This year the collective Balance Ton Cirque dropped a bomb in the French circus world which resonated throughout the European circus community. On the 2nd of July 2021 the collective began out of a desire to combat all forms of physical and psychological violence – humiliation, insult, moral intimidation, abuse of power, discrimination, sexism, indignation, etc. In the weeks that followed the organisation received more than one hundred testimonies coming from seven different schools, among which the famous French circus school Cnac (Centre National des Arts du Cirque). The testimonies revealed ‘a structural problem rooted in the basic manner that circus schools function’.
Author: Els Van Steenberghe // Published in Circusmagazine #69 (December 2021)
If you say that you are hurt, it’s because you are hurt. If you say you need a second person to spot you, it is because you need a second spotter. If you don’t want to be touched, it’s because you don’t want to be. If you say no, it means no.
In ‘Letter of support – Balance Ton Cirque’ these sentences appear in bold type. The movement goes on to offer some urgent suggestions for increasing the safety of students and teachers in circus schools. Among those suggestions, the organising of a workshop in non-violent communication, to be given by an organisation from outside the school, as well as a clear methodology for feedback, in which the management of the school is not always present, with an external counselor for the handling cases of bullying within the school, for example.
‘Were you shocked last year when a group of French circus artists – many apparently ex-students of Cnac – combined forces and launched the term and the movement #balancetoncirque? This after receiving more than one hundred testimonies of inappropriate behaviour, intimidation and over-competitive behaviour in the circus schools of Cnac and six other circus schools in France?’ That was the question I posed during an interview via email with Isabel Joly, director of FEDEC (Fédération Européenne des Écoles de Cirque professionnelles). Her answer was crystal clear and gives food for thought: “I wasn’t shocked by the news of inappropriate behaviour at Cnac, because the #MeToo movement has opened our eyes to the offensive behaviour present in all branches of society. But it saddened me to realise how pervasive it was in our own sector.”
Joly and the Federation, with 74 members representing 25 countries, are now cranking things up a notch in response to the situation. Not in panic, but calmly and with care. There already existed the Charte éthique et déontologique de l’ensignement des arts et du cirque maillons, written in 2012 and abridged and amended with ‘un code de bonne conduite’ by Joly herself when she took on her position in 2018.
“At the beginning of 2020 we set up a work-group within our Board of Directors. The group is called ‘Unconscious Bias’ and considers questions of equality and integrity in professional circus schools. In October that group organised a first meeting with Balance Ton Cirque during the CIRCa Festival in Auch. It was there that FEDEC officially announced our intention to make the struggle against abuse in the sector of circus arts an absolute priority”, Joly concludes.
One of the most interesting moments during the meeting in Auch was a presentation by Rosa Matthis, a research student from Brussels who, for her Master’s thesis, carried out a discreet study in several schools, all members of FEDEC, in regards to their experiences with inappropriate behaviour and how they deal with it (see ensuing article).
But before we zoom in on that study and talk directly with some of the most important circus schools in Belgium and the Netherlands: first a focus on the circus artists themselves and their experiences. Circusmagazine doesn’t want to look the other way. Why wouldn’t the same problems occurring elsewhere also be found closer to home? We talked to three people, each in the beginning years of their quest to become professional circus artists. In each case, that quest has been made more difficult as they were confronted by inappropriate behaviour, in school and/or in the circus piste.
Saturday, November 13. I receive an unexpected email from the young circus artist Jakobe Geens, with whom I’ve made an interview appointment. ‘Could we do the interview an hour later? I have to start an hour earlier at my job, and I’m on my way now but once I get there I’ll have to set up my laptop.’ I assure her it’s no problem. An hour later (long live Zoom!) we’re meeting face to face, eye to eye. And those eyes tell a lot. They sparkle as the eyes of a young artist at the beginning of a promising career. But there is also vulnerability there, even something broken.”
