Fascination with the circus: Circus Dance Festival inspires in Cologne!

Fascination with the circus: Circus Dance Festival inspires in Cologne!

The Circus Dance Festival, which took place from June 6th to 8th, 2025 at the Cologne Latibul Theater and Circus Education Center, was very popular and offered visitors a unique experience of contemporary circus, dance and performance. Over 20 international artists performed in tents and on open-air stages, impressively showcasing the diversity of this art form. This year, the thematic focus was on artistic resistance to current challenges, a concern that resonated with the audience. As the Review reported, Vladimir Blanco's performance entitled “Zero's Plan – In Search of Order in Chaos” was a particularly outstanding item on the program. Blanco juggled balls and bouncy balls that acted as planets such as Jupiter, Mars and Venus, while a seedling was presented in a transparent ball symbolizing the Earth.

The festival also celebrates the liveliness of movement and artistic experimentation in a contentious and lively manner. Mélissa Guex presented a performance reinterpreting the collective “Down”, while Julian Vogel presented the impossible using circus-like means with “Ceramic Circus”. There was also a daily open-air program on the 360° stage, which featured new creations by international artists. The event took place in the green Rhine meadows of Cologne and attracted numerous visitors, with access being both free and almost barrier-free.

Family friendly program

The final day of the festival was aimed specifically at families and featured workshops for children. Grandmother Birgit was enthusiastic about the fascination that the performances had on the young spectators. In particular, the artistic cycling duo “VeloVie”, consisting of reigning world champions in artistic cycling, caused a lot of applause.

Despite a violent thunderstorm that interrupted the performances of the young artists from the Wibbelstetz Circus and the Latibul Youth Group (JuLa) several times, the atmosphere remained exuberant. Although many guests left the festival early, some stayed and returned when the weather improved. Ultimately, all performances could be rescheduled and the artists were rewarded with lots of applause.

A look into the future of the circus

The Circus Dance Festival not only stands for creative achievements, but also for the growing importance of contemporary circus in Germany. According to the Goethe Institute, contemporary circus has gained increasing recognition in recent years, although there are still challenges such as funding and training compared to other countries. The movement tries to break through clichés and create sustainable structures.
In Cologne, LATIBUL is a center for theater and circus education and supports the approaches of young artists who work in this dynamic scene. In this sense, the Circus Dance Festival becomes an important platform that offers both residencies and performances and the still hungry collective addresses questions about gender equality and the compatibility of work and family.

The festival therefore remains not only a place of art, but also a space of discursive exchange where topics such as mental health and care are addressed, which was particularly visible at the European conference “Take Care”.