Where the Fun Begins: Eskişehir

Eskişehir is called “a student city”, and there are many reasons behind it. It is small, green, and slow-paced, everything is packed into the city center, so you connect with people in no time. It used to be cheap, so eventually we would find our way through financial difficulties. Even it’s small, there are three universities, and the city is full of young, curious and open-minded people.

In such a setting, something was about to spark: a new circus community.

Hi, I am Derya. Your narrator. 🙂

We both had a curiosity for nature sports and took part in different communities in this field. Luckily, in Türkiye, these three communities are strongly connected: climbing, slackline and juggling. At a climbing festival in Karakaya, Eskişehir (photo above -we were selling sandwiches and fresh coffee), I saw people juggling and walking on a rope. It immidiately caught my interest and sparked my curiosity. Later on, Berkay had a lovely volunteering experience at Tadah in Antalya, and returned to Eskişehir as a fully fledged juggler. When spring arrived, we bloomed and started popping up in parks and on campus with our new props and newly learned skills.

This was a turning point, because we had no idea there were people like us, doing -or wanting to do- different types of circus arts. Once we became visible, others started finding us and talking to us. I remember one of the first encounters. Someone who later became our friend came up to Berkay with a childlike excitement and asked, “Hey, I also do juggling. Would you like to play together?” And they started passing the balls to each other.

In very short time, we became a big group of friends with strong motivation to learn together. We met regularly, shared our skills, and sometimes practiced juggling 6–8 hours a day. What crazy times and what enthusiasm we had! Sharing was powerful, and we started to spent most of our time together. Since Eskişehir is tiny, we were all living almost in the same neighborhoods, making it super easy to meet and plan things quickly.

Why is this important? Because this was our first encounter with a different type of art: circus. It was a huge world for us, and we wouldn’t have dived this deep if we hadn’t been together. Circus arts are incredibly rich, and since we were all unique individuals with different interests, we constantly inspired each other.

There was one problem though. We struggled to access equipment and practice spaces due to financial or logistical issues. Basically, we realized we needed a source. This was the beginning of the Circus Arts Society at Anadolu University, also known as Anasirk.

I will tell you more about Anasirk next week. 🙂

Everything we share comes from our lives, with a great passion and years of work. Our creation is full of curiosity and enthusiasm, but it also needs support. You can support us by donating, or by sharing this with your family and friends if you feel it's worth supporting.

We are more than happy to share this journey with you, and we hope you enjoy it as much as we do. 🙂

Keep playing,
Derya