Cirkawa – Circus School and Equestrian Circus

Cirkawa is a circus school and a professional equestrian circus company based in Saint-Pierre-du-Chemin , Vendée. Run by the association Treize Mètres Cinquante , it develops a project combining amateur practice, artistic creation, live performance, transmission of circus arts and work with horses.

The Cirkawa company was founded in 2005 by Vincent Letellier and Pascal Sanchez . It has been based in Saint-Pierre-du-Chemin since 2013 , in the heart of a Vendée farm where a barn has been converted to accommodate classes and various artistic activities.

The project originated in the encounter between Pascal Sanchez and Kawa , a Welsh pony who would become his stage partner. Pascal then trained in equestrian performance techniques with Martine Bergay and gradually developed a style in which the horse becomes a true artistic partner .

The encounter with Vincent Letellier then made it possible to develop new equestrian creations and gave rise to the project of a circus school in which horses occupy a place of their own.

This equestrian dimension still constitutes the main unique feature of Cirkawa today.

The school offers the main families of disciplines generally found in circus schools — acrobatics , juggling , balancing on objects and aerial disciplines — but adds the discovery of equestrian circus .

Students are thus led to discover different techniques throughout the year rather than specializing immediately.

This multidisciplinary approach should allow them to experiment with several forms of practice, to gradually identify their affinities and to use the techniques acquired in an artistic project.

The subjects taught

Acrobatics is one of the fundamentals taught, as are juggling and balancing on objects .

Aerial disciplines are also featured. The workshops and camps organized by Cirkawa document, in particular, the practice of trapeze and aerial silks .

Working on the wire complements the balances offered by the school.

Equestrian circus constitutes an additional family of practice. Horses and ponies are not considered merely as a means of activity: they are integral to the artistic universe developed by the company and to its conception of equestrian performance.

This close proximity to the animals allows students to discover a facet of the circus rarely accessible in leisure schools.

Groups and course organization

The school welcomes children from the age of 4 .

The youngest children, aged 4 to 6, have a specific group called " Les Pitchouns ". Older children are then divided into different level groups: beginners , intermediate and advanced .

This organization allows for progression based on acquired experience and not solely on age.

A performance section complements the regular classes.

It allows students wishing to delve deeper into the artistic dimension to work more on creation and representation.

The school also offers an equestrian circus activity as well as a theatre course.

Children, teenagers and adults can meet throughout the year and participate together in creating acts.

The performance, the ultimate goal of pedagogy

Preparing a performance is an important component of Cirkawa's teaching method.

Throughout the year, each student is invited to try different disciplines. The techniques discovered are then used to prepare a group performance presented at the Cirkawa festival .

This approach allows learning to have an artistic purpose .

Therefore, students do not only work on an acrobatic figure, a balance or a juggling technique: they also learn to transform their acquired skills into a performance, to create an act and to present it in front of an audience.

The performing arts section reinforces this link between technical learning and creation.

Theatre also complements circus work and allows for a greater exploration of interpretation , imagination , characters , and stage presence .

Internships and camps

In addition to weekly classes, Cirkawa organizes workshops during school holidays.

They are accessible from age 6 and allow you to practice circus arts for a week.

All major disciplines are covered and the workshop culminates in the creation of a show presented on Friday evening .

The workshops allow participants to discover the circus as well as to continue a practice already begun.

Cirkawa also hosts circus camps organized with leisure centers.

These stays can bring together up to 24 young people aged 6 to 17 for a week.

Participants then spend five days discovering equestrian circus, trapeze, aerial silks, juggling, acrobatics and balancing, including the tightrope.

When parents come to pick up the participants, a show can be presented to showcase the work done during the stay.

Interventions in schools

The transmission is not limited to students coming to practice in Saint-Pierre-du-Chemin.

Cirkawa has been developing educational projects in schools for many years.

The team can intervene directly in a school with its equipment or host classes on its own site.

The projects are built according to the objectives of the institution.

They can take the form of a discovery day , weekly workshops , a project leading to the creation of a school show, or a day combining circus arts practice and professional performance.

This link between practice and spectacle is yet another important characteristic of Cirkawa.

Students can discover the disciplines with the artists and end their day by becoming spectators of a professional creation.

From 2017 to 2023 , Cirkawa notably partnered with the Vendée Departmental School of Arts and Heritage for its educational activities.

The team can also develop projects around theatre or equestrian circus.

The school is thus part of a larger artistic ensemble.

The professional company

Cirkawa is also a professional equestrian circus company that broadcasts its creations in France and carries out cultural activities mainly in Vendée and Deux-Sèvres.

The company can perform in theatres, gymnasiums, function rooms, schools, nursing homes, gardens and heritage sites thanks to circus equipment adapted to both indoor and outdoor spaces.

This professional activity directly feeds into the school environment.

The students interact with a team that creates and presents shows, works with horses and ponies, and develops cultural action projects in the area.

Cirkawa's story also helps to understand the special place given to the horse in his teaching.

The company was born around an artistic relationship between an artist and his pony, then developed with the idea of passing this approach on to amateur practitioners.

Equestrian circus is therefore not an additional activity added to a general school: it is part of the very identity of the project .

An original circus school

Today, Cirkawa is a particularly original amateur circus school due to the diversity of its activities.

A child can start from the age of 4, discover the different families of the circus, progress through the beginner, intermediate and then advanced groups, discover working with horses and possibly join the show section.

Teenagers and adults also participate in school life and artistic projects.

In addition to this annual practice, there are holiday workshops, circus camps, school interventions, cultural projects, theatre, group shows and activities of the professional company.

Acrobatics, juggling, balancing on objects, wire, trapeze, aerial silks, theatrical expression and equestrian circus thus make up a project in which technical learning , relationship with the animal and creation of a show are closely associated.