“I have gone through some hard times”, Geens admits. She is only 20 but the last few years she has had her share of misery. People close to her became ill. Having studied in Fontys Academy of Circus and Performance art in Tilburg, discovering that her ensuing studies at her dream school, the DOCH in Stockholm, were anything but a dream. She arrived in Stockholm only to hear that one of the female students at the school had just been raped by a professional circus artist. In her own class there were problems with inappropriate behaviour. There was the time when a teacher found it necessary, as Geens walked into the working space in less than a perfect mood, to pull up the edges of her mouth with his fingers, declaring ‘Smile’! And then came the accident. Geens had worked for years with the same acrobatic partner. One day – Geens was in the middle of a backward somersault – her partner made a miscalculation which lead to her fall. Her back was broken and so was all her confidence in her partner. Worse yet: the school failed to provide psychological support to either of the traumatised students.
In her last year at DOCH, Geens made a solo performance directed by her sister Siebe who was studying direction at the Toneelacademie in Maastricht. The title of the the performance was Fille en porcelaine. “All of my work now grew out of that performance, including the first production with my new partner in crime Margot Jansens and our company GEDACHTEGANG, Distort the Body.” In that performance as well as her final work at DOCH, Geens explores the self-evident manner in which women and men get pushed into gender roles. “Why do we always assume that the man will be the strong supporting partner? Why do men so often wear costumes to accentuate their masculinity while women are expected to wear costumes to accentuate their female attributes? I hope #MeToo can be an invitation for the circus world to respect each individual for whom they may be, and for the boundaries they set, while continuing to make wonderful circus.”
After her graduation at DOCH, Geens was contacted by the new direction of the school, who unlike their predecessors, saw the importance in her end-work, and realised that something needed to be done about the macho culture among the largely male and white teachers. “There was one exception. We had a course called Circus in Society, which was given by a teacher who was much older than the others. He was also a philosopher, and he taught at the local Steiner school. He had a great love for juggling and brought many new insights into that discipline, helping DOCH achieve the solid reputation it has today for its innovative jugglers. That was the only moment in the week when the machos didn’t have the last word.”
Much of what Xenia Bannuscher told me concurred with Jakobe’s experiences. Xenia had been a dancer throughout her youth in Germany. During an outing in Rotterdam she chanced upon the buildings of Codarts Circus Arts, took a peek inside and knew immediately that she had discovered her new home. My interview with Bannuscher is also via Zoom. On my screen an open, friendly face with a dynamic resilience in her gaze. “Of course I’ve had my share of unpleasant run-ins. But I had already had those kind of experiences thanks to my years in dance. When for the umpteenth time they would touch me without asking, I hated it, but it didn’t break me.” It did motivate her, together with Yolande Sommer and Roxana K. Arsalan to organise a Zoom meeting in July of 2021 with the unequivocal announcement ‘‘To all circus artists interested in feminism: We are talking to you, please read on!’ Subject of the meeting: ‘Not perfect! MeetUp: an exchange and networking meeting about feminist perspectives in circus (pedagogy, training, structures, shows,…)”
Bannuscher is enthusiastic about the meeting: “It was incredibly interesting to finally give people a chance to ventilate. Why can’t we come to some kind of agreement on when and how people are physically touched? Why are women always expected to wear ‘feminine’ costumes? Why can’t we talk for once openly about the pitfalls of menstruation for a female performer?” Bannuscher and company worked all of the information they had gathered into the program for a study-day to be held in Cologne. From there they will make a document which can be sent to all sorts of organisations. “However, my job is making circus. I think it’s a subject that needs to be addressed, but if the world was a bit more open I wouldn’t be obliged to spend any of my energy on the problem. Circus schools need to focus all the more on the issue. In my school we only have three theoretical courses: Anatomy, History of the Circus and a course on management. All very important, but I believe we are missing a course that looks more closely at inter-personal communication, what open-ness actually means and how to respect another’s sensitivities.”
In 2020 Bannuscher started up the company Sinking Sideways, together with Dries Vanwalle and Raf Pringuet. “We are all dedicated to creating a space and working environment in which we feel secure enough to talk about anything that makes us uncomfortable. We talk about that a lot. I need to feel safe in my own working space. That is actually one of the reasons I chose to start a collective with them. It puts me in control of my own safety in my own environment.”
