can share their daily experiences, both their difficulties and their successes.

The group thus becomes a social space that goes far beyond simple sporting activity.

Educators support young people in this relational dimension.

The circus provides a medium for creating relationships and strengthening the sense of belonging to a group.

This approach is fully in line with the principles of social circus.

For Azirkarte, the quality of the process is more important than the perfection of the technical result.

Practice helps to develop attention, confidence, perseverance, autonomy and the ability to cope with failure.

The social dimension also appears in artistic creation.

The young people of Azirkarte do not remain solely in a training space.

They participate in the creation of real shows.

Several collective creations have been developed over the years.

The shows are built from the experiences and reflections of the participants.

Young people thus take part in the artistic process and are not simply interpreters of a proposal conceived entirely by educators.

The creation "Encajamos" raises, in particular, the question of each person's place in society.

The words and reflections in the show come directly from the work done with the participants.

The stage then becomes a space that allows the abilities and voices of young people to be seen.

Public performances play an important role in the project.

Azirkarte participates in cultural events and live performance programs.

The young people presented their creations in various civic centers and cultural spaces.

In 2026 the project participated in KaldeArte, the Muestra Internacional de Artes de Calle de Vitoria-Gasteiz.

This participation allows young people to take part in a genuine cultural program alongside other artistic offerings.

Public representation thus constitutes a further step in the process of inclusion.

Participants are no longer simply beneficiaries of a tailored activity.

They become artists and participants in cultural life.

This visibility also allows the public to take a different look at disability.

Azirkarte also develops social circus workshops open to different audiences.

The equipment is arranged to offer several areas for discovery.

Clubs, diabolos, rings, ropes, stilts, scarves and hula hoops can be used, among other things.

These workshops help to develop motor skills as well as social skills.

The young people of Azirkarte can themselves participate in leading certain activities.

This evolution allows them to gradually move from the status of participant to that of person transmitting a practice.

The project also develops forms of juggling particularly suited to inclusion.

Functional malabarism is one of the approaches explored by the association.

This method seeks to create new forms of juggling accessible to people with very different abilities.

It allows equipment, movement and objectives to be adapted to each participant.

The association does not limit its activity to Vitoria-Gasteiz.

The Zirku-Asto-Ibilaldia project allows young people to travel through different rural areas of Álava.

These journeys combine travel, collective living, circus arts, and encounters with local residents.

The participants travel through several villages accompanied by donkeys and present their show in the towns they pass through.

The first edition was organised in 2019 in the Llanada Alavesa.

The project then continued in different regions of Álava.

These trips allow young people to have a particularly strong collective experience.

They participate in travel, group activities, and performances.

The show becomes a way to meet the inhabitants of the territories traversed.

Azirkarte also invites other circus organizations to participate in these adventures.

Links have thus been developed with several Spanish schools and associations.

Acirkaos, a social circus school from Menorca, has notably participated in some editions.

Txitatoki Urdaibai Zirko Eskola also joined the project.

Participants linked to Carampa took part in some of the meetings.

Azirkarte also maintains relations with the Fundación IgualArte in Vigo.

These collaborations help to create a network around inclusive and socio-educational circus.

Young people can meet other practitioners and discover different approaches.

Azirkarte is a member of FEECSE.

The association actively participates in this national network.

In particular, it hosted the second Encuentro Estatal de Formadores y Formadoras de Circo de la FEECSE in Álava.

This meeting brought together professionals in circus pedagogy from different regions of Spain.

The discussions focused in particular on physical and emotional safety in circus arts education.

Inclusion and accessible methodologies also played an important role.

Training sessions were specifically dedicated to functional malabarism.

Other workshops addressed cooperative circus challenges as tools for building real inclusion.

Azirkarte thus participates not only in the practice of inclusive circus but also in the reflection on the pedagogical methods enabling its development.

Training is, in fact, one of the key aspects of the association's project.

The team continues to train in order to improve the support provided to participants.

Young people can also access different training experiences.

The association organizes its activity around several complementary axes.

The weekly sessions allow you to learn and progress.

The shows allow the participants' abilities to be showcased.

Training helps to improve practices.

Travel and exchanges allow us to share experiences with other territories and other structures.

This organization gives the project a particularly comprehensive dimension.

Azirkarte is not a professional circus school and does not seek to become one.

Its goal is to build a community in which circus arts allow young people to develop their abilities, express themselves and participate fully in social and cultural life.

Disability is not considered a reason to exclude a person from the practice.

The disciplines and objectives are adapted to allow everyone to participate.

The diversity of circus techniques is a major advantage in this approach.

A person may encounter difficulties in one discipline and discover great abilities in another.

Juggling, balance, movement, expression, play or creation offer so many different entry points.

The project thus makes it possible to value the capabilities rather than focusing on the limitations.

This philosophy is even reflected in the shows.

The stage becomes a space in which young people can show what they can do and share their vision of the world.

Since its inception in 2016 , Azirkarte has thus built a project in Vitoria-Gasteiz in which circus, disability, education, artistic creation and social participation are inseparable.

Weekly training sessions form the core of the project, but they are part of a much broader approach that includes shows, workshops, training courses, trips, meetings and touring projects.

The circus thus becomes a means of developing everyone's abilities, strengthening social relations and enabling people with disabilities to fully occupy their place in cultural and collective life.