Circus on the Run
Located in Calonne-Ricouart, in the Pas-de-Calais region (62) , Cirqu'en Cavale is a circus school accredited by the French Federation of Circus Schools (FFEC), and also a place for creation, performance, and cultural life. The school welcomes children and adults to explore numerous disciplines: juggling with balls and clubs, tightrope walking, balance ball, unicycle, trapeze, aerial silks, and ground acrobatics . Weekly classes, holiday workshops, adult programs, family workshops, and outreach activities round out its offerings. Cirqu'en Cavale also boasts a strong itinerant identity: the association sets up its big tops in the villages of Artois, Ternois, and the Seven Valleys to bring contemporary circus closer to the local communities. In Calonne-Ricouart, its big tops host shows, events, and artists in residence, while its yurt serves as a vibrant community space open to the local area.
62470 Calonne-Ricouart
Circus on the Run
Cirqu'en Cavale is a circus school, cultural center, and traveling project based in Calonne-Ricouart, Pas-de-Calais . Founded in the early 1990s, the association has been developing an original project for over thirty years, combining
- teaching circus arts
- amateur practice
- artistic creation
- broadcasting of shows
- artist residencies
- itinerancy in rural areas
- local social and cultural activities
The school is accredited by the FFEC under number 62171 and belongs to the FREC Grand Nord. Cirqu'en Cavale also holds the Youth and Popular Education accreditation no. 62 EP 594 .
His project is based on a powerful idea: to allow as many people as possible to experience circus arts, whether by practicing them or discovering artists and shows. Cirqu'en Cavale thus aligns with the spirit of the FFEC charter: "A school for all, a school for each individual, a school for circus arts."
The association simultaneously claims two complementary identities: the traditional itinerant nature of the circus and the existence of a permanent location .
The Calonne-Ricouart site
In Calonne-Ricouart, Cirqu'en Cavale has a dedicated site for circus arts. Several complementary spaces allow it to host workshops, shows, meetings and community projects:
- SMOB : a big top dedicated in particular to workshops and introductions to circus arts
- BOTO : hosts shows and events for the public
- YURT : constitutes a Social Living Space allowing the organization of workshops, meetings, introductory sessions, training courses, birthdays and activities imagined with the inhabitants
These complementary spaces facilitate the welcoming of a diverse public and the implementation of various community projects.
At the same time, the association maintains a significant itinerant dimension. Cirqu'en Cavale travels extensively in Artois, Ternois and the 7 Valleys , occasionally setting up its big tops in the heart of towns and villages.
This touring approach allows for the delivery of contemporary circus workshops and performances to rural areas where specialized cultural offerings are sometimes scarcer. The big top becomes simultaneously a temporary performance venue , a school , and a meeting place .
The practice offered by the school is multidisciplinary and currently confirms the teaching of:
- juggling with balls and clubs
- balancing acts on objects (wire, ball, unicycle)
- Aerial disciplines (trapeze, silks)
- ground acrobatics
This diversity allows for the development of numerous physical and artistic qualities.
- Juggling develops coordination , concentration , precision , and peripheral vision.
- Balance exercises require body positioning and proprioception.
- Acrobatics allows one to explore the possibilities of the body in space.
- Aerial disciplines introduce a different relationship to height, suspension, and movement.
Children can start very young with Baby-Circus . The workshops then evolve according to the age and level of the participants up to the adolescent and adult groups, with a progression allowing them to discover several disciplines before delving deeper into some of them.
Cirqu'en Cavale does not, however, consider technical learning as an end in itself. Its educational project also emphasizes the development of creativity , autonomy , responsibility , and the ability to make choices .
Circus arts become tools for personal development: they contribute to self-confidence , self-assertion in the face of others' opinions, trust in partners, and group cohesion. They also improve gross and fine motor skills and broaden participants' relationship with the arts and culture.
The collective dimension is particularly important. Students learn to practice together, observe, encourage, support, and trust their partners. This relationship takes on its full meaning when learning leads to the creation of a performance or a presentation before an audience.
A student gala is also one of the events at Cirqu'en Cavale. It allows participants to transform the skills learned during the year into stage performances and to discover the relationship with the audience.
In addition to the weekly workshops, the school organizes courses during the school holidays (spring, summer, autumn) which allow students to discover or deepen their knowledge of different disciplines over an intensive period.
Adult practice also has its place within the project, with specific courses: circus arts are not reserved for children and constitute a physical and artistic practice accessible to different ages.
Families have access to specific activities thanks to Cirqu'en Famille , developed within the framework of the Social Life Space. Parents and children can experience circus arts together, transforming the workshop into a moment of discovery and family sharing.
This desire for openness is reflected in the association's numerous external interventions : with schools, retirement homes, residential care homes and a wide variety of structures, with projects adapted to the needs of the participants.
The project goes far beyond the traditional notion of a circus course: circus arts are used as tools for personal development , artistic education , meeting and territorial revitalization .
Cirqu'en Cavale maintains a direct relationship with professional artists by regularly hosting companies in residence at its venue. The artists have a space to work on their creations before they are performed.
These residencies allow the territory to be connected to the creative process: the public and practitioners can meet the artists, discover stages of work and understand how a show is born.
The association develops a genuine cultural program under the big top : contemporary circus, dance, clowning, singing, theatre of materials and hybrid forms all find their place there.
- ExcenTriX Festival (circus arts)
- Participation in the Les Petits Bonheurs festival
- Regional Meetings
- The Runaway (juggling convention)
The presence of a Social Life Space within the Yurt reinforces the territorial dimension: Cirqu'en Cavale offers residents a space for meeting, creativity, exchange and personal development.
The operation relies on a professional team of about ten employees, supplemented by an active network of volunteers. The instructors responsible for teaching circus arts are state-certified .
At its site in Calonne-Ricouart , Cirqu'en Cavale brings together a school, practice and performance tents, an artist residency, and a community center. Outside the center, it continues its touring work, bringing the circus to rural communities in the Pas-de-Calais region.
From the first experience in Baby-Circus to adult practice, from balls and clubs to unicycle , from wire and ball to trapeze and aerial fabric , from acrobatics to professional show , Cirqu'en Cavale allows you to discover the circus arts in multiple forms.
This articulation between amateur practice , popular education , professional creation , cultural dissemination , touring and social action makes Cirqu'en Cavale much more than a circus school: it is a true place of life and circus culture, deeply rooted in its territory and open to the inhabitants.
