CREAT – Training and Creation in Circling Arts

CREAT – Formació i Creació en Arts del Circ is a training and creation center dedicated to contemporary circus located in the Benicalap district of València.

Founded in 2020 , CREAT develops a project focused on the technical and artistic training of future professionals in contemporary circus.

The school offers different pathways to support students in their progress, from preparing for vocational training to developing a genuine artistic project.

A multidisciplinary approach to contemporary circus

Contemporary circus is considered there as a multidisciplinary artistic discipline .

His teaching is therefore not limited to learning a circus technique.

Students are encouraged to simultaneously develop their physical abilities, technical mastery, creativity, and artistic identity.

Dance is one of the languages used to enrich this research.

Theatre and physical theatre also allow for the development of presence, interpretation, and relationship to the stage.

Performance and other contemporary art forms can complement the creative work.

This approach allows students to gradually build their own language.

Technical training: an essential foundation

Technical training nevertheless constitutes an essential basis of the curriculum.

Students work across several families of disciplines in order to acquire a solid general knowledge of circus arts.

This versatility then allows them to identify the techniques in which they wish to specialize.

Physical preparation

Physical preparation accompanies the entire training program.

It helps to build the qualities of strength , mobility , coordination and endurance necessary for intensive practice.

Bodywork is developed progressively to allow students to better understand their bodies and adapt their training.

The major technical fields

Acrobatics is one of the major technical areas of training.

Balances and verticals help develop positioning, control, and body awareness.

Aerial disciplines complement this training and allow students to explore different relationships to suspension, height, and movement.

Collective lifts and techniques introduce an additional dimension based on cooperation, trust and understanding of the partner.

Dance and movement then allow us to create bridges between these different skills.

Creativity at the heart of training

CREAT places particular importance on creation .

Technology is not considered an end in itself.

It gradually becomes a vocabulary that the student can use to construct a personal artistic proposal.

Students are thus led to research, improvise, compose and experiment.

They learn to analyze their own work and to develop an independent artistic approach.

This individual research is complemented by collective creations .

Working in groups allows for the comparison of the different specializations and sensitivities present within a class.

Students thus discover how a creative process works in which several artists must build a common language.

End-of-course performances

The end-of-course performances allow students to publicly present the results of their work.

These performances constitute an important step in the training.

They allow students to test their research with a real audience and to gain initial practical experience in artistic dissemination.

Second-year students present their creations in various professional settings and festivals.

In 2025 , a creation by second-year students was programmed at the Circ Cric Festival in Catalonia.

This mobility allows students to step outside the daily school environment and meet other artists, schools and professionals.

Opening up to professional networks

CREAT is indeed developing a strong desire to open up to Spanish and European professional networks.

The center participates in discussions concerning the structuring and recognition of circus training programs in Spain.

It also hosts professional meetings dedicated to the future of circus education.

In March 2025 , CREAT notably hosted the third Professional Days of the Federación Española de Escuelas de Circo Socio Educativo in València.

These meetings brought together representatives from schools, federations and the professional sector to reflect on training pathways and their recognition.

The director of CREAT, Roseta Plasencia , also participates in national discussions on professional circus training.

This involvement places the school within the current development of professional circus curricula in Spain.

Training pathways

The preparatory course

CREAT offers a preparatory course allowing students to acquire the necessary basics before entering a more intensive professional training program.

This step allows students to strengthen their physical condition and technical level.

It also allows you to discover different disciplines and to better define a future specialization project.

The preparatory course can thus constitute a transition between advanced amateur practice and professional training.

The professional curriculum

The professional training program then continues for two years .

Students simultaneously develop technical skills, physical preparation, artistic research, and skills related to creation.

The first year allows students to consolidate their fundamental skills.

It promotes the exploration of different disciplines and the development of a working method adapted to intensive practice.