Just like Xenia Bannuscher, Majo Cázares is a highly driven acrobat/dancer with Latin American roots, who is pained by the systemic flaws and the oppression still present in society today. “I’m talking about a patriarchal, euro-centric, white supremacist system. Jakobe, Xenia and I all profit from that system. We have light skin, we come a certain social-economic caste, and we answer to the standard aesthetic expectation. We don’t have it easy, but a lot of people can never even dream of becoming part of the circus world. That is a fact that should be addressed.”
Cázares graduated from ESAC in 2015. “For me that school was never a safe space. When I was accepted I weighed 60 kg – now I weigh 50 kg. During the auditions I was told that I should feel ‘very lucky’ that they had accepted me. In my first trimester I was told that my weight would be a problem and that it would limit my technical progress. My fellow students who were male and less than svelte never got that kind of feedback. The school was happy to suggest I consult a nutrition expert, but never offered any kind of psychological support. So there you are. A young woman, with a body that has been labeled ‘not good enough’, with her support group of family and friends on the other side of the world. And by the way, there wasn’t psychological support for anybody in the school. I was one among many who weren’t getting the help they needed.”
Cázares’ head coach suggested wearing a pair of ‘fat-burning shorts’ during the lessons. “That thing started from my breasts and went down to just above the knees. He also told me to run in place for ten minutes after the lesson was finished, while the rest of the class was still hanging around. And he would pinch my belly fat and ask; ‘Well well well, what’s this?’ But my most serious complaint is probably that we are accepted via auditions., which is their prime excuse for not adequately supporting us as students thereafter.”
Since graduating Cázares has been making her way as freelancer, working for different cabarets and starting up the Naga Collective. She hopes that with her work she can contribute to ‘a more inclusive and diverse, tolerant world, which exposes institutional prejudice and value systems in the arts and searches for an answer to why the Belgian and European cultural sector doesn’t mirror the demographics of society.’
How have the biggest circus schools in our country – École de Cirque de Bruxelles (ECBRU) and Ecole Supérieure des Arts du Cirque (ESAC) – as well as the biggest circus schools in the Nederlands – Codarts Circus Arts and Fontys Academy of Circus and Performance Art (part of the Fontys School of the Arts) dealt with the question of inappropriate behaviour. What have they done to combat it and what have they done to provide a safe creative environment where it’s possible for victims to address any transgressions which may occur?
ECBRU sent an email, signed by Charline Six, assuring me that the school is presently working hard to set up a group of counselors.
Anna Beentjes, head of Codarts Circus Arts and vice-president of the management team of FEDEC, tells me that at the moment FEDEC is considering putting together a tool-box that every circus school can consult when speaking with victims and offenders of inappropriate behaviour. With those tool-boxes FEDEC would as well like to offer methods for making classes as safe and respectful as possible for each participant. Isabel Joly (FEDEC) also noted that: “Those tool-boxes should be put together by organisations specialised in handling and combatting abuse.”
Beentjes also explains in detail how Codarts School of the Arts (the umbrella organisation of the Circus school) does everything they can to create a safe school environment for students and teachers. Since 2016 there has been a ‘code of conduct’ which aims to make it possible to speak out about all forms of inappropriate behaviour. There is also a Student Life Program. A ‘Statement of Social Security in Arts Education’, must also be signed by each school of arts in the Netherlands. Beentjes goes further, “Students have become more sensitive, and rightfully dare to demand an explanation when a teacher touches them unexpectedly or proposes a particular sort of exercise,”
Along with all these different codes of behaviour, Beentjes is considering other concrete steps which can be taken. For instance something as banal as adapting the doors. “In Codarts’ music department every door of every room has a glass window, so someone can always look in.” There are also counselors one can trust and always go to, from inside and outside of the school organisation. At the beginning of every school year the students are introduced to those people. Beentjes says she also appreciates it whenever students take her in confidence.
This is a point in which John Van Riemsdijk, director of the Fontys Academy of Circus and Performance Art, begs to differ. He notes that at Fontys most students prefer to turn to the counselors appointed by the school, a good evolution to his mind, as both of those people have built up extensive experience – in the world of top sport and beyond – to handle that kind of conversation and act upon it when necessary.
