Nez Coiffés ASBL – Center for Expression and Creativity

Nez Coiffés is a Centre for Expression and Creativity located in Spy , in the municipality of Jemeppe-sur-Sambre , in the province of Namur . The association has been developing an artistic and educational project for many years, primarily dedicated to circus arts and theatre .

The circus at the heart of the project

Circus arts play a central role in the organization's activities. Nez Coiffés organizes regular workshops allowing children and young people to discover different circus techniques while gradually participating in a creative process.

The subjects studied

Juggling is one of the disciplines practiced. It allows students to develop coordination , concentration , precision , and perseverance through the manipulation of different objects.

The diabolo is also one of the techniques used in the workshops. Learning it allows participants to work on coordination , rhythm and control of movement before gradually exploring different tricks.

Unicycling is also one of the activities historically taught by Nez Coiffés. It requires balance , coordination and perseverance and is an excellent example of the pedagogy developed by the association: try, fail, try again and gradually observe one's own progress .

The various balance techniques complement the discovery of the circus. They allow participants to explore their body, their support and their relationship to space in a different way.

A Center for Expression and Creativity

But Nez Coiffés does not simply seek to transmit a succession of techniques. Its identity as a Centre for Expression and Creativity gives particular importance to imagination and personal expression .

The circus skills learned during the workshops gradually become tools that can be integrated into characters, theatrical situations and collective creations.

Theatre thus occupies an important complementary place in the project. Circus and stage performance can come together to allow participants to go beyond simple technical demonstration and to create genuine artistic proposals.

The creation of shows

This approach regularly results in the creation of shows . Workshop participants present their work to the public, particularly during the association's annual festival .

The creative process relies heavily on suggestions from children and young people . Improvisations, characters, and ideas developed during the sessions can serve as material for the construction of the show.

Participants thus become active participants in their own creation rather than simply reproducing a routine entirely imagined by the presenter.

• Developing autonomy
• Stimulate the imagination
• Strengthening the ability to express oneself in front of others

Collective learning

Collective practice also plays an essential role. Preparing a show requires listening to others' suggestions, cooperating, finding one's place in the group, and building something together.

Perseverance is another important lesson. Circus techniques naturally require repetition and patience , allowing young people to discover that temporary failure is part of the learning process.

Internships and interventions

Nez Coiffés also organizes workshops during school holidays . These allow children to discover the circus in a more intensive way or to continue the work started during the regular workshops.

Some workshops directly combine circus and theatre . Participants can then dedicate several days to technical learning, improvisation and the construction of a small collective creation.

The association also develops numerous projects in partnership with schools, youth structures, cultural centers and various associations.

She has significant experience in school-based interventions . Circus techniques can be used there as tools to re-engage young people , develop concentration and perseverance , and strengthen group cohesion .

Nez Coiffés, for example, has developed projects in which learning diabolo , juggling or unicycling was then dramatized and integrated into small scenes.

This ability to use the circus as an educational and social tool is an important characteristic of the association.

A circus rooted in its territory

Nez Coiffés also develops projects in neighborhoods and with audiences who do not necessarily have spontaneous access to artistic practices.

The "Tous au chapiteau" project particularly illustrates this approach. A big top is temporarily set up in the heart of a neighborhood in order to develop workshops, involve young people and gradually build a collective performance.

The objective is therefore as much artistic as social : to allow young people to participate, to find their place in a creation and to have a real space for expression.

International projects

The association has also participated in international circus projects . Exchanges between young Belgians and French people have notably allowed them to share several weeks of practice, communal living and creation before presenting a show together.

These projects show that Nez Coiffés uses the circus as a means of meeting and opening up to others as much as an artistic discipline.

A new anchor point in Spy

Since the end of 2024, the association has had new premises in Spy , in the locality known as "Aux Pervenches" . Circus and theatre activities have gradually found a new home there.

Nez Coiffés continues in parallel to collaborate with cultural actors in Jemeppe-sur-Sambre and surrounding municipalities for its shows, workshops and various projects.

The organization is a member of Fédécirque , the network of schools and circus arts teaching structures of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation.