The Box of Tricks

The Box of Tricks

La Boîte à Malice , also known as BàM, is a circus arts school located in Montauban, in the Tarn-et-Garonne region. Created in 1993 by Nathalie Hervouet , a clown artist, it has been developing a project dedicated to the transmission and development of circus arts for over thirty years.

The association bases its actions on a popular education approach. It considers learning and exchange as tools for creativity, personal development and individual and collective transformation.

• Mutual aid
• Cooperation
• Respect for the individual
• Social and gender diversity
• Sharing and conviviality

Since September 2019, La Boîte à Malice has benefited from a dedicated space for circus arts within the Jacques-Chirac Sports Palace in Montauban. The venue was named after Annie Fratellini in November 2019, in homage to this major figure in the history of circus and its teaching in France.

This location allows the school to develop weekly classes for a very wide audience. Practice begins as early as age 2 with circus-based activities in pairs with a parent. Children can then progressively continue their learning within age-organized groups, from introductory sessions to more creatively oriented programs.

The 2026-2027 season therefore offers workshops for:

• 2-3 year olds (circummotor skills)
• Children aged 4 and 5
• Ages 6 and 7
• Ages 8-10
• Ages 11-15 (possibility of joining a leisure group or, after validation by the teaching team, a creative group)

The teaching at La Boîte à Malice is intentionally multidisciplinary . Students discover the major branches of circus arts:

• Juggling
• Balances on objects
• Aerial disciplines
• Acrobatics
• Clownish expression

The goal is not just to acquire a technique but to allow everyone to develop their imagination, their autonomy and their ability to construct an artistic proposal.

Additional workshops allow participants to delve deeper into certain techniques. The 2026-2027 season notably includes a workshop specifically dedicated to juggling and a series of acrobatic lifts accessible to those aged 14 and up, including beginners. The Pépite workshop, led by artist and educator Ode Rosset , focuses on exploring the body and creativity.

Young people wishing to delve deeper can join the Creation group . This three-hour weekly program allows for a more in-depth exploration of artistic practice and creation. Admission to the group is subject to approval by the teaching staff.

Creativity is indeed an important dimension of the school's project. Several former students have gone on to professional careers in the performing arts.

• Raphaëlle and Camille Boitel
• Grégoire Aguilar
• Yohan Robin

Juggler Rémi Lasvenes , a former student who became a professional artist and was selected for the Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain, is now the school's patron.

La Boîte à Malice also organizes workshops during school holidays. These workshops are open to all young people, including those who do not attend year-round classes, and allow them to discover or further develop juggling, object balancing, aerial disciplines, acrobatics and clowning.

The school also develops masterclasses and meetings with artists. These opportunities allow students to explore specific disciplines or approaches in addition to regular courses.

Early childhood is another focus of the project. In addition to circus arts classes for children as young as two, La Boîte à Malice works with nurseries. Circus arts then become a tool for physical discovery, motor skills, spatial awareness, and experimentation.

Arts and cultural education plays a significant role in the association's activities. La Boîte à Malice develops projects with schools from elementary to high school. Circus arts are considered a particularly cross-disciplinary artistic language, capable of engaging in dialogue with:

• Physical education
• French
• History and Geography
• Artistic teachings
• Scientific subjects

These school projects address several issues:

• Artistic objective: to enable students to create, to give meaning to their actions and to develop their imagination.
• Educational challenge: to use the confrontation with failure, repetition, fear and controlled risk-taking to work on perseverance, effort, autonomy and collective construction.
• Cultural dimension: relating the practice to the works and the artists.

Adapted circus arts are another pillar of La Boîte à Malice. The school is a member of RECEO, created in Occitanie to promote access to circus arts for people with specific needs and to develop the exchange of practices between professionals.

Adapted circus projects are developed in partnership with specialized institutions and tailored to the characteristics of the participants. Beyond learning circus techniques, the workshops can contribute to the development of sensorimotor skills, physical ease, cognitive functions, and communication.

La Boîte à Malice does not separate this inclusive approach from its overall artistic project. The objective remains to allow everyone access to cultural activities and a space for creativity, with offerings adapted to the abilities and needs of individuals.

The association also develops significant social circus work. As part of the 2024-2030 city contract, the Citoyen Circassien project is aimed in particular at residents of the Médiathèque-Chambord and Cœur de ville districts of Montauban.

This program aims to promote access to artistic practice for young people who do not necessarily participate in extracurricular activities. It is based on values shared by civic engagement and circus arts: mutual support, respect, and sharing. Gender diversity, group cohesion, and creativity are also central to the initiative.

La Boîte à Malice has been running this type of project in priority neighborhoods for over fifteen years, with the support of the City of Montauban and the State. It also develops initiatives within the framework of the Summer Cultural Program and the Summer Neighborhoods program to offer artistic activities to young people who do not go on vacation.

The Quartier de Cirque project fosters connections between the Georges-Lapierre school, residents of the Médiathèque-Chambord neighborhood, and various cultural organizations. A third-grade class is welcomed each week outside of school holidays. The project's objectives go beyond simple introductory circus training: it aims to build relationships with families, to artistically engage with public spaces, and to allow young people to meet different artists and cultural professionals.

This articulation between amateur teaching, EAC, inclusion and social circus fully corresponds to the popular education identity of La Boîte à Malice.

La Boîte à Malice belongs to the network of the French Federation of Circus Schools and to FREC Midi-Pyrénées . This federal involvement is extended by its participation in meetings between schools and by its commitment to the RECEO network dedicated to inclusive practices.

In Montauban, La Boîte à Malice is much more than a school offering weekly courses: it is simultaneously a place of learning, creation, inclusion, artistic education, social circus and dissemination of contemporary circus.

From circus motor skills for 2-year-olds to the adolescent Creation group, from holiday camps to acrobatic lifts, from school projects to adapted circus, from actions in priority neighborhoods to the Monte au Banc festival, the association uses circus arts as a true artistic, educational and social tool.

After more than thirty years in existence, La Boîte à Malice remains deeply rooted in its local community while participating in regional and national networks of circus schools. Its project combines artistic practice, popular education, diversity, cooperation, and cultural openness around a single ambition: to make circus arts accessible to the widest possible audience.