The Fortiches

Presentation

Founded in 2002 from the Quai des Arts cultural center, Les Fortiches is a circus school located in Sommières, in the Gard region. Accredited by the French Federation of Circus Schools for amateur practice and holding the Youth and Popular Education accreditation, it develops a project to transmit circus arts aimed at children, teenagers and adults, but also at schools and audiences requiring adapted support.

The school welcomes over 1,300 participants each year across all its activities, including approximately 150 members enrolled in regular classes. Its mission is rooted in popular and cultural education, aiming to make circus arts accessible to a wide range of audiences.

Weekly classes run from September to June and cater to both beginners and advanced students. Led by qualified professionals, they are designed to be fun, creative, dynamic, friendly, and non-competitive. Exercises and objectives are tailored to each participant's age and abilities.

Multidisciplinary teaching

Acrobatics

• Ground acrobatics
• Mini-trampoline
• Acrosport

In acrobatics, students work on floor acrobatics, mini-trampoline, and acrosport. These disciplines help develop body awareness , muscle tone , spatial awareness , risk management, cooperation, and teamwork.

Juggling

• Balls
• Rings
• Scarves
• Clubs
• Cigar boxes
• Diabolos
• Unexpected objects: hats, cushions, cardboard boxes, feathers, brooms

Juggling is particularly diverse. This variety of objects allows for work on coordination , laterality , rhythm , dexterity and interaction between practitioners.

Balances on objects

• Balance ball
• Rolla-bolla
• Stilts
• Wire
• Beam
• Unicycle

Students learn to understand their axis, their supports, weight transfers, and the mechanisms of balance and imbalance.

Aerial disciplines

• Fixed trapeze
• Fabrics
• Smooth rope (suggested in school projects if the attachment possibilities allow)

Artistic expression

Artistic expression is an integral part of learning. Dance, clowning, improvisation, observation, character development, and stage work gradually allow students to move beyond simple technical acquisition and develop their own creativity.

Annual Pedagogy

1. First quarter: building confidence, understanding the body, discovering techniques and safety rules.
2. Second quarter: development of technical autonomy, research, improvisation, acting and stage work.
3. Third quarter: creation of acts (solos, duos, trios or groups) and preparation of the end-of-year show.

Internships

Les Fortiches organizes multidisciplinary workshops during school holidays. These workshops allow children and teenagers to discover or delve deeper into different disciplines in a more intensive format. Occasional workshops may supplement this program.

Adapted circus

Adapted circus arts are a core focus of the school. Les Fortiches define this practice not in terms of a category of participants, but rather in terms of the intervention framework and the project's objectives. Circus arts then become a tool serving an educational or therapeutic project aimed at empowering individuals through personal and collective experiences.

Projects can involve children, teenagers, or adults facing difficulties, as well as people with physical or mental disabilities. The diversity of circus disciplines allows for adapting situations to each individual's potential. Each activity is developed in collaboration with the teaching team and follows a specific methodology in which the individual's development remains the priority over technical performance.

School interventions

Arts education in schools is another important aspect of our work. Les Fortiches works with students from preschool through high school in the Sommières region. Objectives are defined in collaboration with teachers, taking into account the students' age and the class project. In this context, circus arts become a pedagogical tool, allowing each child to express themselves, discover new possibilities, and experience success in ways different from those encountered in traditional school learning.

• Juggling and object manipulation
• Ground acrobatics
• Mini-trampoline
• Fixed trapeze
• Fabrics
• Smooth rope
• Balancing acts: ball, rolla-bolla, stilts, tightrope, pedals
• Clowning games and artistic expression

With preschool children, the work focuses more on psychomotor skills and imagination. Projects can take place directly at the Fortiches center in Sommières or at the children's schools, with the team traveling there with their equipment. Interventions can take the form of intensive workshops or regular classes.

Network and events

The school actively participates in the federal network. It belongs to FREC Soleil and holds FFEC accreditation no. 30266. In May 2026, Les Fortiches participated in the FREC Soleil Regional Meetings held in Nîmes, bringing together five schools and 80 participants .

Les Fortiches thus constitutes a particularly comprehensive school: amateur practice, advanced training, creation, workshops, adapted circus, school programs, and independent training all take place in the same location. Its teaching combines a wide variety of techniques with a pedagogy that prioritizes progression, creativity, safety, cooperation, and the absence of competition.

After more than twenty years of activity in Sommières, the school has become an important player in the transmission of circus arts in the Gard and more broadly in the territory of Sommières, both to regular practitioners and to schools, specific audiences and amateur or professional artists.