Van Riemsdijk’s department is part of the larger Fontys School of the Arts and takes into account four different codes of conduct: ‘Fontys Internal Rules of Conduct’, ‘Code of behaviour Fontys School of Fine Performing Arts’, the statement ‘Social Security in Art Education’ and ‘House Rules’ of the Fontys Academy of Circus and Performance Art. “As an example, there is a policy with teachers and guest teachers that they agree on which exercises will be done ahead of time, that the teacher always has to ask if it is ok to touch the student and it always has to be explained why a particular exercise is being given,” Van Riemsdijk clarifies.
Both Beentjes and Van Riemsdijk add that there is room in the schedule for classes or lectures, at the request of the students, to look further into these issues. When I ask if they believe there is a place for an Intimacy Coach in the circus world, something more and more common on a film set. They both agree that it’s an interesting thought to consider.
They confirm that while the freedom of the artist is essential, it is their task as directors to insure the safety and the inclusivity of their school environment, with respect for everyone’s individuality and dignity. The dance and music departments of Codarts have accepted several students with specific challenges and Beentjes insists that if a very talented yet physically challenged candidate were to apply for the Circus school, it would certainly be taken into consideration by the exam commission. Van Riemsdijk finds it intriguing to imagine an occasion in which a juggler with only one arm were to be accepted to the school, for example. Both are also aware that the circus world is a very white community and that there is a lot more to be done in finding and accommodating aspiring circus artists from other cultural origins. For them responding to that challenge is part of the their job.
ESAC-director Reynaldo Rampersad wanted to speak with Circusmagazine, but unfortunately agenda problems got in the way. ESAC is also addressing the theme of inappropriate behaviour and trying to draw lessons from what may have gone wrong in the past.
The research student Rosa Matthis might be a welcome partner for the schools when it comes to considering the creation of a safe environment. Matthis is the author of the study referred to by Isabel Joly. Matthis’ study carries the loaded title WE PROTECT ANIMALS WELL. It was a remark which came from one of the respondents of the study: ‘If we want to talk about the beauty of the circus world: it would be truer if we clearly prevented violence. We protect animals well.’ Matthis acknowledges the sincerity of the quote, as well as the cynical undertone, and calls on the circus world to focus on change and improvement and to take away all the reasons for that cynicism.
As a support structure for the Flemish Circus Arts, Circuscentrum acknowledges how important it is not to look the other way. The publication of this article in Circusmagazine is an important step in breaking the silence and opening the discussion, but more needs to be done. Director Noemi De Clercq clarifies: “As a support institution we want to send a clear signal and assume our own responsibility. Since there are no professional circus schools in Flanders, our students follow their professional training as circus artists throughout Europe. So it’s important to join forces on that level, and help create a safe environment in the entire netwerk of European schools. We are happy to see that FEDEC has taken on that task from within that netwerk, naming the problems and working together with the circus schools towards lasting solutions.”
“It is noteworthy that it was the international circus sector which in 2012 was one of the first to make up a ‘Charter on Ethics and Deontology’ in regards to the relationship between teacher and student. But it is clear that there is still a lot more to be done. Some schools need to relook at their pedagogical project if they want to remain relevant in our evolving society. We need a clear and transparant policies to guarantee the social and mental safety of students and their teachers. Students need to know who they can turn to when their boundaries have been transgressed.”
Along with policy and dialogue, it is especially important that schools take action in actual cases of abuse. Otherwise the institution undermines all its credibility, making it virtually impossible for structural change. It is clear that the present generation of artists in training – not only in circus but also in sports and the fine arts – are no longer willing to accept certain teaching methods or behaviour. Those who give witness to the abuse they have experienced are putting pressure on systems that want to hold on to the past. Don’t underestimate the courage it takes to come forward and call out cases of abuse: teachers and directions play a huge role in any chance a young artist has to build a successful career.
This last aspect is less of an issue in the circus schools. But even at that level it is the general learning environment which determines how children and young people develop and feel.
Last year Circuscentrum, together with the 8 largest circus schools, got financing from VIVO and started up an initiative to create a complete security framework that could thereafter be taken on by the entire sector. The primary focus was to ensure the physical safety of each participant – because that was something long needed. But mental and emotional safety are also taken into account in the framework.
Let’s hope that the attention presently being given to the question of abuse throughout the sector will result in a real turn-about and more care for one another,” De Clercq concludes. “Circuscentrum is committed to joining the discussion and helping to develop the necessary tools to effect that change.
The last word goes to Jakobe Geens. The first artist I spoke to, who made such an impression on me, transforming her traumas into fuel for her work and her life…
“You know, circus people, with their incredibly well trained bodies, all look like super-heroes. Machos. And they often act that way as well. But it is time that the super-heroes realise that beyond those muscles there are a lot of other things desperately in need of their attention. The muscles need to be healthy, that’s a fact, but without a healthy head they don’t amount to much at all.”
After our talk that Saturday morning in November Geens went on to her weekend job. It’s not a job in a studio where she continues her work as an acrobat. Her job is working for a disabled woman, social work, helping disabled people to live their lives. “Yes, it is enriching. In my new performance Bloot – which premiers in October 2022 – I want to look at the feminine body as we see it in public. I stand on stage as a woman, and look at things from my/our perspective. I won’t claim stories which are not my own, but I do want to share my observations, as open as I can be, to the audience.” She falls silent, then adds, “Bodies of super-heroes, traumatised bodies and bodies with disabilities should all be welcome on a stage. For me, circus is still a free world where everything is possible. I hope #MeToo can function as a crowbar to pry things open and create new liberties: the freedom for you to be the one to decide when your partner has to stop, the freedom to become a circus artist, even with disabilities, the freedom to shamelessly admit you don’t feel so well, without danger of somebody pulling your lips up in a smile. That kind of response just proves you are not open enough to pick up the signals, and quite incapable of communicating with someone else.”
Time for some ‘cardio’ in the circus piste… the emotional kind.
Rosa Matthis carried out a study among all the professional European circus schools, looking at their experiences with inappropriate behaviour, the possible causes of that behaviour and how the circus organisations were reacting to it. Her study was entitled ‘We Protect Animals Well’ – a cynical sneer implying that in the circus the animals receive better treatment than the female artists.
The survey was completely anonymous. After filling out the survey, the respondents could go on to make an appointment with Matthis to talk further about their experiences if they wished. All the information from those interviews also remained anonymous. Her Masters thesis is impressively lucid, never embellished and a solid theoretical document that the sector can only be thankful for.
Matthis’ goal was to research abuse in the circus schools, and look further to how the school directions in question became aware of the abuse, what their reactions were and what sort of resulting preventative measures were taken.
Matthis study poses three questions:
1. Is inappropriate behaviour seen as an actual problem in the circus schools?
2. What is the mentality which contributes to the possibility of abuse in circus schools?
3. Which measures/tools can be helpful in combatting abuse?
The answer to the first question was very clear. ‘Not a single school who took part in the study refused to admit that inappropriate behaviour is a real problem which needs to be addressed.’
In answer to the second question Matthis notes that circus, just as sport, is not only saddled with particular traditions, but also based on the compulsion to perform and to achieve. She concludes that in the present-day cultural climate the circus sector needs to improve the way it responds to those things which may be considered sensitive, humiliating or inappropriate. The circus sector has to dare to accept change without fear of losing its authenticity.
Her answer to the third question is unequivocal: even if the schools join together to create necessary procedures and honour the agreements they have made, there is still an endemic insensitivity to structural discrimination at every level. Circus educational programs need to profit more from knowledge already gained in other sectors. It is also essential to work on inclusion, so that staff and student body reflect the diversity in present day society. Matthis concludes that a lack of representation of different groups directly contributes to the possibility of inappropriate behaviour.
Those who would like to read Rosa Matthis’ study will soon be able to at http://liu.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2:1575308 or mail Rosa directly at ma.matthis@mail.be
>> with sincere thanks to everyone who contributed to this article.
>> anyone who after reading this article feels the need to (anonymously) report an instance of inappropriate behaviour in the circus schools or circus world in general, can do this in all discretion at the Genderkamer van de Vlaamse Ombusddienst of bij Engagement. vlaamseombudsdienst.be or engagementarts.be.
>> you can find the ‘FEDEC statement on abusive conduct in circus schools’ at www.fedec.eu
>>the entire statement from #BalanceTonCirque can be found at https://academia.hypotheses.org/32711