Circus Radelito – School of the Willy-Brandt-Gesamtschule Köln-Höhenhaus

Circus Radelito is the school circus of the Willy-Brandt-Gesamtschule Köln-Höhenhaus , in Cologne. Created in 1992 by teacher Georg Steinhausen, the project has become in more than thirty years one of the emblematic activities of the establishment.

In its early days, Radelito brought together around fifteen students to practice circus arts. The project has gradually developed to the point that today it brings together more than a hundred young artists.

The participants are students from the Willy-Brandt-Gesamtschule and come from all levels of the school, from 5th to 13th grade.

This mix of ages is one of the important characteristics of the project: Radelito is one of the spaces in the establishment where students of very different academic levels work together regularly.

The unicycle occupies a special place in the history of the circus. This discipline was so present at the creation of the project that it contributed to the choice of the name " Radelito ", referring to a "small wheel".

The practice has since diversified considerably.

Young artists can work on juggling in different forms, acrobatics, unicycling and many balancing techniques.

Magic, dance and clowning are also among the disciplines developed within the circus.

Radelito also encourages students to experiment with new techniques and to imagine new forms of acts.

Circus practice is deeply integrated into the daily life of the Willy-Brandt-Gesamtschule.

The school's Pedagogical Center serves as a training area. Equipment can remain set up there, allowing students to practice during school breaks.

A group training session for Circus Radelito is also organized every Thursday .

This daily presence distinguishes Radelito from a simple weekly extracurricular workshop: the circus constitutes a true cross-curricular educational project for the establishment.

Students learn circus techniques but also participate in the creation and organization of shows.

The project thus seeks to develop autonomy , responsibility , creativity , self-confidence and the ability to work collectively .

Radelito also owns its own educational company run within the school system, the Schülerfirma Radelito GmbH .

Young people can thus discover different aspects related to the organization of an artistic project: event preparation, communication, logistics and collective functioning.

The stage naturally occupies a very important place.

Radelito performs numerous public performances each year, from its own creations to interventions in kindergartens, neighborhood festivals and various cultural events.

The students also had the opportunity to participate in projects with professional artists and organizations.

Radelito also organizes Circusfest Köln , an event created in 1999 that brings together circus schools and groups from different regions and sometimes other European countries.

Participants present their creations to a jury and can win the traditional Gold, Silver and Bronze Cylinders as well as various special prizes.

Alternating with Circusfest Köln, Radelito also organizes Varieté Mixtur .

This show brings together young artists from the school circus and invited professional artists.

This confrontation with the professional world constitutes an important dimension of the educational project.

International openness is also a remarkable aspect of Radelito.

Since 2005, the SOMOS project – “ We are ” – has been developing exchanges between young people from Cologne and those from Corinto, a partner city located in Nicaragua.

German students participated in the creation of Circo Colorinto in Corinth and exchanges between young people from the two cities developed around circus arts.

The circus thus becomes a tool for intercultural encounter, going far beyond simple technical learning.

Radelito also participates in the German circus pedagogy network and is among the members of the Landesarbeitsgemeinschaft Zirkuspädagogik Nordrhein-Westfalen .

Circus Radelito therefore has a particular profile: it is not an independent circus school offering registrations to the general public, but a permanent educational project integrated into a school .

With over thirty years of existence, more than a hundred young participants, regular practice, numerous disciplines, stage creations, international meetings and a strong empowerment of students, Radelito nevertheless constitutes a true structure for learning circus arts and fully deserves its place in a directory dedicated to circus education.