Balézocirque: circus/street companies (Brittany)

Balézocirque: the association that brings together circus and street arts companies in Brittany

Created in 2017 around the company La Cane, La Mouton?, Balézocirque is an association under the 1901 law that brings together several circus and street arts companies from Brittany. In addition to producing and distributing shows, the association encourages the learning and practice of circus arts through its juggling, acrobatics and comic strip courses and workshops. Based in Brest (29), Brittany, the association operates throughout the country, but mainly in the Grand Ouest and Brittany.

Production and distribution: how does Balézocirque centralize the administration, production and distribution of its 6 companies?

Although each organization has its own aesthetic and background, all members of Balézocirque share a common passion for street arts. They showcase it through the shows they create and support, the workshops they organize and host, and the events they coordinate and support. The association centralizes the administration, production, and distribution of its six companies, while encouraging their own aesthetics and backgrounds.

Courses and workshops: discover Balézocirque's activities in juggling, acrobatics and comics

The courses and workshops offered by Balézocirque are tailored to both amateurs and professionals. These courses range from introductory and advanced courses to workshops and masterclasses, and even modules offered upon request, in partnership with local organizations such as associations, primary schools, circus schools, and more.

Events: Balézocirque's involvement in organizing festivals and evenings around the circus and street arts

In addition, Balézocirque sets up and co-organizes festivals and evenings around the circus and street arts, putting accessibility, conviviality, the quality of the programming and the festive atmosphere at the heart of its concerns. Like us, you have surely crossed paths with them at the collective of arms crossed at the Aurillac festival running in all directions, incredible how the shows follow one another, and how welcoming and charming the place is! Moreover, this year again (2023) they will be at the helm of the collective of arms crossed with other friends from other circus associations. It is the varied skills of its members and its involvement in networks of associations and companies that make these events possible.

The Bigoud N' Jongle Juggling Convention

And then there is the Bigoud N'Jongle convention which takes place every year near Rennes in the town of Vezin-le-coquet. Jugglers migrate there every year to juggle, see shows and party... So technically, the convention is organized by the Jongle&Rit association , Balézocirque is the first partner and technical service provider but it is Jongle&Rit which carries the project. For the record, there are a lot of people in common on both associations....
Below we share with you some visual memories from the 2022 edition.

Beyond producing shows, Balézocirque also emphasizes education. Some shows offered by the companies may be accompanied by educational interventions. The association encourages the learning and practice of circus arts by offering courses and workshops for beginners and advanced performers alike, in collaboration with the companies it brings together.

In short, Balézocirque is a dynamic association that brings together passionate and talented circus and street arts companies. It enables the production and distribution of shows, while encouraging the teaching and practice of circus arts through its courses and workshops.

Festival "at the foot of the chap'" in Sulniac

The Morbihan branch of Balézocirque is organizing "au pied du chap," its evening show under a big top in Sulniac (56). The program includes shows and concerts under a (heated) big top in the Jardins D'Altenbruch. As is often the case with Balézocirque, admission is free!

Welcome to the world of Debout Dehors!

We had the opportunity to talk with Tanguy about the company. How do you work with the other members of the company to develop cohesive and entertaining performances?

There is no explicit coherence project. We don't forbid ourselves from anything, and there are even minor differences of opinion within the collective. Overall, what brings us together and what we share are fundamental notions, not forms.

• The place of technical and administrative professions and their promotion
• Access to shows, free prices, decentralization, rurality
• We produce shows that are intended to be sincere, sensitive and generous.

How is the association involved in the local and regional community?

The geographical spread actually implies a fairly wide reach. In the localities, everyone does their utmost to play or work with the locals first.
Tiffany and Pauline's work goes in this direction, we place much more value in being welcomed in residence in the small theater of the local community than in chasing after crumbs of consideration from large venues and large institutions. We play for the people not for the Ministry of Culture .

My work also involves making our equipment and technical work available to local cultural and festive activities.

How do you choose the artists and companies invited to the various events? What criteria do you use to select performances and speakers?

