Locorotondo Vzw – Herentals & Turnhout circus school

Locorotondo is a major Flemish circus school located in Herentals and Turnhout, in the province of Antwerp. Created in 2008, it develops a particularly comprehensive program combining weekly classes, open training sessions, internships, workshops, shows and creative projects.

An extremely large audience

The school welcomes an extremely wide range of people. Discovery can begin as early as kindergarten and continue throughout childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Locorotondo even offers activities specifically designed for people aged 55 and over .

The youngest: between child and adult

For younger children, the sessions involve both the child and a parent or other accompanying adult. The initial activities are based on motor skills courses and exercises designed to develop body awareness , balance , hand-eye coordination , and self-confidence .

The approach is inspired in particular by Veronica Sherborne's movement pedagogy and gives an important place to the relationship between the child and the adult.

With older children in kindergarten, real acrobatic challenges gradually appear, along with the discovery of different circus techniques.

The multi-circus from primary school onwards

From primary school onwards, Locorotondo develops an important multi-circus program.

The groups are organised by age in Herentals as in Turnhout in order to offer exercises adapted to the development of the participants.

The multi-circus format allows for the exploration of four main categories:

• balance
• juggling and manipulation
• acrobatics
• circus theatre

The school recommends starting with a year of multi-circus arts before potentially choosing a specialization. This approach allows children to build a broad foundation and, above all, to discover the disciplines that best suit them.

The multidisciplinary approach continues during adolescence with specific groups for secondary school students.

Adults also have access to a multi-circus course. Juggling, diabolo, unicycle, rola-bola and many other techniques can be discovered or further developed there.

Adult participants can choose to follow the teacher's suggestions or to pursue a previously encountered technique more independently.

Numerous specialized courses

Locorotondo also offers a particularly large number of specialized courses.

Unicycle and unicycle basketball

Unicycling is offered at several levels and in various formats. Some courses are entirely dedicated to learning and perfecting this discipline.

Unicycle basketball allows already independent practitioners to combine mastery of the unicycle with team play.

Juggling and manipulation

Juggling also has its own courses. Balls, clubs, diabolo, flowerstick and various forms of manipulation allow you to explore this large family of circus arts.

Club passing is even the subject of a specific course for jugglers who already possess the necessary basics.

Aerial disciplines

Aerial disciplines are taught at different levels.

Students learn to control their bodies in the air and can practice aerial silks and trapeze .

Technical progression is adapted to age and experience, with groups ranging from young practitioners to adults.

Acrobatics and parkour

Acrobatics is another particularly well-developed area.

Static and dynamic ground acrobatics, acrobatic lifts , tricking and teetering are among the techniques offered depending on the group.

Specialized courses allow participants to delve deeper into lifts. They learn to lift, be lifted, throw and be caught, in pairs or in group formations.

Parkour is also integrated into some acrobatic courses.

Cyr wheel and physical preparation

Locorotondo also offers the Cyr wheel , a discipline combining balance, manipulation and acrobatics in a large metal hoop.

The physical work required for circus practice is also the subject of a specific course combining physical condition, strength and flexibility.

The circus as a form of artistic expression

But the learning offered by Locorotondo is intentionally not limited to technique.

Circus arts are considered a form of artistic expression. Students are therefore encouraged to think about how to transform their skills into material intended to be presented to an audience.

Circus theatre and expression are part of the teaching.

Workshops allow participants to learn how to tell a story with or without equipment and to use circus techniques as a means of expression.

The organization also offers creative courses for young people wishing to take this approach further.

Participants can experiment with different creative methods and gradually build an individual or collective artistic proposal.

Some career paths can lead to the formation of a genuine production group.

Free training and pedagogy

Locorotondo also offers open training sessions in Herentals and Turnhout. Practitioners can then work independently on the technique of their choice outside of their regular classes.

The school develops a pedagogy that is particularly attentive to the overall development of the individual.

Circus arts are used to develop motor skills such as strength, flexibility, endurance and coordination, but also social and emotional skills.

Cooperation, respect for others, perseverance, self-knowledge and self-confidence are explicitly among the objectives pursued.

The organization aims to provide a warm , respectful and safe environment in which everyone can experiment and gradually push their own limits.

Inclusion and specific audiences

Inclusion is also an important focus.

Locorotondo claims to welcome participants regardless of their age, origin, gender or any possible disability.

For people with special needs, the team works with the participant or their family to find ways in which integration into the courses can be made possible.

Specific projects are also organised with certain audiences.

For example, seniors have access to the 3XL course. People aged 55 and over can discover juggling, Chinese plates, diabolo, barrel, slackline and other techniques accessible without prior experience.

Family practice also remains present through classes for the youngest children and certain one-off projects.

Internships

Internships constitute another major aspect of the activity.

During school holidays, Locorotondo organizes circus camps for different age groups in Herentals and Turnhout.

The 2026-2027 program includes, in particular, workshops for kindergarten children, circus and parkour days, as well as several camps during the Easter and summer holidays.

Some projects take the form of truly intensive stays allowing participants to experience the circus for several days.

External interventions and training

Locorotondo also intervenes extensively outside of its own courses.

Schools, associations, youth services, events, birthdays, businesses and other structures can call upon its teachers to organize workshops.

These interventions can take the form of a free workshop with many pieces of equipment available, a fully supervised course or an educational cycle spread over several weeks or over a school year.

Specific trapeze and Chinese pole workshops can also be organised when the venue has the necessary technical conditions.

The school also offers training courses enabling teachers, facilitators and educators to learn how to use circus equipment in a pedagogically appropriate way.

A complete structure for circus arts

After more than fifteen years of existence, Locorotondo has thus become a particularly complete structure for amateur learning of circus arts in the Herentals and Turnhout region.

Its combination of multidisciplinary discovery, numerous technical specializations, artistic creation, autonomous training, inclusion, internships and external interventions allows it to support both a young child discovering the circus and a teenager wishing to create an act or an adult wanting to deepen a particular discipline.