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Danja – the shining star

Like a whirlwind Danja sweeps through the practice rooms of Upsala Circus. For his age he has amazing muscle and his laugh is contagious. Danja is training for nearly a year now in the circus - before he spent the most time on the road and wandered around in landfills. In a soup kitchen he meet Larissa the director of Upsala and has become ever since one of the most enthusiastic performers of the circus.Danja's father is in prison and his mother died as a result of her drug-addiction. With the help of the circus he survives this critical peroid in his life. Now he lives in a private children's home, a kind of intermediate station where children can stay up to a year before they have to continue in a public educational institution. During this time the home management tries to find adoptive parents for him.

Aspirations of poeple relatet to Upsala Circus to adopt the little boy failed. A rift with the childrens home management about the training culminates in a preliminary ban on Danja. The fate of Danja remains uncertain until it comes to a surprising turnaround.

Quote

«I believe that my mother's soul is like a butterfly. It was in her body and has flown away.»
Danja six years old.

«He's changed so much. He used to hang around on rubbish tips and on the streets and use abominable words. But when we went to Upsala Circus, he liked it right away. Also the fact that there were clear rules. Nobody is allowed to insult anyone else. There's no swearing and no smoking.»

Danjas Grand mother about her grandchild.