STARTING a new business with a new headquarters can feel a bit like juggling a lot of balls at once.
But this group of Scottish performers are doing just that - while riding a unicycle and twirling multiple hula-hoops as they swing on a trapeze at the same time.
Full Cirqle, Scotland's first full-time dedicated circus centre is opening in Portobello, Edinburgh in a warehouse in the seaside town,
Formed by a team of performers, teachers and producers, the centre will be dedicated to classes, training, creation and play across the huge range of arts and sports that make up contemporary circus.
The building includes a studio, two rehearsal areas, offices and a barn for aerial training such as trapeze, rope, hoop and silks.
Full Cirqle members already include acrobats, aerialists, parkour traceurs, actors, dancers, musicians, filmmakers, yoga teachers and physical therapists.
"It's one of those overnight successes that takes years of work" said business manager Phyllis Martin, producer of The Commonwealth Youth Circus project for last year's Games.
"Everyone in the community is always looking for space and this opportunity was just too good to pass up."
The new space was secured just days before dozens of circus artists lost their home at the Portobello-based Arts Factory to a demolition order to make way for a supermarket.
It has already proven a success story, when the team were left with only two weeks to find the money to pay for specialists rigging and safety equipment.
The £5,000 needed to install their safety equipment was raised in just a week as crowdfunding support poured in from all across the world.
Full Cirqle will be home to seven companies and up to 50 individual members, who will have 24/7 access to training space, facilities to run public classes and rehearsal space for shows.
The creation of a dedicated circus space in Scotland has been the ambition of the core team members for several years but the opportunity came almost too quickly.
Building manager Ron Oliviera said: "We are in there building night and day to get the place ready but there are a few basic things we don't have and can't build ourselves"
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