> Home > Education > Bachelors > Circus Take #17 Take Off #17 We proudly present to you the graduating students of Codarts Circus Arts 2026! Take Off #17 Step into a world where balance falters, objects come alive, and reality quietly shifts. In this graduating program, fourteen emerging circus artists from Codarts Circus Arts invite you into intimate, imaginative universes shaped by memory, identity, humor, and transformation. From trembling tightwires and floating ropes to hypnotic juggling and haunting acrobatics, each act reveals a unique dialogue between body, object and space with circus at its basics. Expect poetic visuals, absurd twists, and moments of raw vulnerability, where control and chaos meet. Together, these performances offer glimpses into personal stories and shared questions about belonging, perception, and the fragile line between what is real and what is imagined. We warmly welcome you to the graduation acts of the fourth year students of the bachelor Circus Arts, performing at Maaspodium on 19 & 20 June 2026 Rosa Boon (head), Jan Daems and Thomas Falk (coordinators) About the artists & the acts Alice Clénet - Handstands & Acrobatics Alice Clénet Country: France Specialisation: handstands & acrobatics Coach: Júlia Campistany Email: aliceclenet1612@gmail.com Insta: @aliceclenet Biography Looking at the sky from another angle is what Alice Clénet has been seeking in hand balancing. Trained at CRAC (Lille) and Codarts (Rotterdam), she shapes her upside-down world with handstands, movement and acrobatics. She also ventures into hair hanging, looking at the earth from a different perspective. A storyteller at heart, with a degree in audiovisual journalism, Alice chisels colourful scenographies and slightly offbeat characters. Her performances are rooted in daily life and gently drift toward the uncanny and unexpected. Always carried by humour, and deeply human situations, she invites the audience into a space of connection and shared emotions. Performance description Title: TILTS Rachel, 32, irons. Everything is in order. Until it isn’t. Didn’t she cross the room a minute ago? She’d swear she'd already ironed that blue t-shirt. TILTS is a surreal circus performance combining handstands, acrobatics and physical theatre - a darkly funny portrait of a woman from the 1950s who’s perfectly ordered reality slowly begins to crack. Objects rebel, time fractures, even her own body escapes her. Drawing on paranormal aesthetics and horror-film imagery, the piece cultivates creeping unease without ever losing its thread of absurdity and humor. She glitches. She tilts. She notices. Too late. Axel Bernard-Bouissières - Club Juggling Axel Bernard-Bouissières Country: France Specialisation: club juggling Coach: Antoine Jacot Email: abb02@hotmail.fr Insta: @axel.circus Biography Axel Bernard-Bouissières is a French juggler who discovered circus in the amateur school of St-Priest. Without hesitation he found a lasting passion, leading him toward professional circus training. He first studied at the preparatory school CRAC in Lomme before continuing at Codarts-Circus-Arts. Now celebrating ten years of juggling, Axel approaches club juggling as a craft as much as a performance: combining technical precision with handcrafted and poetic aesthetic. With rhythm and surprise, he explores the tension between virtuosity, vulnerability and simplicity. In his work, accessibility matters as much as mastery. He wants the audience in, not impressed from a distance. Performance description Title: Étude Supérieure A one-metre cube. A juggler. And nowhere to hide. Étude Supérieure - or High Level Juggling - places Axel Bernard-Bouissières on a small, elevated stage that acts as both pedestal and trap. It gives him power and visibility. It also exposes him completely. Clubs fly, rhythms accelerate and unexpected accidents become part of the performance itself. This is juggling as a serious pursuit: precise, personal and full of surprises. Every drop becomes part of the performance. Rather than pretending perfection, the act celebrates juggling for exactly what it is: an art form built on the tension between control and letting go. Corbinian Neubauer - Cyr-wheel Corbinian Neubauer Country: Germany Specialisation: cyr-wheel Coach: Aurelia Brailowsky Email: Corbinian.neubauer@web.de Insta: @corbi_neuer Biography Born in Germany in 2003, Corbinian Neubauer started gymnastics early on before discovering unicycling at the age of ten. This opened the door for him to juggling, partner acrobatics, and the wider world of circus. What started in youth circuses and holiday camps gradually became a clear direction, leading him to enrol at the CircArtive School alongside high school. There, he focused on partner acrobatics on the unicycle before exploring Cyr-wheel as his secondary and now main specialization. Since than he’s been intensively exploring the interplay of wheel technique and theatrical storytelling at Codarts Circus Arts in Rotterdam, where he will