Ball and Arts

Presentation

Balle et Arts is a circus school and company located in Thiébauménil, near Lunéville, in the Meurthe-et-Moselle region. Founded in 1994 by Émilie and Frédo , it has been developing projects dedicated to learning, teaching, and live performance for over thirty years. Émilie has a background in gymnastics, which began in childhood, and has trained with Annie Fratellini, while Frédo trained at various circus schools.

Status and recognition

Mobile identity

Balle et Arts' identity is largely based on a mobile approach to circus arts. Rather than limiting its activities to classes held in a single location, the company travels with its instructors, equipment, and, depending on the project, its own big top. This can be set up directly in a school or within a municipality, temporarily transforming the space into a genuine circus venue.

Discovery classes and pedagogy

This program is particularly well-suited for school trips . Balle et Arts can set up its big top right next to a school and offer several days, or even several weeks, of intensive learning. The children then gradually progress from discovering different techniques to preparing a performance.

Juggling

Juggling plays an important role in these learning experiences. The documented educational projects of Balle et Arts demonstrate the manipulation of various objects, allowing students to work on throwing, catching, coordination, rhythm, dexterity, and concentration.

• Scarves
• Balls
• Clubs
• Chinese plates
• Diabolos
• Devil sticks

Balances on objects

Balancing acts on objects constitute another major category of practice. The company's interventions have notably offered various equipment and balancing situations.

• Balance ball
• Thread
• Roll
• Tightrope walking (depending on the project)

Acrobatics

Acrobatics also features prominently, particularly through floor acrobatics, human pyramids, and various group exercises. School projects can combine these techniques with expression and staging exercises to gradually build a complete performance.

Other disciplines and formats

Other disciplines are offered depending on the workshops and projects. The circus camps run by Balle et Arts, for example, have combined several practices, demonstrating a multidisciplinary approach to circus arts.

• Clown
• Magic
• Juggling (various objects)
• Trapeze
• Tightrope walking

Public presentation and collective creation

One of the company's distinctive educational approaches is guiding participants towards a public performance. In the field trips, the various techniques explored during the project are brought together in a show presented under a big top for families. In Pulligny, for example, four classes had undergone intensive practice for two weeks before this final presentation.

This dimension allows children to discover not only circus techniques, but also the logic of collective creation of a show: rehearsal , expression , listening to partners , memorization , stage presence and presentation in front of an audience.

Interventions and partnerships

Balle et Arts still works with other organizations today. For the 2025-2026 season, the Club Arlequin in Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy offered regular circus arts classes led by Cédric from the Compagnie Balle et Arts, for children, teenagers and adults.

The company also ran a discovery and improvement course for 5-11 year olds from April 20 to 24, 2026 .

This presence in partner structures confirms the particular functioning of Balle et Arts: it is relevant to reference it as a circus school, but it is also necessary to highlight its itinerant and interventionist character, with workshops organized in different places in the territory.

Company — creations and repertoire

Professional creation constitutes the other major aspect of the company's activity. Balle et Arts is a performing arts company developing a universe combining contemporary circus, clowning, juggling, and acrobatics. Among their documented creations are several shows blending circus techniques and humor.

• Stage Cleaning : a show blending humor, gags, juggling acts, and acrobatics
• At Bonheur Café : hat and bottle juggling, American roller, acrobatics and aerial hoop
• Several creations combining the vocabulary of traditional circus with a contemporary and humorous approach

Pedagogical approach and dual identity

This dual identity as a professional company and circus school directly informs the educational work: the instructors not only transmit techniques, but also possess experience in creation and performance.

Internships, camps and immersion

Balle et Arts also offers circus workshops and camps in partnership with various youth organizations. These formats allow for a more intensive immersion and can combine circus skills, group living, and other recreational activities.

NetJuggler Profile

For the NetJuggler directory, Balle et Arts presents a particularly interesting profile: a FFEC-accredited school, a professional company, a traveling circus tent, introductory classes, workshops, and external performances. Its documented practice with diabolo , clubs , balls , devil sticks , and spinning plates also makes it a clearly relevant organization for juggling research.