On the Circus Ring! – Circus School

En Piste! is a contemporary circus school based in Florence and its surrounding area for over fifteen years.

It offers regular circus arts practice for toddlers, children, teenagers and adults.

The school operates in several locations in Florence as well as in Scandicci and Calenzano, which allows it to reach a particularly wide audience throughout the Florentine agglomeration.

His project is based on a multidisciplinary conception of contemporary circus.

Students discover juggling, balancing, acrobatics, aerial disciplines, clowning and different forms of body expression.

En Piste! defines its practice as a sport without competition .

This philosophy constitutes one of the central elements of his pedagogy.

Individual progress matters more than comparison between students.

The circus thus becomes a testing ground where everyone can discover their own abilities.

A comprehensive educational approach

Psychomotor skills play an important role in the project.

The exercises help to develop coordination, strength, physical endurance, balance and flexibility.

But the goals are not solely physical.

Creativity is encouraged.

Concentration is being worked on.

Rhythm is also an important element.

The practice gradually aims to develop self-confidence and perseverance.

Paying attention to others and working in groups complement this approach.

This diversity of objectives explains the appeal of the circus as an educational tool .

From toddlers to teenagers

The first activities can begin very early.

En Piste! develops activities for children aged one to three years accompanied by a parent or grandparent.

These small group sessions provide a first encounter with the circus world.

They are organized around movement, play and the relationship between the child and the accompanying adult.

The MiniCirco then welcomes children aged four to six.

The sessions are intentionally adapted to this age group.

Games still constitute one of the main educational tools.

Children gradually discover different families of circus arts while developing their motor skills.

At primary school age, teaching becomes more diversified.

The groups allow students to explore the different disciplines of the school.

Depending on the session, students may work together or be divided according to their age or experience.

This organization allows the level of the exercises to be adapted.

Middle and high school students also have specific groups.

At this age, the training volume can increase.

The school particularly encourages the most motivated students to participate in two weekly sessions when the organization of the venue allows.

Technical progress can therefore become significant during adolescence.

Students can also get involved in collective creations and performances.

Adult classes

Adults are not forgotten.

En Piste! offers multidisciplinary activities as well as courses dedicated to certain technical families.

An adult can thus practice circus arts for pleasure, discover new disciplines or deepen an already existing practice.

Juggling

Juggling is one of the major areas taught.

• Scarves are particularly useful for introducing the first manipulations.
• The bullets are being used.
• Rings and clubs allow for a deeper level of practice.
• The diabolo is part of the school's equipment.
• The flower stick is also present.
• Chinese plates complete this family of disciplines.

Balancing act

Balancing acts are just as diverse.

• Students can work on a balance ball .
• The rola-bola is used.
• The beam allows for another approach to balance.
• Tightrope walking is one of the disciplines offered.

The unicycle occupies a particularly interesting place in the history of the school.

En Piste! has notably developed a project for a Scuola di Monociclo Sportivo.

The unicycle is considered in its various forms, including freestyle , flat , trial and muni .

Specialized workshops also allow this discipline to be worked on with external speakers.

Acrobatics

Acrobatics constitutes another pillar of the teaching.

• The students are working on, among other things, human pyramids .
• Hand-to-hand acrobatics allows for the exploration of lifts and group acrobatics.
• The verticals are the subject of specific work.

Some places now offer courses dedicated to acrobatics and verticals.

Aerial disciplines

Aerial disciplines are particularly well represented.

• Aerial fabric is part of the program.
• The trapeze is taught.
• Aerial rope is offered.
• The aerial hoop completes this family.
• The Chinese pole also appears among the disciplines announced by the school.

Some courses are entirely devoted to aerial acrobatics .

This option allows students who wish to do so to go beyond simple multidisciplinary discovery.

The clown and rhythmic work

The clown also has a place in education.

It brings an expressive and theatrical dimension that complements the technical work.

Rhythm and body percussion are among the other tools used.

This diversity perfectly illustrates the concept of circus developed by En Piste! .

It's not just about accumulating technical skills.

The body, the object, rhythm, the relationship with others and creativity all contribute to the student's development.

Single-discipline courses and workshops

The school also organizes single-discipline courses.

These courses allow for in-depth study of a specific technique.

Acrobatics, juggling and aerial silks were among the subjects of specialized courses.

Workshops and seminars further complement the offering.

They are usually organized during weekends.

En Piste! then calls upon specialized artists or teachers from other schools or the professional sector.

These meetings allow students to discover other approaches to training.

They also provide access to techniques that are not necessarily present in weekly classes.

Over the years, the school has notably hosted workshops in unicycle, acrodance, juggling, body percussion, Commedia dell'Arte and clowning.