graduate in 2026. Performance description Title: Midnight Visitors Midnight Visitors is a Cyr-wheel act set inside the eerie world of 1930s black-and-white horror cinema, seen through a caricatured and comedic lens. As a supernatural presence gradually takes control over the stage, the only resident of an old castle fights for his survival in the middle of a stormy night. The Cyr-wheel becomes a tool to explore tension and rhythm as familiar forms begin to slip and transform. Balancing humour with unease, the act combines high level technique and character work to reinterpret classic horror imagery. Jon Ochieng - Walking Globe Jon Ochieng Country: Kenya Specialisation: Walking Globe Coach: Dunja Josic Email: Jonowino43@gmail.com Insta: @ jon_wino Biography Jon Ochieng is a contemporary circus artist from Kibera, Nairobi, specializing in globe walking, a discipline that combines balance, precision and full-body control. His work is deeply influenced by his background and personal experiences. Growing up in an environment shaped by resilience, resourcefulness and constant movement, Jon often explores themes of identity, belonging, imagination and transformation. Through circus, he challenges not only physical limits, but also social structures and invisible boundaries. Jon’s artistic journey began through curiosity and observation, eventually leading him to pursue a professional circus education in Europe. As an international student, he developed his practice while navigating cultural displacement, financial independence and personal growth. Performance description Title: Mr. Player Inspired by a childhood fantasy, Mr. Player is a contemporary circus performance about exclusion and the power of imagination. Growing up in Kibera, Nairobi, Jon Ochieng was captivated by televised golf, its elegance and control representing a world far removed from his own. When access to that reality was denied, imagination became a space where the dream could still exist. Balancing on a globe under a stadium-like light, the performer embodies this imagined identity. Set to Run from Me by Timber Timbre, Mr. Player explores imagination not only as escape, but as a place where the impossible can be lived. Lise Beaumard - Handstand (with a bit of contortion) Lise Beaumard Country: France Specialisation: Handstand (with a bit of contortion) Coach: Erin Skye Email: lisedoesart@ik.me Insta: @lisebeaumard Biography Lise Beaumard (France, 2002) discovered circus arts at fifteen, introduced to her by her mother and a client from her clothes-repair shop: an artist and youth-circus teacher. Despite her young age and the restrictions of boarding school life, they secured her a spot in the adult group, where her potential was quickly recognised. She specialised in handstand and contortion at ECJV Amiens, before joining Codarts Circus Arts in Rotterdam, where she is expected to graduate in June 2026. Her work is focused on creating safe, intimate spaces, allowing the audience to stand close to the action. Driven by a desire for independence and self- reliance, she pays close attention to details, pushing her to learn new skills to translate her artistic vision to the stage, leading her to compose her own music for example. Performance description Title: Filage Filage draws inspiration from the sensation of tourner en rond - going around in circles. On a small circular platform surrounded by white curtains, a performer evolves within a confined space: large enough to move, yet not enough to go anywhere really. Through handstands, contortion and continuously evolving movements, the body shifts between repetition and transformation, creating a physical cycle that never fully reaches an end. The title Filage holds a double meaning. It refers to the costume, crafted form yarn and transformed into crocheted doilies, and to the uninterrupted flow of movement in which one sequence continuously melts into the next. Luna Baier - Tightwire Luna Baier Country: France Specialisation: tightwire Coach: Benjamin Kuitenbrouwer Email: baierluna@protonmail.com Biography Luna Baier's path into circus began at nineteen, during a year touring with a travelling theatre company. That experience drew her immediately into the world of contemporary circus. With a background in street dance and gymnastics, she found her voice on the tightwire, where movement, rhythm and balance come together. Luna’s work combines physical risk and emotional openness, creating an atmosphere of raw presence and honesty. Fascinated by the constant search for equilibrium, Luna approaches the tightwire not only as a circus apparatus, but as a moving ground: a dance floor, a rhythm, and a metaphor for navigating the world. Performance description Title: The Air Between My Fingers The wire shakes. The body responds. And somewhere in that instability, something honest happens. The Air Between My Fingers is a circus piece in which Luna Baier explores what it means to stay upright in a world that constantly shakes