A Touch of Circus

Un Brin de Cirque is an association created in 2012 and based in Salles , in the Lot-et-Garonne . It develops a travelling project dedicated to the discovery, initiation and creation around the circus arts and physical expression .

Its activity mainly extends between the Lot , Lot-et-Garonne and Dordogne departments , with occasional projects also taking place in neighboring departments.

Un Brin de Cirque no longer operates as a traditional school organized around a single location for weekly classes. Its activity is based primarily on workshops organized in different municipalities, educational projects , parent-child workshops , interventions in schools and early childhood structures, adapted circus , holiday camps and shows .

This mobile organization allows the team to reach very different audiences and to build projects with local communities and structures.

A multidisciplinary teaching

The teaching is multidisciplinary .

Juggling is one of the main areas of practice. It is complemented by balancing , acrobatics , expressive games and clowning .

Aerial disciplines also occupy an important place in the current program. Specialized courses allow participants to practice aerial silks , static trapeze , and aerial hoop .

The team also uses acrobatic lifts in its workshops, particularly in parent-child sessions.

A pedagogical philosophy

Circus arts are viewed as a tool for physical, artistic and social development .

The educational project combines technical learning , creativity , physical well-being , training , and pushing personal limits . Technical progress is not considered an end in itself: the techniques learned must also allow students to tell a story, develop their imagination, and build an artistic universe.

Mutual support , perseverance , respect , autonomy , listening and cooperation thus occupy an important place in the project.

Circummotor skills for the youngest children

For younger children, the association develops a specific approach around circomotricity.

The activities offered allow children to work on gross motor skills , coordination , balance , movement , object manipulation and autonomy through situations adapted to the age of the children.

Parent-child workshops

Un Brin de Cirque also develops parent-child workshops .

These sessions allow the child and accompanying adult to discover different circus techniques together.

Juggling in pairs places the parent and child in a shared learning situation where concentration , coordination and precision must be developed together.

Acrobatic lifts also help build confidence . The parent can become the child's support and directly contributes to the safety of the lift.

The objective is as much to discover the circus as to promote play , complicity and trust between child and adult.

Some parent-child workshops are organised in Fumel with the support of the CAF and the Network for listening, support and guidance of parents .

The adapted circus

Adapted circus arts are an important focus of the association.

Un Brin de Cirque works with different audiences and structures, including IME, day hospitals and EHPAD.

The situations are adapted to the abilities of the participants in order to use circus techniques as a support for motor skills , coordination , expression , socialization and confidence .

Working with young children

The association also carries out important work with early childhood .

She works in nurseries , early childhood centers and preschools .

The projects can take the form of an exploration of circus motor skills or an interactive clown show adapted for young children.

School interventions

School interventions constitute another important aspect.

Un Brin de Cirque works with preschools and primary schools , middle schools and high schools .

Projects can be tailored to the educational teams and range from one-off discoveries of circus arts to the creation and preparation of a show.

The association's history includes numerous projects carried out with schools in Lot and Lot-et-Garonne around juggling , acrobatics , expression , improvisation and collective creation .

Internships, at the heart of the operation

Internships now occupy a central place in the functioning of Un Brin de Cirque.

• They are organized in several municipalities and can cater to young children , older children , teenagers and adults .
• Some are multidisciplinary while others are specialized in a family of disciplines.
• In Prayssac , for example, the association organizes days dedicated to aerial disciplines for those over 8 years old, teenagers and adults, including aerial silks , trapeze and aerial hoop .
• In Montfaucon , various courses are organised for children, teenagers and adults.
• Gourdon also hosts training courses open to various ages and disciplines.
• Other projects are organised on an ad hoc basis in Lot-et-Garonne or Gers .

This organization allows Un Brin de Cirque to maintain regular activity without depending on a single location.

Holiday stays

The association also organizes holiday camps dedicated to the circus.

Since 2018 , these camps and stays have constituted a real focus of the project.

The stays allow children and teenagers to live for several days around circus practice, but also to share group times and other activities.

Trips are still planned for 2026 .

A professional artistic activity

Un Brin de Cirque also has a professional artistic activity.

The team creates and distributes shows for young audiences , family shows and various forms of entertainment.

Clown shows can be offered in particular to nurseries, early childhood centers and kindergartens.

The association also develops street performances combining juggling, clowning and stilt walking.

Depending on the event, juggling can be performed with clubs , bolas or scarves and can also take on a luminous or fiery form.

The teaching staff

The teaching team has experience directly related to live performance .

Cristelle has been developing circus, clown and mime projects for many years with diverse audiences.

Fredo Lehaut is a juggler-acrobat. He trained in Brussels , Geneva , and at the Lido in Toulouse. A BIAC-certified juggler, he also taught juggling in the Lido's professional training program and participated in numerous productions.

The team is supplemented, depending on the project, by several specialized contributors.

Machi Souvignon Fazzi , trained in Barcelona , among other places, works in areas such as juggling, fire manipulation and aerial disciplines like silks, fixed trapeze and hoop.

This diversity of courses allows the association to offer both general internships and specialized workshops .

A network of mobile activities

Un Brin de Cirque is therefore characterized less by the existence of a permanent school than by a network of itinerant circus activities .

Children's, teenagers' and adults' aerial workshops , adapted circus , circus motor skills , parent-child workshops , interventions in nurseries , school projects , holiday stays and shows now constitute the main axes of its activity.

Based administratively in Salles , the association mainly operates in the Lot , Lot-et-Garonne and Dordogne regions , with occasional projects in other neighboring areas.

This mobility is one of its main features and allows audiences sometimes far removed from a permanent circus school to access supervised practice of circus arts.