Cirque Joséphine – The Trapezoid

Cirque Joséphine is an amateur circus school run by the association La Trapézoïdale in Cazères, Haute-Garonne. Its project combines physical practice , artistic research and cultural education in an approach inspired by the values of popular education.

The school promotes a circus practice accessible to the widest possible audience . Its pedagogy seeks to allow each participant to progress and create according to their own path, while paying particular attention to safety , group dynamics , and artistic expression .

The program is particularly extensive, catering to participants from early childhood to adulthood . Monthly circus-based motor skills sessions are offered to babies aged 6 months to 2 years, accompanied by an adult. These are followed by family circus workshops for children aged 3 to 5 .

From the age of 6 , children can join weekly classes . The youngest discover different circus disciplines through an approach that particularly promotes psychomotor development . As they grow older, students explore the broader range of circus arts and begin to develop stage presence , risk awareness , and an understanding of their own limits .

Teenagers benefit from longer courses allowing them to delve deeper into the various disciplines, particularly acrobatics and aerial arts . Technique is gradually linked to genuine artistic exploration .

Adults also have access to a multi-circus course. This allows them to discover or rediscover different disciplines, then to deepen their knowledge of some of them and to experiment with the intersections between several circus techniques .

Cirque Joséphine also offers open training slots allowing sufficiently independent practitioners to have more time to work on their disciplines.

One of the major characteristics of La Trapézoïdale's project is its inclusive approach to circus arts. The association explicitly advocates for an adapted circus practice: rather than asking participants to adapt to a predefined practice, it seeks to transform teaching situations in order to make circus arts accessible to the widest possible audience.

This initiative concerns people of all ages, including those with disabilities and special needs . The project aims to welcome everyone from babies to the elderly , and people with and without disabilities.

The association also wishes to develop its touring activities . Its objective is not to limit its activities to its practice location in Cazères, but to bring circus arts to rural areas and to medical and social care facilities .