Batist Van Baekel
Country: Belgium
Specialisation: Object manipulation 
Email: batistvanbaekel@gmail.com 
Website: batistvanbaekel.com
Instagram & Facebook:
@Batist Van Baekel 
 

Biography:
Batist Van Baekel’s artistic passion is driven by his love for the circus tent and a fresh wind of physical and contemporary work. Born in Belgium (2000), Batist joined the summer camp of Circus Atelier Circolito in 2007, and has since fallen in love with the warmth and magic of the circus. During his studies at Codarts Circus Arts, he specialized in juggling and object manipulation, influenced by dance, acrobatics and physical theatre. After graduating, in addition to working as a solo performer and interpreter, he will be producing a full-length performance Shenanigans in a duo with Henri Kangas.

Act: Les couleurs de la forêt 
Batist Van Baekel presents his own combination of club juggling, object manipulation and dance in Les couleurs de la forêt. A poetic pas de deux in which he explores the connectivity between the body and the objects.
Starting from exploring this physicality, Batist tells his story. We meet a young man who shares his joy through juggling and movement. Les couleurs de la forêt is an ode to the youthful adventures taking place in a fictional world inside the mind of the performer. It is driven by the emotional sensations provoked by the physical exploration.

Fenja Barteldres
Country: Germany
Specialisation: Cyr wheel  
Email: fenjacircus@gmail.com 
Website: www.fenja-circus.com
Instagram & Facebook:
@Fenja Barteldres

Biography:
Fenja Barteldres is a German circus artist, specializing in Cyr wheel. After being a gymnast in her childhood, Fenja discovered her passion for circus in 2011. She studied at Année Préparatoire at École de Cirque de Québec in Canada and now at Codarts Circus Arts in Rotterdam. The fusion of dance, theatre, music and acrobatics that circus provides, excites Fenja immensely. Additionally, she values collaborating and performing collectively. Being a solo artist though, she found a companion in her apparatus that she knows and discovers in every little detail, like a friend. This shows in her performance through deep understanding and playful dance, without any hierarchy between her dance partner and herself. 

Act: Cyrrealism 
Life is not always what we want or imagine it to be. However, what may seem like an unfortunate situation ends up offering new and beautiful paths. Cyrrealism speaks of how these paths can be discovered. The Cyr wheel is a metal ring consisting of separate pieces usually tightly screwed together and used in its solid and round form. Fenja uses her apparatus without the screws, which makes it wobbly and unstable, turning it into a totally different device: sometimes rubbery, sometimes agile like a snake and sometimes disintegrated into its pieces. The wheel stands as a metaphor to highlight life’s imperfections, proposing new perspectives that result in beauty.
 

Jonas Bolliger

Country: Switzerland
Specialisation: Applied floor acrobatics 
Email: jonasbolliger@hotmail.com
Instagram & Facebook:
@jonasbolliger

Biography:
Jonas Bolliger is a dance acrobat and music producer. He works from his extensive experience in acrobatics, urban and contemporary dance as well as in drumming and electronic music production. He is a co-founder of “UKBUM’’ collective and collaborates with Sinking Sideways, Cie Grensgeval and others. Initially thinking his introduction could only be fifty words in total, he now uses this free space to daydream a little:
.oO “If I was a shoe; would I enjoy walking?”
.oO “Why do some people not eat the banana peel?”
.oO “I wonder if people will actually count the words now…” 

Act: THIS!
THIS! is a light-hearted invitation to a journey of discovery. An invitation to curiously vibe, wiggle and wobble along as we intuitively explore the intersections of performer, sound and circus without asking much more than: ‘Is it this?’ When the rules are unknown, curiosity and intuition are the only tools to determine what ‘this’ might be and why some sounds fit a movement like a glove - and others like a potato sack.
 