Artists from major Italian contemporary circus organizations participated in this project.

This opening helps to enrich the students' training without transforming En Piste! into a vocational school.

Creation and performances

The school also develops a genuine creative activity.

The most motivated students can participate in shows.

Historically, the Primi Passi project notably enabled the creation of a company composed of students from the school and to go on a small tour in Florence and its surroundings.

This dimension is still visible today.

In 2026, the students of En Piste! presented several creations as part of the En Piste Festival .

• Young people aged eleven to sixteen presented a show inspired by Alice in Wonderland .
• Students aged eight to ten also had their own creation.
• Another show featured aerial acrobatics students aged eight to fourteen.

These productions show that the performance constitutes a true continuity of learning.

Therefore, students do not work solely on one technique during their lessons.

They also learn how to construct a proposal for the public.

This relationship to the stage is particularly interesting in an amateur circus school.

It helps to give a collective objective to the work done during the year.

The En Piste Festival

En Piste! is now developing its own festival.

The second edition of the En Piste Festival took place in June 2026 in Florence.

For three days, the program brought together student performances, professional artists, workshops open to the public, and meetings between circus schools.

The festival notably hosted a gathering of circus schools from Tuscany.

Young people from different schools came together to build an ephemeral creation.

This initiative demonstrates the prominent role played by En Piste! in the regional circus network.

The school also participates in other events dedicated to contemporary circus.

His students notably present their creations as part of Cirk Fantastik in Florence.

This proximity to festivals and professional artists allows young practitioners to discover a wider world than that of their weekly classes.

Interventions in schools

En Piste! also develops interventions in schools.

The circus then becomes a tool for working with teachers on various issues encountered by classes.

Non-competitive teaching methods and the wide variety of techniques are particularly well suited to this type of intervention.

Each child can find a discipline in which they feel most comfortable.

• Juggling requires patience and coordination.
• Balance requires gradually gaining control of one's body.
• Collective acrobatics requires trust and cooperation.
• Aerial disciplines allow us to explore a different relationship with space.
• The clown offers yet another way to express oneself.

This complementarity makes it possible to avoid valuing only one type of capability.

The inclusive approach advocated by En Piste! takes on its full meaning here.

The school seeks to create an environment where differences between participants can become resources.

Group work is as important an objective as individual progress.

Summer campuses

Summer campuses complement this activity.

They offer intensive weeks focused on the circus.

Balancing, theatre, games and juggling can be associated with activities in nature.

These workshops allow children to experience the circus in a more intensive way than during a weekly class.

The association's activities therefore extend far beyond the scope of a single course.

• En Piste! operates in several locations.
• She organizes specialized workshops.
• She works in schools.
• She creates shows.
• She participates in festivals.
• She is developing her own event.
• It organizes internships and campuses.
• She also maintains collaborations with other schools and artists.

A long-standing territorial presence

This territorial presence is long-standing.

Institutional sources indicate that the association has been developing the teaching and promotion of circus arts in Florence and the surrounding area since the late 2000s.

The City of Florence presents it today as a school that has been active in the area for more than fifteen years.

The year 2026 clearly confirms this continuity.

• The school held its festival in June.
• His students participated in Cirk Fantastik in September.
• Classes have resumed in Florence, Scandicci and Calenzano.
• New groups have been announced.
• A schedule of workshops for the 2026-2027 season is also published.

En Piste! is now one of the important structures for the amateur practice of contemporary circus in the Florentine area.

The forces of En Piste!

Its strength lies particularly in the breadth of its audience.

• The first activities can begin with very young children accompanied by their parents.
• The children then benefit from a genuine progression.
• Teenagers can increase their training volume and participate in creative projects.
• Adults have their own classes.

The second strength lies in technical diversity .

Juggling, unicycle, tightrope, rola-bola, balance ball, acrobatics, hand-to-hand, verticals, silks, trapeze, rope, hoop, Chinese pole, clown and rhythmic work allow you to discover a very large part of contemporary circus arts.

Finally, pedagogy is the common thread running through everything.

• En Piste! advocates a practice without competition.
• Motor skills and physical fitness are important, but they are associated with creativity.
• Technical progress is accompanied by work on concentration.
• Success requires perseverance.
• Group practice develops attentiveness to others.
• And the creative process allows acquired skills to be transformed into a genuine artistic experience.

For the NetJuggler directory

For the NetJuggler directory, En Piste! therefore deserves a full listing as an amateur and educational circus school.

Its presence across multiple sites must be maintained so that families can identify the nearest location.

Its recent activity, its shows and its festival confirm that it is a very much alive structure in the landscape of contemporary Florentine circus.