Professionals

Friday 8 May 2026

10h00 – 12h00: Artist-meeting

Circuscentrum organises a new artist-meeting. The aim is to bring artists and companies together to discuss the latest developments in circus and share information. During the meeting, the collected needs will be translated into clear recommendations and action points for Circuscentrum’s policy.

14h00 – 17h00: Sector-meeting: Is the artistic development in the Flemish circus under pressure?

At the end of this school year, two important foundations in the Flemish circus landscape will come to an end: Circus high school programme and the prep stage. For years, these initiatives gave young artists the chance to prepare them for a professional circus-education and/or career.

This sector-meeting brings together the field to take a deep look at the impact of this decision, and to explore how we can deal with these challenges in the future. This moment cannot pass without a discussion: a shared space to bundle perspectives, sharing experiences and collectively shape the future.

Every voice counts: Artists, workplaces, companies, policymakers and educators. We need each other to find answers that will lead to new initiatives.

We will discuss: what is happening exactly? What will be the impact on the circus-scene in Flanders? How crucial is talent development and the artistic growth in circus schools for the future of circus? Who can and wants to work out new initiatives to combat these new policies?

Every end gives us the chance to start something new. Be at the sector-meeting and shape this new beginning.

Saturday 9 May 2026

Sneak Peeks

Cirklabo residents offer a glimpse into their creative process

10h30 – 11h00: Jitter - Keeping Company

Celebrating the freedom to move, groove, and be alive. Somewhere between dance floor and circus ring, two performers chase rhythms, bend rules, and toss objects (sometimes each other), revelling in the joy of jazz and swing.One foot in the past, one tapping firmly in the present, the duo plays with echoes of another era - when jazz was rebellion and swing floors were spaces of freedom - and asks the questions anew: Who leads? Who follows? Who decides? Perhaps the music does. Perhaps no one does. > more information

11h45 – 12h30: Double Bill Bareroots & Corps à Cordes - Nas and Lena & Katell Boudrandi

Bareroots: This is a juggling dialogue for 2 performers, 4 hands, 9 white balls, 20 toes, 120 square tiles of cress. It is a show of details: precise gestures, detailed juggling sequences and cress manipulation come into focus.

With the support of the European Festival Fund for Emerging Artists, an initiative by the European Festivals Association, partly financed by the European Union.

Corps à Cordes: This is an invitation to a collective and intimate circus experience. There she is, in front of us. And suddenly, she starts dancing, as if her body remembers a waltz that her memory has erased. In a landscape of taut ropes, the body in turn becomes a wreck in balance, seeking support, seeking counterweight.” A collective yet intimate circus experience.

>more information

Friday 8 May 2026

Saturday 9 May 2026

Organized by

CIRKLABO

Circuscentrum