Harvey Cobb

Country: United Kingdom 
Specialisation: Object manipulation
Email: info@harveycobb.com
Website: www.harveycobb.com
Instagram & Facebook:
@harveyonthecobb

Biography:
Harvey Cobb is sort of a comedian, kind of a juggler, definitely a host, and almost an artist. He learnt to perform on the streets of Newcastle, Durham and Edinburgh, before receiving further artistic education from Circus Central (Newcastle, UK), Circomedia (Bristol, UK) and Codarts (Rotterdam, Netherlands). His most noteworthy work includes “The Headless Cabaret” and “Harvey Cobb and The Abundance of Pink Boots”. His work onstage combines honest silliness with absurd darkness and blends ludicrous stand-up, gangly physical comedy, and a preposterous amount of pink rain boots.

Act: “Something About Pink” 
“Something About Pink” is a piece of my soul. To the average, uneducatad spectator it may look like a circus act, but really it is a letter. It is a letter that could not possibly be expressed in writing. It is a letter from me, a performer, to the stage. Sometimes people ask me why I juggle pink boots, but they are completely missing the point. There is no why. They are part of me. Myself, The Stage, The Boots and The Audience. We are all one.”- Harvey Cobb (Performer).

Simon Granit Ossoinak

Country: Sweden 
Specialisation: Applied floor acrobatics
Email: simongranitossoinak@gmail.com 
Website: www.simongranit.com
Instagram & Facebook:
@granitsimon 

Biography:
Simon is an artist from Stockholm, Sweden, with a primary background in contemporary circus, through Cirkus Cirkör and their high school programme. He loves multidisciplinarity and he also has a background in music, theatre, dance, parkour and various movement methodologies. Simon studied philosophy at Stockholm University and likes to take a rather cognitive approach to his creations. He aims to make personal and genuine pieces that trigger emotional recognition, introspection and discussions, which in turn would give each spectator a deeper understanding of themselves and the people around them.

Act: Odd One Out
Odd One Out, performed by Simon Granit Ossoinak is an act centered around the theme of oddness and how it relates to belonging. With a mixture of acrobatics, dance and theatre Simon draws us into the journey of an introspective and eccentric thinker. He has grown tired of his constant struggles with feeling odd, with not finding his place in the world and has decided to be alone, indefinitely. Through his emotional journey, which is funny, honest and confronting at the same time, we see – in spite of his oddities – how he is just as human as anyone else.

Jef Kinds

Country: Belgium
Specialisation: Aerial straps
Email: jef.kinds@skynet.be 
Website: www.jefkinds.com 
Instagram & Facebook:
@jefk.e

Biography:
Jef Kinds has been surrounded and inspired by arts for as long as he can remember. He has always felt emotionally connected with them and now works to create that same feeling of connection for his audience. He was born in Belgium and realized quite soon he wanted to become a performance artist. Now he is graduating from Codarts Circus Arts, specialising in aerial straps and acrodance. His main sources of inspiration are the absurdity of human existence, connections and situations. Together with others he will be performing several different types of circus shows around Europe.

Act: OSMIUM
The ability to reflect upon the past is uniquely human. It shapes us, it makes us grow. This growth is not always without pain. There is a certain inevitability in which we are confronted with sadness and dark thoughts. Emotions that we shouldn’t be ashamed of. Still, it feels like a heavy weight that we carry around. We can learn to let go of the things that were and continue with the things that are. Circus artist Jef Kinds materialises these thoughts and emotions into movement with his melancholic aerials straps act, OSMIUM.

Lily Schlinker & Janick Kremer

Country: Germany
Specialisation: Partner acrobatics
Email: lilyandjanick@gmx.de 
Website: www.lilyandjanick.com 
Instagram & Facebook:
@lilyandjanick

Biography:
Lily Schlinker (1999, she/her) and Janick Kremer (1996, he/him) met in 2014 in the youth circus in Berlin and quickly realised that they wanted to work together. At Codarts they specialised in partner acrobatics and partnering dance. Janick has his movement background in the Korean martial arts Shinson Hapkido and Lily has her artistic roots in photography and illustrating. Together they explore the overlap of dance and circus. After their graduation Lily&Janick will work on their debut show Kaleiding where they investigate how the focus of the audience can be directed in a partner acrobatic performance with the help of mirrors as the floor. 

