The Circus Box

Presentation

La Boîte aux Cirquouités is a non-profit circus school founded in 2015 in Montarnaud, in the Hérault department, near Montpellier. Created to develop an accessible practice of circus arts in this area, it celebrates its first decade in 2026 .

Audience and route

The school welcomes children, teenagers, and adults, offering a path from discovery to advanced training. Its project does not necessarily aim to train future professional artists: the circus is primarily seen as a powerful tool for expression , self-discovery, learning, and fulfillment.

Pedagogy and values

The teaching methods of La Boîte aux Cirquouités place the individual at the heart of the collective. The association champions the idea that everyone should be able to exist and express themselves within the circus space, while the success of a collective project depends on the personal growth of its members.

Self-respect and respect for others, mutual support , cooperation , and sharing are the core values upheld by the school. Technical research is combined with play , creativity , confidence , and pushing personal limits .

Multidisciplinary teaching

Balance and juggling

Balancing acts on objects are a prominent feature of the school's activities. Recent projects have documented the practice of unicycling , slacklining , and hula-hooping . Workshops and training sessions also allow students to explore various forms of juggling and dexterity.

Aerial disciplines

Aerial disciplines also occupy a clearly defined place in the project. The school organizes specific workshops dedicated to aerial arts, and its events have notably provided opportunities to practice the flying trapeze . Teenagers and more advanced practitioners can thus access more specialized offerings in addition to their multidisciplinary training.

Acrobatics and stage design

Acrobatics complements this approach and can take on a collective dimension through acrobatic lifts . Furthermore, La Boîte aux Cirquouités regularly combines physical practice, expression, and stagecraft, reminding us that circus techniques are also tools for artistic creation.

Regular workshops and training courses

Regular workshops are complemented by holiday camps during school breaks. The school has a long history of running holiday camps during the All Saints', Christmas, winter, and spring breaks, in addition to seasonal special events and family circus activities.

• All Saints' , Christmas , winter and spring break courses
• Occasional proposals depending on the season
• Family Circus Time

The workshops can be multidisciplinary or focused on a particular technique. They provide an entry point for children who do not necessarily attend school throughout the year and allow regular students to deepen their practice.

Adolescent journey and creation

A special place is given to teenagers involved in creative work. The school develops longer programs that allow them to move from technical training to the creation of a performance. Young people can then experience research, composition, collaborative work, and interaction with the public.

Short Circus Festival

This creative dimension is particularly evident in Court Cirqu'Oui , a festival organized by La Boîte aux Cirquouités. The event was specifically created to allow children and teenagers attending the school to perform in front of an audience and meet professional artists.

The festival also responds to a broader desire to promote the dissemination of live performance in rural areas. Based in Argelliers, notably in the bucolic setting of the Jardin de Tranquille , it blends circus, music, cabaret, workshops, family activities and professional artistic offerings.

• Circus
• Music
• Cabaret
• Workshops
• Family activities
• Professional artistic proposals

The ninth edition of Court Cirqu'Oui took place from May 13 to 16, 2026. The event combined professional shows, creations by young people from the school, cabaret, circus workshops for families and individuals, music and various other activities.

The festival promotes a family and intergenerational dimension, but also an eco-responsible approach and a desire to showcase both local artists and companies from other territories.

Educational impact of the festival

For the students, this event is a direct extension of their teaching. They don't just practice circus arts in a weekly class: they can participate in a real cultural event, present their creations, meet artists and discover different forms of contemporary circus.

Shares outside of Montarnaud

La Boîte aux Cirquouités also develops significant activity outside of Montarnaud. Its team works in various towns and organizations in the Hérault region to offer introductory workshops or support longer-term projects.

"En Piste" project in Frontignan

One of the most important recent examples is the En Piste project developed in Frontignan. During the 2025-2026 season, 126 students from CE1 to CM1 benefited from outings to shows, meetings with companies and circus arts workshops conducted with the city's sports educators and La Boîte aux Cirquouités.

Five third-grade classes also incorporated circus arts into their physical education program, with a year-long project culminating in a public performance. The children were able to discover circus skills while developing their motor skills, self-confidence, and creativity.

The project combines hands-on experience with genuine cultural exploration: meetings with artists, outings to shows, discovering circus professions, and even the creation of a journal by the children about their experience. This approach clearly places La Boîte aux Cirquouités within the field of arts and cultural education.

Events and territorial mobility

The school also participates on an ad hoc basis in local events and activities. In April 2026, for example, it ran workshops in Viols-en-Laval focusing on object balancing, unicycling, juggling, slacklining, and hula-hooping.

• Balance on objects
• Unicycle
• Juggling
• Slackline
• Hula-hoop

This mobility is important in a territory made up of rural and peri-urban municipalities: the association does not limit its activity to students able to travel to Montarnaud every week but participates in the dissemination of circus arts over a much wider area.

Family and social initiatives

The family dimension is also part of the project. Family Circus workshops are regularly offered as part of the courses and events, allowing several generations to share a circus experience.

The association also develops initiatives related to parenting, eco-citizenship , and social and intergenerational connections. These dimensions directly align with the values of cooperation and sharing emphasized in its educational project.

Networks and administrative contact

La Boîte aux Cirquouités belongs to the FFEC and the FREC Soleil. The FFEC currently lists Céline Pourret as the head of the organization, with administrative offices at 40 mail Georges Sand, ZAC du Pradas in Montarnaud .

This inclusion in the federal network complements the association's local roots. The school is thus developing a project at the crossroads of amateur practice, popular education, arts education, youth creation and cultural dissemination.

Conclusion

After ten years in existence, La Boîte aux Cirquouités has become a well-established circus arts organization in the Hérault region. Its activities are no longer limited to regular classes in Montarnaud: workshops, family programs, school visits, activities in various towns, artistic projects, and festivals now constitute the different facets of a single project.

From the child who discovers balance or juggling for the first time to the teenager who participates in a creation presented in front of the Court Cirqu'Oui audience, the school seeks to build pathways allowing everyone to progress, gain confidence, create and find their place in a collective.

La Boîte aux Cirquouités thus champions a circus that is accessible, playful, and demanding , where technique remains at the service of expression, connection, and personal growth. Its base in Montarnaud, its touring activities in the Hérault region, and its festival in Argelliers make it a particularly attractive venue for practicing and discovering circus arts northwest of Montpellier.