Above all, political coherence and cultural ambition , even if we are not at all in the business of community and self-interest. We want to be "generally in agreement" with the people we work with...
On the other hand, we are quite vigilant and uncompromising when it comes to issues of domination, whether on stage or in the workplace. To give an example, at a festival that is publicly supported by the collective, we will not put on any sexist, racist, classist, etc. shows , and we try to be as inclusive as possible in the hosting conditions.

Off stage and at work, we refuse, for example, to be considered as caricatured, kind clowns for the artists or as good little hands who change light bulbs and fill out Excel spreadsheets in silence for the technicians...

Overall, our criteria is respect and consideration, for both the audience and the team. This applies to the choice of dates and locations for our shows and to the choice of festivals to which we lend a helping hand with the big top.

How do you work to find funding and support for the association's various projects? Which partners and supporters have you found most useful for your activities?

We are supported by municipalities that have trusted us for several years with festival organization. They help us to the best of their ability, and we are fortunate to maintain very good relationships with certain municipalities. I am thinking, for example, of Vezin Le Coquet in Ille-et-Vilaine. For the theaters that host our residencies or the municipalities that host our events, we prioritize the quality of the relationship over the number of partners. We prefer to maintain and renew collaborations rather than running around chasing subsidies.

Can you tell us about the organization of the association's training courses and workshops and their importance in your work?

In addition to having a common ambition for cultural action, a certain number of us come from popular education and have taught circus arts at one time or done cultural mediation . Our last courses and others are a little old now but it is still part of our projects.

How do you see the role of circus and street arts in today's society, and how does Balézocirque contribute to promoting these art forms?

Street arts and the big top format are more suited than ever to the world ahead. Reaching out to an audience that is increasingly less mobile and less available, to begin with. But also being consistent with what remains of this society.


To sum up roughly, I am quite convinced that in a world in flames where people are stuck at home with a litre of petrol for 3 euros and a retirement at 78, operas and national stages will have much more to worry about in terms of attendance than circus performers under big tops at free prices set up in the neighbouring town...

What are the goals and upcoming projects for the Balézocirque association? How do you see the future of the association and its various artistic projects?

The collective in its current form is brand new, it is a child of post-covid . We will support what is already there, formalize what we want to experience and bring to life. For the artists, it will be a question of gaining in creative comfort and in the possibility of diffusion .
For production, we have to face the fact that we've already reached the limit of the work a single person can do, and that there's currently no room for more event coordination, production monitoring, and company management. For technical matters, we have to continue to expand our equipment and continue to put our resources and skills into projects that make sense to us.

Former project of the company: THE BIRDS OF THE PLASTIC CONTINENT [2016-2021]

You may have already heard of the company La Cane, La Mouton? before you knew it was part of the Balézocirque collective! You probably saw their show, which conveyed both an ecological and social message: it denounced the overconsumption of plastic and its impact on the environment. Unfortunately, the show is no longer running; the images remain in our memory, and otherwise, these beautiful images of the juggling duo.

Can you describe one of the shows in particular produced by
the association and tell us how it was designed and staged?

At the start of 2023, we are focused (in addition to everything else) on 3 shows that are either at the end of their creation or at the very beginning of their run.

Hector the Fisherman, La Canne La Mouton company
3,2,1 Exists, Debout Dehors company
At the Edge of the Body, company The Long Shortcuts

We're working on circus solos/duos, street-oriented but not only. The creative processes are very different from one company to another. What's very interesting, in my opinion, this season is that we're working on our " first second shows ." We're getting older and more experienced, and all our current projects are "second shows."
We have already created, performed, closed, we have lived through the health crisis, we have experienced projects that did not come to fruition and our requirement has been built over time. It gives a more mature color to what we do today, it allows our artists to be more solid in what they have to express and it leaves time for everyone to develop a political ambition, or... ...a collective project!

Balezocirque is the child of this experience in my opinion. Everyone worked hard 5/6 years ago to obtain their intermittent status, to be recognized as an artist or technician and today we are lucky (for professionals in the entertainment industry outside of institutions) to have the oxygen to reflect on our work and not just to endure it.