Circusstreken – Kortenberg Circus School / Erps-Kwerps

Circusstreken is an amateur circus school located in Kortenberg , Flemish Brabant. It offers regular circus arts training primarily for children and teenagers.

The school develops a multidisciplinary approach allowing students to discover a large number of techniques rather than immediately focusing on a single specialty.

Juggling

Juggling is one of the important aspects of this learning. Participants gradually discover how to manipulate different objects and develop coordination , concentration , and precision .

The diabolo is one of the techniques taught, as are the flowerstick and Chinese plates .

The balance disciplines

Circusstreken also offers various disciplines centered around balance.

Unicycling plays a particularly important role in the school's activities. Students gradually learn to control their movements on one wheel and can then develop their skills beyond the basics.

The school has also developed a unicycle basketball activity, allowing participants to put their technical skills to use in a team game.

The balance ball , the barrel walk and the rola-bola are also among the apparatus used in the classes.

Children can thus experience different balance situations and gradually learn to control their posture and movements.

Stilt walking completes this family of disciplines.

Acrobatics and aerial disciplines

Acrobatics is another important aspect of the training. It allows students to work on body control, coordination, flexibility and self-confidence.

The trapeze also allows students to discover aerial disciplines.

An opening beyond physical disciplines

Circusstreken also has an interesting feature: its teaching is not strictly limited to the traditional physical disciplines of the circus.

Magic is also among the activities offered to students.

Balloon sculpting has also been integrated into the school's activities.

Clowning and stage performance finally allow us to address another essential dimension of the circus: the relationship with the public and the construction of a character.

This diversity allows participants to discover different ways of expressing themselves in the circus world.

Group organization and progression

The students are divided into groups taking into account their experience and age .

The school has historically distinguished between beginners , more advanced practitioners and teenagers in order to allow everyone to work in conditions adapted to their level.

This organization allows for genuine progress to be built over several years.

The artistic dimension and the shows

Circusstreken does not consider classes solely as a place for technical learning. Performing in front of an audience is also part of the educational project.

The students thus participate in shows during which they can present the disciplines worked on during the year.

Juggling, unicycling, acrobatics, magic and clowning can then be integrated into a true collective performance.

Preparing a show teaches participants to use their skills in an artistic context, to work together, and to gradually assume the presence of an audience.

A school rooted in its region

Circusstreken also participates in various events and demonstrations in its region.

These opportunities allow students to showcase their progress but also to introduce circus arts to a wider audience.

Group outings have historically complemented school life and reinforced its associative dimension.

The association thus has the identity of a small local circus school where technical learning, conviviality and collective creation occupy an important place.

Its offering is particularly versatile for a structure of this size.

It allows a child to discover everything from manipulating a diabolo to riding a unicycle, trapeze, acrobatics, balancing, or clowning.

This variety fully corresponds to the logic of an amateur circus school: allowing young people to try many disciplines, to gradually develop their preferences and then to deepen their knowledge of the techniques that attract them the most.

Circusstreken thus constitutes a structured offer of learning circus arts in the municipality of Kortenberg and is one of the circus workshops identified in the Flemish circus landscape.