Description of the paper: This research is part of an English-French Interreg IIIa project, called “Inter-agency partnership for improving inclusion of “at risk” young people”. This action-research is based on the purpose “to develop a better link with the Self and the social and physical environment, through artistic and intercultural activities”. The predominant activity chosen amongst a set of others is a contemporary circus workshop organised by an artist in a regional circus school. The reason is that this also called “new french circus”, is a rich combination of different performing arts such as trapeze, balance, acting, dancing… Therefore the research question is : “What are the effects of the practice of a contemporary circus workshop, by French or English "at risk" youth on themselves ?” The objectives are: First to understand the effective capacities developed during such a circus practice. The hypothesis thereby are: an increase in self-esteem, social relationships, taking space or risk into account… Then, to get a comprehensive view of what circus practice means to the young French or English practitioners in relation with themselves, family, school, society and even Europe. The state of the art belongs to different fields. On one hand the artistic partnership has already been studied by authors such as D. Zay and J-C Lallias, showing for instance, the cognitive, cultural and social effects of theatre on young pupils. On the other hand Danielle Zay has also studied comparison of “at risk” young people inclusion through French and English Interreg projects. Therefore practice through an artistic, bodily and intercultural activity would educate to share an understanding of a "living-together" space and project. Our choice is here to understand the teenagers’ evolution in an unusual environment such as a circus big top mixing “Channel neighboors”. So the theoretical framework is based on researches about artistic and intercultural researches.

Methodology: The methodological approach combines interviews, observations and administrative documents. On one hand, the aim of the interviews is to identify the teenagers' representations about circus and what they achieved during the different offered activities: circus and trip to England or France. On the other hand, the circus workshop observations help identify the youth visible activities and behaviours. At last, the administrative documents such as pupils’ class attitudes reported by the teachers during staff meetings or school results provide objective elements of pupils' behaviours at school.

Overall results: According to the country, the results present different dimensions about the artistic or intercultural aspects. Therefore, while the French students are deeply focused on the difference with the English students, the Thanet youth seem to be more concerned by the circus activity itself. In both cases, a process of “identifying one self different but also the same as the other” has emerged. Conclusion: We expect to have a clear cross view according to the French or English pupils, of the evolution of values about the Self, others and the environment developed through the activities. Would it help "at risk" youth to deal with themselves and their social and European environment ? Discussion: A discussion about the limits of this study (numbers of students, methodology...) is welcome to criticize the approach as well as the obtained results.