The Career

La Carrière — Circus Arts School

La Carrière is a circus arts school located in Saint-Barthélemy-d'Anjou , in the Angers metropolitan area. Its project combines amateur practice, artistic education, contemporary creation, cultural action and the presence of professional artists.

Historical

The school's history began in 1993 when the street arts company Jo Bithume created a circus school in Saint-Barthélemy-d'Anjou. In 2009, it became an independent association. Its new name, "La Carrière" (The Quarry), refers both to the history of the Paperie site where it is located and to the image of a circus ring.

Development and the public

Over the years, La Carrière has become a major center for circus arts in the Angers metropolitan area. Around 400 students currently attend its annual classes, and more than 1,200 children and young people participate in its workshops each year. Regular classes, workshops, school projects, cultural activities, and partnerships with specialized organizations allow thousands of people to practice or discover the circus arts.

Education

The teaching is intentionally multidisciplinary. Students work on aerial disciplines, acrobatics, object balancing, juggling, as well as expression and creativity games.

Background and ages

Circus arts classes are available for children as young as 3. Children aged 3 to 5 can discover the arts with a parent in a weekly class. Parent-child workshops are also offered during some school holidays.

From the age of 5, children can engage in independent and multidisciplinary practice. Classes then evolve progressively with age and skill level. Teenagers have opportunities to deepen their practice, while adults can also participate in circus arts, including beginners.

For the 2026-2027 season, classes will resume the week of September 14, 2026. Registration is open to former students, children who have already participated in a school activity, and new participants.

Internships

La Carrière also runs a significant training program. During each school holiday period, introductory and advanced training courses are offered to children and teenagers. These courses can be arranged for half-days or full days.

These workshops offer a true immersion in the circus arts. They provide access to various disciplines and also offer the opportunity to discover techniques requiring specific equipment such as unicycles, stilts, or the Chinese pole. A performance is organized on the last day to share the week's work with families.

School activities and partnerships

Artistic transmission is not limited to recreational classes and workshops. La Carrière conducts particularly extensive work with schools. In 2025-2026, nearly 1,000 students participated in a school project.

Projects can involve children from preschool through high school. La Carrière supports teachers in developing the project and works in partnership with the Maine-et-Loire Department and the departmental physical education advisors.

These activities combine hands-on practice, creative expression, and cultural exploration. Students can work at La Carrière or benefit from workshops led by professional artists directly at their school. Some projects also combine practical experience with the opportunity to see performances and meet with theater companies.

The organization has significant experience working with secondary schools. Programs such as "The Acrobatic Body" use circus arts to introduce secondary school students to different disciplines and develop teamwork skills.

La Carrière also works with specialized organizations. This aspect has historically been part of its activity, even though current public information does not present a permanent program specifically titled "Adapted Circus." It is therefore more accurate to speak of projects with specialized institutions rather than attributing to the school a permanent adapted circus curriculum.

Creation

Creativity is another essential dimension of La Carrière. Students are not only invited to acquire techniques: the school considers the circus as a language allowing each individual to draw from their own universe to create.

Each season concludes with the Circus Highlight . This annual event, held in June, allows students to present to the public the research and creations they have produced throughout the year.

The school also participates in meetings of the circus school network. Its students have notably presented creations at the national meetings of the French Federation of Circus Schools. In 2023, La Carrière presented "La Ola," a creation blending acrobatics and dance.

The Tadour company

Since 2024, the relationship with professional creation has been further strengthened with the birth of the Tadour company. Supported and produced by La Carrière, it is mainly composed of artist-educators working within the school.

Tadour was born from the meeting of several artists who arrived at La Carrière between 2022 and 2023. The company develops a language blending different circus disciplines, movement, and dance. Its name means "it turns" in Arabic and refers to the presence of circular movement in its apparatus, structures, and choreography.

• The artists include professionals trained at the Shems'y National Circus School in Morocco, specializing in aerial straps, Cyr wheel, acrobatics and choreographic movement.
• The company is developing several creations: “Rihla: Trajectories”, “Tik-Tak”, “Comfort Zone” and “Entrelacs” (creation 2026).
• Tadour performs at festivals and professional events, notably the Accroche-cœurs in Angers.

Tadour's presence within the school itself creates a particularly interesting relationship between pedagogy and professional creation. The artists are not simply external contributors: several of them regularly teach students while pursuing their own creative paths.

This proximity allows amateur practitioners and schoolchildren to meet active artists and to understand the circus as a living art in constant evolution.

International and local opening

La Carrière is also developing an international focus. In 2026, it embarked on an Erasmus project with a Norwegian circus school. This project fosters the exchange of practices, mobility, and encounters between young circus artists from different European countries.

The school also has specialized equipment on the Paperie site. Its premises underwent a major modernization in 2025-2026, further improving teaching, training and creative opportunities.

This location is unique: the very name La Carrière recalls the industrial and mining history of the site, while the new spaces now allow it to be a place dedicated to circus arts.

Team and organization

The current team is led by Khalid Lammini . It comprises an administrative team as well as professional artist-educators with diverse backgrounds and specializations. This structure allows La Carrière to integrate teaching, artistic projects, professional creation, and a resource center.

Conclusion

La Carrière is therefore much more than a school offering weekly courses. In Saint-Barthélemy-d'Anjou, it brings together amateur practice, internships, early childhood, adolescents, adults, school projects, cultural activities, student creation, European mobility and a professional company.

This connection between transmission and creation makes it unique. A child can discover the circus with their parent from the age of 3, continue in multidisciplinary courses, participate in workshops and present their work at the Temps Fort Cirque, while a few meters away professional artists develop the next creations of the Tadour company.

La Carrière thus defends an approach to circus arts where technical learning, creativity, meeting with artists and cultural openness are closely linked, making the structure a major player in circus arts in the Angers agglomeration and Maine-et-Loire.