Circus Schnick-Schnack eV – Herne Circus School

Circus Schnick-Schnack eV is a circus school and project located in Herne, North Rhine-Westphalia. The organization develops a comprehensive educational program primarily aimed at children and teenagers, while also offering activities for families and adults.

The activities take place in a real "city of big tops", the Zeltstadt of Circus Schnick-Schnack, which allows participants to practice in an environment specifically dedicated to circus arts.

The school offers regular weekly classes allowing for progress over time.

Its educational structure distinguishes several stages depending on the age and experience of the participants.

• Younger children can discover the circus through fun activities combining movement, music, games and experimentation with different disciplines.
• Parent-child activities even allow for a first discovery from the age of two.
• From around 5 or 6 years old, children can join courses that allow them to gradually develop the fundamentals of the circus.
• Practitioners with more experience can then join advanced groups.
• More intensive training courses are also offered to teenagers from around 12 years old.

The goal is to allow each child to progress gradually, without imposing the same pace or the same objectives on everyone.

The courses are tailored to the abilities and needs of the participants.

Beginners are guided in acquiring the fundamental techniques, while advanced groups have more time for independent practice to work on their own goals.

Acrobatics

Acrobatics is an important part of the teaching.

Specific ground acrobatics courses allow students to learn rolls, cartwheels, hand balances and gradually more complex elements.

The school also has courses using the AirTrack, an inflatable track particularly suited to learning jumps and dynamic acrobatic elements.

Students can progressively work on jumps, reversals, somersaults and different acrobatic combinations.

The mini-trampoline is also part of the offer.

Aerial arts

Aerial arts constitute another particularly developed aspect of the program.

• Beginner children can discover the hammock and the trapeze.
• As they progress, they can work on apparatus such as the vertical fabric and the aerial hoop.
• Advanced groups also explore techniques such as vertical rope and straps.

At this level, the work no longer focuses solely on the technical execution of the figures.

Students are also supported in choreographic development and can create their own solo or duo numbers.

Artistic expression thus gradually takes on more importance as the technical level increases.

Shows and performances

Circus Schnick-Schnack also has a performance team for practitioners wishing to become more heavily involved in creation and performance.

Regular classes include public presentations.

For the second half of 2026, several groups are preparing, in particular, the Wintergala organized in December.

Performance is therefore a true stage in the educational process: the techniques learned during classes can be transformed into acts and then presented in front of an audience.

Inclusion

Inclusion is one of the essential elements of the Circus Schnick-Schnack project.

The courses are explicitly open to children and teenagers with or without special needs.

The team seeks to integrate and support each participant individually.

When necessary, the presence of an accompanying person or the implementation of specific support measures can be discussed with the educational authorities.

The pace, content and teaching framework are adapted to the group.

This inclusive approach is also present in the recruitment of teachers.

The team includes professionals combining artistic experience, circus pedagogy and skills in specialized pedagogy.

The groups remain intentionally structured with a ratio generally around one facilitator for ten to twelve participants.

Workshops, internships and school projects

In addition to regular classes, Circus Schnick-Schnack organizes numerous workshops .

These formats allow for the occasional discovery of a discipline or, conversely, for several sessions to be devoted to its in-depth study.

Circus workshops and weeks are also offered during school holidays.

During the summer holidays of 2026, the school, for example, developed six weeks of activities combining workshops, introductions, intensive weeks and creative projects.

Some courses are dedicated to a specific discipline, such as the trapeze.

Others allow children to collectively create a real show over several days before presenting it to family and friends.

The organization also works with schools.

Classes can come to Zeltstadt regularly for a series of 15 to 20 sessions.

The students then discover different circus disciplines before developing their own acts.

Choreographic elements and cooperative games are associated with circus work in order to develop both motor skills and social and emotional capacities.

These school projects also culminate in a performance.

A structured circus school in Herne

The objective thus goes far beyond technical learning.

Circus arts are used as a tool to develop confidence, autonomy, cooperation, creativity and personal expression.

The structure seeks to create a space in which each child can find their place and progress based on their own abilities.

With its weekly classes, its many levels of progression, its specialized disciplines, its internships, its shows, its school projects and its important work around inclusion, Circus Schnick-Schnack constitutes a truly structured circus school and an important player in circus education in Herne.