THE Circus of the Streets arrived in Durham on Tuesday, bringing with it a sport traditionally practised in car parks and back streets.

Dextrous feats on inline skates and skateboards and daring BMX stunts are performed alongside trampoline tumbling, hula-hooping and juggling, in a bid to attract more teenagers.

Chris Barltrop, circus spokesman, said: "It's circus with a touch of skateboarding, it's absolutely that way round, it's not just two hours of skateboarding.

"We still wanted to do a circus for a family audience, but 16-year-olds for example weren't coming, so we needed to cater for teenagers. Over the last few years traditional circuses had animals, but we couldn't use animals now even if we wanted to, so something had to take its place."

Some of the performers involved, from as far afield as Russia, South Africa, Mongolia, already enjoyed skateboarding as a hobby. Others attended a circus school in Hungary where they incorporated street sports into their training.

There are performances planned for Durham Sands at 4.45pm and 7.30pm this Thursday and Friday, with shows at 3pm and 6pm on Saturday and 3pm, on Sunday. For tickets visit the box office on site or ring the credit card hotline on 0870 4441505.