Act: STACKED
STACKED is the graduation act of the artist duo Lily&Janick from Berlin where they combine partner acrobatic techniques with dance qualities. They share their playfulness and generous intimacy on stage where their strong physical and mental connection shows. 
A shoulder-to-shoulder connection becomes a safe space and leaning on the other person’s shoulder becomes indispensable. In STACKED Lily&Janick share their innovative take on partner acrobatics, where they always search for new ways of how two bodies can be stacked over each other. With the audience, they share their movement language that they developed throughout the four years of study at Codarts. 

Hernane Oliveira Santos Júnior

Country: Brazil 
Specialisation: Aerial straps
Email: hernane.oliv@gmail.com
Website: www.hernaneoliv.com
Instagram & Facebook:
@hernane_oliv

Biography:
Hernane Oliveira Santos Júnior is an aerial straps artist from Brazil. His passion was ignited twelve years ago and he is still amazed about the elements of strength. At Codarts Circus Arts he discovered his own style, which combines theatre elements and movement with the straps. While creating his work, he is inspired by the feelings that are close to his heart.

Act: Procura
There are times in life when it gets harder to cope with sad and blue feelings. In times of struggle it is sometimes easier to smile and say that everything is okay, instead of talking about what bothers us. We might fear to be a burden to others and we end up being left alone. Sometimes we don’t know how to reach out for help. In Procura, the aerial strap artist Hernane Oliveira Santos Júnior shares how he deals with these situations. Procura is an exploration of what makes Hernane feel better. The audience? The straps? The movement?
 

Meike Schnapper

Country: Germany
Specialisation: Object manipulation
Email: schnappermeike@posteo.de
Website: www.meikeschnapper.de
Instagram & Facebook:
@hardly_dropless 
@lemon_press_collective

Biography:
Meike Schnapper was born in Germany in 1998, where at the age of twelve some friends took her to the youth circus. She immediately got drawn in and spent her youth between political activism, the training hall and on countless juggling conventions. This is when she got hooked on her specialisation – ball juggling. Meike’s style is characterised by fluent, detailed movements, strong expression and the wish to address political topics on stage. After her graduation she will work as a solo artist but will also be developing a duo performance with classmate Aurélie Tercier as the Lemon Press Collective. 

Act: About a Box 
About a Box is a contemporary juggling act featuring a strange creature, a handful of juggling balls and a regular cardboard box – at least that is what it seems like at first glance. Very soon the bewilderment starts. Yuri, a stubborn but excitable creature, wants to have all the juggling balls for itself, but they keep vanishing. While trying to figure out what is wrong, Yuri gets too close to the mysterious box. Light-hearted and funny, this act plays with the dilemma of wanting to share with others and at the same time wanting to have everything for yourself. 

Aurélie Tercier 

Country: Switzerland
Specialisation: Hand balancing
Email: aurelie.tercier@gmail.com 
Website:
aurelietercier.wixsite.com/aurelie
Instagram & Facebook:
@aurelie_tercier 
@lemon_press_collective

Biography:
Aurélie Tercier grew up in Switzerland. After studying biology, where she enjoyed communicating about her understandings with others, she decided to take her passion for sharing in a different direction and became a circus performer. She swapped the mountains for the Dutch landscape and started her studies at Codarts Circus Arts. There she developed hand balancing skills and discovered her love for objects, which she uses as tools to explore different vocabularies in her discipline. In her work, where she combines circus technique with physical theatre, she likes to connect with her audience and invite them to follow her curious mind.

