The Catapult Circus – A traveling circus school

The Catapult Circus is a travelling circus school based in Maffé, in the commune of Gudas, near Foix in Ariège.

The association was founded in 2018 with the initial aim of promoting and showcasing circus arts in Foix. Its scope has gradually expanded to include the whole of Ariège as well as Haute-Garonne.

Their project is based on a powerful idea: to enable residents of rural areas to access contemporary, creative, and playful circus arts. Therefore, Cirque Catapulte doesn't operate solely as a school housed in a fixed location. The association defines itself as a mobile school, able to travel wherever there is a need.

To achieve this, the team has mobile teaching materials and facilitators capable of organizing workshops directly at schools, leisure centers, associations, communities and other partner structures.

Alongside its touring activities, Cirque Catapulte now has a venue particularly suited to its work at the Maffé farm , near Foix. A room dedicated to workshops allows for the setup of aerial equipment such as silks and trapezes.

A multidisciplinary teaching

The teaching offered is multidisciplinary .

Participants discover the main families of circus arts through acrobatics , juggling , object balancing , aerial disciplines and theatrical expression .

For aerial disciplines, the school primarily uses silks and trapeze . The Maffé location also has a safety line to assist with certain high-altitude training.

The artistic dimension occupies an important place in the project. Technical learning is not considered an end in itself: students are gradually led to choose the disciplines that attract them, to deepen their practice and to use the techniques acquired to create acts and shows .

Teenage weekends

This approach is particularly evident in the weekend programs for teenagers. Young people aged 10 to 18 participate in several weekends spread throughout the year. They alternate between guided workshops in acrobatics, aerial arts, juggling, and theatrical expression with more independent practice time dedicated to honing their skills.

All of this work culminates in the collective creation of a show . The young people participate in all stages of the project and present their creation at the annual Cirque Catapulte festival as well as, depending on the year, at festivals and external events.

Discovery workshops for younger children

For younger children, the association organizes introductory courses during school holidays.

Children aged 5 to 7 discover the different circus families through a particularly playful approach. These workshops also have a unique feature related to the location: the circus is combined with the discovery of the farm and nature , with various activities organized around this environment.

From the age of 8 , the workshops place greater emphasis on technical development and creativity. After exploring the different disciplines, each participant can focus on those that interest them most in order to progress and begin building an act.

Arts education in schools

The association also develops a significant arts education program in schools . Its qualified instructors, accredited by the Ministry of Education, can travel with all the necessary equipment to organize projects directly in schools.

These projects can meet different objectives defined with the teachers: discovery of circus arts, technical progression, development of creativity, work around group cohesion or collective creation of a show.

The Catapult Circus also works with ALAEs, leisure centers, associations, municipalities and individuals.

The teaching staff

The teaching team brings together complementary backgrounds from socio-cultural activities, circus arts, dance and performance.

• Louise Barthès has a background in socio-cultural animation and holds the BPJEPS Circus qualification.
• Louise Marchand develops a practice situated at the intersection of contemporary dance and aerial circus, with a significant specialization around the fixed trapeze, silks and hoop.
• Djamilia Jarno, for her part, has experience in teaching diverse audiences and particularly develops her practice around aerial disciplines and hand balancing.

A mobile and territorial school

Cirque Catapulte is thus characterized by a highly mobile and territorial conception of the circus school. Its objective is not only to welcome practitioners to a place, but also to go and meet them .

Internships, school projects, travelling workshops, teen weekends, advanced training, collective creation and performances offer different paths of discovery and progression in circus arts, with particular attention paid to the inhabitants of the rural areas of Ariège and Haute-Garonne.