Gembloux Circus School ASBL – CEC

The Gembloux Circus School is an organization entirely dedicated to the practice, learning, creation, and promotion of circus arts. Established as a non-profit organization and structured as a Center for Expression and Creativity, it welcomes a wide audience including children, teenagers, and adults.

The discovery of the circus can begin as early as age 3. For younger children, circus-based motor skills use the circus world as a support to explore movement, coordination, balance, relationship to space and the possibilities of the body.

As children grow up, they can join multidisciplinary circus workshops. These allow them to discover several major families of techniques before, possibly, moving towards a more specialized practice.

The school offers significant instruction in acrobatics . Body work, support, movement, individual and group figures, as well as acrobatic partnering, can be progressively integrated into the practice.

Balances constitute another component of teaching. They can be addressed in multidisciplinary courses but also in workshops that give them a more prominent place.

Juggling and object manipulation are also very prominent. The school's projects and shows demonstrate, in particular, work around ball juggling, while the activities allow students to discover different juggling techniques.

Aerial disciplines have their own workshops. Participants can thus develop a more specialized practice at height and progressively deepen their technique, body control and ability to build sequences.

The Gembloux Circus School does not separate technical training from the artistic dimension. Several workshops thus combine circus arts with theatre, clowning, movement or dance.

The theatrical clown holds a specific place in the programming. It allows for the exploration of acting, stage presence, expression, and the relationship with the audience.

Workshops and creative projects are offered to practitioners wishing to go further. Some groups work for a whole year on the design of a multidisciplinary show that may combine juggling, balance, acrobatics and aerial arts.

These creations are then presented to the public at school events and, for some projects, at festivals and external events. Students thus discover all the steps involved in going from learning a technique to building and then presenting a real performance.

For the 2026-2027 season, several projects also combine disciplines. Circus, dance, movement, clowning, and even video mapping can be brought together in a single creation. The school notably works in partnership with other cultural and artistic organizations in the region.

A particularly original offering also concerns pyrotechnics and lighting practices, allowing some students to explore a more specialized facet of circus arts.

The school also develops projects accessible to people with disabilities through Handicirque and Handipercu . Sessions can be adapted to the needs of the institutions and participants involved.

Actions are also carried out directly with schools. The school welcomes groups for full or half-day discovery sessions and offers introductory courses allowing them to experiment with juggling, balances and, depending on the program, acrobatics and aerial arts.

Holiday camps complement the annual courses. They offer the opportunity to discover the circus arts as well as explore specific themes or techniques. Short workshops are also available for those wishing to discover or refine a particular discipline.

The school regularly organizes public presentations. The end-of-year celebration allows families and the public to discover the work done in the various workshops, while the creative groups also have specific events such as the Open Studios .

The Gembloux Circus School also hosts professional artists in residence. Its premises therefore constitute a learning space for amateurs, a place for creation, and a meeting place with the professional artistic community.

The pedagogy thus goes beyond the mere acquisition of technical skills. Circus arts are viewed as a means of developing expression, creativity, autonomy, confidence, and the ability to build something collectively.

With its regular workshops, its many specializations, its creative projects, its internships, its work with schools, its inclusive actions and its hosting of artists, the Gembloux Circus School is a particularly comprehensive player in circus education and creation in Belgium.