Act: Between the lines
The solo Between the lines is an exploration of lines. The lines created by handstands and by fabric ribbons. Both have the characteristic of forming shapes. Hand balancing artist Aurélie Tercier combines them, manipulating the objects with her hands and feet. Where ribbons shape the body, the body also creates shapes in the ribbons. With curiosity, her character discovers the beautiful influence they can have on each other. Reacting to the shapes that arise and playing with the visual possibilities that the object offers.
 

Nicolai Untch 

Country: Germany
Specialisation: Applied floor acrobatics
Email: nicolaiuntch@yahoo.de  
Instagram & Facebook:
@nick_max_u

Biography:
Nicolai Untch was born and raised in a sleepy part of south Germany and was entirely unaware of the existence of contemporary circus for most of his early life. Still passionate about movement and artistic expression he found other disciplines such as capoeira, parkour and contemporary dance, which formed the cornerstones of his personal style. Since his discovery of contemporary circus in his early twenties, he made a head first dive into this new and exciting world. The four years at Codarts Circus Arts allowed him to create a synthesis of his deep interest for these different movement disciplines and the fundamental artistic qualities that underlie all of them. It has led him to perform with Panama Pictures and to his graduation from Codarts Circus Arts. 

Act: 213-B 
In 213-B physical and circus performer Nicolai Untch shares the stage with wood as his co-star. Wood sometimes provides strong qualities of support, but it can also be fragile and break. Nicolai plays with the changing impact of wood in his physicality. It provided new interesting material on his movement language. But during his research he also noticed that it alters the state of mind of him as a performer, which reflects on the emotional content of the performance. 213-B is a moving solo on stability and fragility.

Jakob Vöckler

Country: Germany
Specialisation: Chinese pole
Email: Jakob.voeckler@gmx.net
Instagram & Facebook
@Jakobvöcki 
@Ukbum_collective 

Biography:
Jakob Vöckler from Germany specializes in Chinese Pole and built his own apparatus on which he combines parkour and Chinese pole. With explosive and fluent movements, he finds connections between the pole, the floor and the air. For his performances Jakob combines his high-level tricks with extensive character work and playful research on theatre. His goal is to take the audience on a journey of imagination, which at best continues after the show. After graduation he will create a trio show with the collective UKBUM!, which he founded together with his two colleagues Jonas Bolliger and Jef Kinds.

Act: Schmaler Grat
In the theatrical performance Schmaler Grat, Chinese pole artist Jakob Vöckler confronts himself and us with both the futility and meaningfulness of everyday life. With or without a seatbelt, we have no choice but to ride this roller coaster. Jean-Pierre, the character on stage, overdramatises everything. His journey to his goal is a path full of sudden twists and emotions. To tell his story, Jakob uses an apparatus of his own design: he combines a horizontal bar with the vertical pole and stuns the audience by using this whole set-up as his playground.

Ivar van Woensel

Country: The Netherlands
Specialisation: Applied floor acrobatics
E-mail: ivarvanwoenzel@gmail.com
Instagram & Facebook: @ivar_van_woenzel

Biography:

For his entire life, Ivar van Woenzel has practised circus disciplines like juggling, hand to hand or globe. At Codarts Circus Arts he specialises in acro-dance, in which he combines his acrobatic skills with modern and urban dance styles. He also uses different partnering techniques in his duets with other artists. Ivar composes his own music to create immersive atmospheres that will suck the audience into the story he is telling on stage. Ivar’s ultimate aim is that the audience can empathise with his poetic movement and relate to the feelings he shows on stage.

Act: The frozen lake from your dream

The frozen lake from your dream brings you to the feeling you get when you are completely in your own world. As if you’re on the bottom of a deep ocean, floating among coral and fishes. Or as if you’re standing in the middle of a kilometres-wide frozen lake, where you are surrounded and engulfed by the beautiful and eerie sounds that the ice makes when it gets thicker. Acrodancer Ivar van Woenzel shows you a solo about sensing and observing the space around you. Where curiosity and the atmosphere in the space make your body move on its own.