• Students gradually learn to organize their training.
• They develop their autonomy.
• They are also beginning to define the disciplines and artistic directions they wish to explore further.

The second year allows students to go further in this specialization and in the development of a personal artistic identity.

The creative process then takes on increasing importance.

Students are encouraged to transform their technical skills into artistic expression.

They work on composition, interpretation and the relationship with the audience.

The training program aims to develop artists capable of continuing their development independently after their time at the school.

Autonomy as an objective

This autonomy is one of CREAT's important objectives.

The future artist must be able to maintain their physical condition, develop their technique, organize their research, and continue to evolve their artistic language.

The center also seeks to prepare students for the realities of the professional sector.

The training provides an opportunity to meet artists and educators with different experiences and specializations.

External speakers regularly enrich the teaching.

Intensive courses also allow for a deeper exploration of certain techniques or working methods.

This diversity exposes students to several approaches to contemporary circus.

It fosters their adaptability and allows them to develop their own method.

Customized lessons and open training

CREAT also develops customized courses and training programs .

These formats can meet the specific needs of a group, an artist or a practitioner wishing to deepen a specific skill.

Open training is another service offered by the center.

Independent artists and practitioners can thus have a suitable space to develop their own training.

The presence of professional or advanced artists helps to create an environment in which training and professional practice can meet.

The center also has a space dedicated to creation .

This dimension allows artistic work to continue beyond the traditional educational framework.

Experimentation and new languages

CREAT aims to create an environment where experimentation is an integral part of the training process.

The search for new languages is encouraged.

Circus can thus engage in dialogue with dance, theatre, cinema, performance and other contemporary forms.

This openness allows students not to define their practice solely by an apparatus or a technique.

They are invited to reflect on what they wish to express and how their discipline can become a tool in service of this intention.

Collaboration and values

Collaboration also plays a central role.

Contemporary circus often relies on collective processes involving artists with very different skills.

CREAT therefore seeks to develop in students the ability to work with others.

This approach contributes to building a community within the school.

The institution also affirms values of equality , non-discrimination , inclusion and freedom of expression .

The educational environment aims to be safe on a physical, psychological and emotional level.

Students are encouraged to explore their artistic identity within a framework that respects differences.

The diversity of backgrounds and sensibilities is considered an asset to the creative process.

This attention to the training framework accompanies an important requirement in terms of work.

Students are encouraged to develop genuine personal discipline .

Technical progress requires regularity, perseverance, and the ability to analyze one's own work.

The goal is to enable everyone to reach their potential while developing a strong professional ethic.

A key player in Valencia's cultural life

CREAT also participates in the cultural life of Valencia .

The center organizes or hosts events that bring together students, artists and the public.

These initiatives contribute to the development of the local circus community.

They also help to make contemporary circus more visible in the region.

The establishment of the school in Benicalap contributes to this desire to create a true place dedicated to circus arts in Valencia.

The center thus accommodates training, practice and creation in the same environment.

This proximity between the different functions is an important element of the project.

The students move through a space that does not function solely as a school.

• They meet artists, speakers and professionals.
• They witness creative processes.
• They participate in public presentations.
• They gradually discover how the circus industry works beyond their own technical practice.

CREAT thus falls within a recent generation of European centers seeking to bring training and creation closer together.

Since its founding in 2020 , the school has been gradually developing its relationships with Spanish and international professional networks.

His educational project combines technical rigor , artistic research , multidisciplinarity and autonomy .

• The preparatory training helps to support practitioners wishing to pursue a professional career.
• The two years of professional training then allow students to deepen the technical and artistic skills necessary for this career path.
• Intensive training courses enrich the knowledge of students and practitioners.
• Open training provides space for independent artists.
• Creative projects finally allow acquired skills to be transformed into genuine artistic proposals.

CREAT thus constitutes in Valencia a center specifically dedicated to the training and development of future contemporary circus artists, in an environment open to other performing arts and connected to the professional networks of the sector.