Circus season swings through Brussels

Spring is in the air and Brussels is alive with circus fever. Don´t worry, not ´matted camels, depressed lions, call animal welfare now´ circus. With the 2013 ban on the use of wild animals, the future of circus in Belgium means circus crafts - anything from aerial acrobatics to juggling to fire breathing.

Mid-month, the open spaces around St Catherine were choc-a-bloc with crowds enjoying the programme of Hopla, the festival of circus arts, returning for its ninth edition. Carte Blanche give first and second year students from ESAC, the School of Circus Arts, a chance to flex their muscles and showcase the next generation of talent. A little distance away, juggling with axes was only part of the frisson of dangerous humour running through the performance, Crache Coeur.

Behind the church, the trio of performers of Les P’tits Bras entertained spectators with a peculiar blend of ironic pathos and flirty trapeze. Returning for 2015, their endearing tragi-comic show, Triplette, paid homage to the travelling acts of the 1930s.

Hopla may have ended for 2015, but the circus has by no means rolled out of town. In the scenic setting by the fountain of Cinquantenaire Park further acrobatic thrills await. Having wowed crowds from Australia to London, ´Limbo:The Show´is the big draw at the Kermezzo(o) Festival, which celebrates its inaugural year.

Limbo, “staged somewhere between heaven and hell” is an adrenaline-charged hour of circus-cabaret mixing the irreverant and the impressive. Drawing talents from across the globe, the tapestry of acts mesh well under the warning “Heaven can wait, this is one hell of a party”.

Set to the sound of NewYorker Sxip Shirey´s energising score, the troupe seem determined to bend the laws of space and time with their blend of squirmy contortion and extreme acrobatics. Coney Island siren, Heather Holiday, swallows fire and swords with effortless grace while Mikael Bres lent a cheeky nonchalance to a challenging routine on the Chinese pole. Equally impressive was the gravity-defying poise in the aerial handsprings by Russian Danik Abishev and the boundless energy of dancer-choreographer Hilton Denis.    

With shows until May 2, there´s still time to catch ´Limbo´ before it cavorts out of Brussels. If you haven´t run away to join the circus by then, the Circus School of Brussels will be hosting Open Days at Tour&Taxis on May 9-10 with demonstrations from students and opportunities to try it out for yourself. Courses for both children and adults run throughout the year in a range of disciplines from monocycle to tightrope.

EXIT, the end-of-year show of the graduating class of ESAC at the Halles de Schaerbeek between May 27-31 promises further feats of balance and strength. Further afield, during the weekend of 22-23 August the village of Chassepierre in Southern Belgium will vibrate to the 42nd International Festival of Street Art.

Photo © Eric Danhier