Cirquonflex: Circus classes in Lyon

Cirquonflex: The Lyon association that brings your circus dreams to life!

If you're looking for a fun and engaging activity for your children or teens, look no further! Cirquonflex is the organization for you. With its circus courses and weekly and monthly workshops for children ages 7 to 18, it offers unique opportunities to explore the world of circus arts.

Diverse activities for all levels:

At Cirquonflex, activities are varied and suitable for all levels. The courses offer an introduction to or improvement in one or more disciplines such as unicycling, rola-bola, balance ball, tightrope, stilts, aerial silks, aerial hoops, juggling, Chinese plates, devil sticks, diabolo, poïs, Chinese hoops, and acrosport. Weekly workshops allow you to focus on one or two disciplines, and each year culminates in a performance.

Ambitious educational objectives:

At Cirquonflex, we believe that the circus is much more than just a physical activity. The association contributes to children's education by developing their social relationships, individual expression, collective interaction, creativity, and sense of listening, judgment, and responsibility. In addition, circus activities help to enhance the individual's self-esteem by fostering a sense of effort and the expression of emotions and opinions in front of an audience.

Workshops suitable for all ages:

Cirquonflex offers workshops for all ages, from 7 to 18. Young people are grouped by age group, and the workshops take place in a sports hall loaned by the town hall. Weekly activities are divided into groups:

• Ludik (for primary school children 7-10 years old)
• Pratîk (for middle school students aged 11-14)
• Teknîk (for high school students aged 15-18)
• Tonîk for the monthly Saturday morning workshops
• Scenîk for internships. (Autumn and Spring)

With each workshop comes the creation of a thematic mini show...

Open days to discover the association:

If you want to know more about Cirquonflex, you can participate in the open days organized at the beginning of the year.

In short, Cirquonflex is an ideal association for young circus enthusiasts or those who wish to discover this world. The association offers a diverse range of circus activities and a competent, cohesive, and united animation team.

Interview with Frédéric Sud

What inspired you to create the Cirquonflex association and how has it evolved over the years?

What disciplines do you practice, what are your specialties?

Personally, I practice juggling as an amateur... I tried a bit of rola bola, the balance ball, stilts, and a balance wire, but my ankles being a bit fragile, I was quickly advised against continuing.
With age, I am more into designing shows and animations with large PowerPoint background projections, coupled with music, creation of set accessories, storyboards, and my guilty pleasure: presentation texts or links (running) in alexandrines!
We recently acquired spotlights. This is a new, complementary feature that I need to learn to master.
And the discipline that I practice the most is: the profusion of ideas…

What is the main objective of the Cirquonflex association?

CIRQUONFLEX = the CIR that WE practice with FLEX ability

The aim is to introduce circus arts - somewhat like a recreation center - with only this theme . And this, while respecting safety, of course.
But it's also a reaction to the sporting model based on competition against others. Here, it's competition against one's own fears, one's clumsiness...
Everyone progresses at their own pace and there is always a benevolent eye to guide, accompany or correct a movement. All of this is always guided by a magnificent group effect.

Ex: during a mini-show, a young student was supposed to perform his diabolo trick, but at the right moment, he panicked. It was impossible to go and present himself alone in front of the parents! Without further ado, two other students took a diabolo and said to him "We'll come with you!" They improvised modest figures in the background to let the artist take center stage. And it went down like a charm, without the intervention of any adult!

How do you choose the different disciplines that you teach young people?

There are several configurations:

1 - Opportunities: For example, aerials, which I've been asked for since the beginning of the association. The existing equipment was very expensive, cumbersome to anchor in the ground and therefore impossible to implement in our structure.

And then two years ago, we discovered the autonomous gantry on the NetJuggler website. After launching a crowdfunding campaign, it was off and running. With facilitators willing to train or test how to approach it pedagogically, anything is possible.
I'm also always looking to see if there are any new things that can be made available...

2 - Members choose what motivates them. Some specialize in one discipline one year and change the following year so as not to show the same thing to parents... and the team adapts in the support

3 - Depending on the artistic projects of the shows, some disciplines are highlighted and others remain in the background. These disciplines can absolutely be brought back to the forefront the following year.

4 - This does not prevent the facilitators from offering a "course" by saying: "from such and such a time, I am setting up a devil stick or boule workshop to discover or deepen…."

We do this more during training sessions. There are technical sessions where members must divide their time between three workshops, for example, and free time where everyone can improve their specialty.

How can young people benefit from circus arts education in their daily lives?

It is not me who has the answer to this question, but the families and the feedback they give us:

The more agile children, with better balance, were able to use what they learned with us in the sports they later practiced. We had a testimonial from a student who left our school more than 10 years ago who explained that he had used his teachings with us.

Our school also helps with self-confidence!! As a middle school teacher, I have always offered workshops outside of Cirquonflex, and some students have come to the association. I remember a weak student, not very successful, who gradually blossomed and at the class council, colleagues were very surprised by his personal growth.
This student, usually withdrawn, is opening up and participating more and more since he signed up for the AS cirque.

I even discovered during the celebration of our 20th anniversary last year, in a guestbook that was given to me with testimonials, that for some children, now adults, the workshops were their only breath of fresh air in complicated family or school contexts, and where they finally felt themselves far from what appearances can impose in society...

And then, for some, it's an opportunity to overcome a certain shyness at the show and make them more comfortable speaking in a school situation.

Can you tell us about a particularly memorable moment you experienced with the association?

It's hard to choose just one! But after 20 years, I still get moved to tears when a kid succeeds at something they've tried hundreds of times.
I remember a student who spent a long time trying to jump over a devil's stick held in both hands, balancing on a ball... The day he succeeded was magical!
Saying goodbye to a whole wonderful troupe at the end of each training course is also a difficult but oh so memorable moment!

This question comes up in all our interviews, it's about the drop. During shows, what advice do you give students about drops?

• Either we anticipate with an extra ball in our pocket and we take it out as if nothing had happened.
• Either we stop our routine as if it was planned... by going tadaaaaaaa!!!!
• Either we offer a big burst of laughter!!!!
• But we avoid running after it... and there will always be someone to send you one!!!!!

How do you manage the different skill and experience levels of children in the weekly workshops and courses?

For a long time we had a beginner's course and an advanced course, but we merged the two one year when recruitment was exceptionally low.

The synergy is much better when they are mixed. Ultimately, it's the animation team that visits each child or group and adapts to each person's needs.

It's actually a space where young people, regardless of their ages, constantly help each other. In fact, for many years, former students have been working as activity leaders. Some children even ask me to reserve a position as an activity leader for them when they're old enough...

And this year it's quite obvious how everyone becomes someone else's host at some point.

What are the future plans of the Cir QU onflex association?

It's not yet a project as such, there's not even a rough outline, but I would like to do more "circus" trips.
Living 24/7 with these young people and having more time to prepare a more accomplished show.
But you need a suitable venue, not too far from Lyon so that families can attend the show and not too expensive either!

In addition, you have to take into account the constraint of having to move all the equipment!

Otherwise, the project that is closest to our hearts would be to celebrate our thirtieth anniversary in the same spirit, to continue to enrich ourselves and take pleasure in the diversity of all these activities!