Lausanne-Renens Circus School (ECL)

The Lausanne-Renens Circus School (ECL) is a Swiss institution dedicated to the teaching, practice, and professional training of circus arts. Founded in 1994 and now located in Renens, in the canton of Vaud, it welcomes both beginners and young artists wishing to pursue a professional career.

The school develops a particularly comprehensive educational project, combining leisure courses, holiday camps, specialized teaching, inclusive practice and pre-vocational training.

Discovering the circus from a very young age

The discovery of the circus can begin at a very young age thanks to parent-child classes, accessible from age 2. These sessions allow toddlers to discover movement, balance, and their environment through fun activities shared with a parent.

From the age of 3, children can participate in circus workshops adapted to their motor development. They discover, in particular, the trapeze, the first juggling exercises and balancing on a ball.

The teaching then continues through different groups organized according to the age and school level of the participants.

A multidisciplinary and progressive teaching approach

The multidisciplinary courses allow students to discover the main families of circus arts: juggling and object manipulation, acrobatics, balancing, trampoline and aerial disciplines.

As they progress, students can deepen their technical knowledge and discover more demanding apparatus, including the Chinese pole and aerial silks.

For teenagers, the school also encourages group practice, mutual support and the creation of initial artistic sequences.

Specialized courses for all levels

Specialized courses complement this general training. ECL notably offers instruction dedicated to aerial disciplines, including silks, trapeze, hoop, and rope.

Specific acrobatics and trampoline sessions also allow these techniques to be further developed.

Adults have access to multidisciplinary and aerial courses, available from age 16, to discover or continue practicing circus arts in a supervised environment.

The school also has an Aerial Sports Centre offering, among other things, hoop, silks, aerial hammock, pole, acroyoga and various complementary physical preparation activities.

A competition-oriented track allows practitioners wishing to invest more time and effort to benefit from specialized support in aerial hoop, pole sport and flying pole.

Inclusion: the Handicirque program

Inclusion is another important aspect of the educational project.

Through its Handicirque program, ECL welcomes a group of young people with disabilities each week for sessions adapted to their abilities.

Juggling, balance exercises and acrobatics then become tools to develop dexterity, coordination, motor skills and the pleasure of practicing together.

The pre-vocational training center

Beyond its many amateur activities, the Lausanne-Renens Circus School stands out for having a genuine pre-professional training center.

This center supports young people wishing to develop intensive artistic practice and prepare for entrance exams to higher circus schools.

The training includes, in particular, a Junior track, a preparatory course associated with school studies and a year of advanced training for candidates wishing to deepen their specialization.

The programs are tailored to the individual needs of the students and combine technical training, physical preparation, and artistic development.

The disciplines practiced are particularly numerous: floor acrobatics, seesaw, contortion, trampoline, trampo-wall, tightrope, juggling, object manipulation, hand-to-hand, balances, Cyr wheel, German wheel, Chinese pole and various aerial techniques.

Students benefit from the support of specialist teachers as well as medical monitoring adapted to the demands of intensive practice.

The training is placed under the educational responsibility of Roby Raymond, former coach of the Swiss national trampoline team and graduate of the National Circus School of Montreal.

An international network and links with higher education institutions

ECL has also been a member of FEDEC, the European Federation of Professional Circus Schools, since 2022.

Its training center maintains links with several international institutions and regularly accompanies its students to higher education institutions in Switzerland, France, Canada, the Netherlands and other European countries.

Workshops, training sessions and shows

The school also organizes internships during school holidays, occasional workshops, activities and shows.

These activities allow circus arts to be introduced to a wider audience and offer students different opportunities to present their work.

An important place in circus arts in French-speaking Switzerland

With over thirty years of existence, the Lausanne-Renens Circus School occupies an important place in the transmission of circus arts in French-speaking Switzerland.

Its distinctive feature lies in the continuity of its teaching: a child can discover the circus from their earliest years, develop a regular amateur practice, deepen a specialty and then, if they wish, join an intensive course preparing them for careers in contemporary circus.