beneath our feet. Combining tightwire and spoken word, the performance creates a raw and intimate search for equilibrium. Rather than hiding instability, the performer embraces it. In a world that rewards detachment, she chooses the opposite: openness, feeling, and the willingness to fail. Vulnerable and quietly political, this is a performance about staying creative, sensitive and human while everything around us keeps shifting. Marcelin Manceau - Floor Acrobatics Marcelin Manceau Country: France Specialisation: f loor acrobatics Coach: Liza Van Brakel Email: marcelin.manceau@gmail.com Insta: @marty.manceau Biography In another life, Marcelin Manceau would be a cook or an actor. In this one: a circus artist. Having circus artists parents, he followed them on tour, making the stage his familiar world before he stood on it himself. Through youth circus, he discovered the joy of creation and performance before continuing his training at the preparatory school CRAC de Lomme and later at Codarts Circus Arts. Floor acrobat Marcelin explores movement as a language filled with sequences, variations, spirals and twists. In his work, he seeks collaboration and shared experiences. For Marcelin, circus comes alive when it is shared. Performance description Title: A Sunflower in the Wind Is there a part of you which is only you? A Sunflower in the Wind opens with a question and offers no answer. In a world obsessed with individuality, Marcelin Manceau turns his attention toward something more fragile: the influence we have on one another. The gazes that change us, the movements we adopt, the thoughts we believe are our own but perhaps never were. In this floor acrobatics solo Marcelin explores identity as something shaped through connection. In an era where originality has become an obsession, this act focuses on something else: the beauty of being shaped by others. Mathis Platre - Dance Trapeze and Acrobatics Mathis Platre Country: France Specialisation: dance trapeze and acrobatics Coach: Aurélien Oudot Email: mathis.platre@gmail.com Insta: @mathis_pltr Biography Mathis Platre is a French circus artist specialising in trapeze and acrobatics, developing poetic work at the intersection of movement and physical theatre. His creations focus on human connection and how we relate to our environment. Having discovered circus young, he uses it as a way to express himself and to build connections with others. He considers circus a social art that brings people together and encourages dialogue on societal topics. After studying at Robert Doisneau high school and training at Balthazar, he is currently finishing his education at Codarts Circus Arts in Rotterdam. Performance description Title: Raymond In this intimate performance blending dance trapeze, acrobatics and theatre, Raymond unlocks a space of hidden memories. From his armchair, he reconstructs a delicate world where the line between reality and imagination blurs. Dusty images emerge as fragments of the past take shape through movement and emotion. The trapeze becomes a place of escape, a refuge from painful experiences such as loss. Between loneliness and nostalgia, Raymond seeks connection in a distracted world. He invites the audience to wander through his memories, rediscover their own, and allow imagination to bring the past back to life. Merel Duffels - Aerial Hoop Merel Duffels Country: Netherlands Specialisation: aerial hoop Coach: Tarek Rammo Email: mduffels@xs4all.nl Insta: @merel.duffels Biography Merel Duffels (she/her, 2002) is a Rotterdam-based circus artist specializing in aerial hoop. She combines aerial work with a personal movement language rooted in dance. Unable to stop dancing and cartwheeling as a kid, she found her way into circus. With a background in acro gymnastics and classical and modern dance, Merel began her pre-education at Codarts Rotterdam, before continuing at FLIC Scuola di Circo in Turin, and completing her bachelor at Codarts Circus Arts in 2026. Fascinated by the endless possibilities of movement, Merel explores unconventional ways of moving with the aerial hoop. Using skeletal flexibility, she creates twisted angles, broken lines and shapes in search of physical impossibilities, balancing broken forms with graceful fluidity. Performance description Title: UNBALANCED It's an autumn evening. Through a warmly lit window, you get a glimpse of a woman moving through her daily routine, yet something feels off. Time seems to have stopped. Sounds echo, bonk, repeat. Jazz swirls through the noise, pushing and calming at once. Welcome to Susan's world. UNBALANCED is a solo performance combining contemporary aerial hoop, dance and acrobatics. The stage is Susan's mind, the hoop her home. Balancing between absurdity, curiosity, and a touch of madness, she drifts through fragments of memories and emotion, searching for something to hold on to within the unrest. Twisted shapes and suspensions draw us into Susan's distorted inner world. Mia Erika Peterson - Aerial Rope Mia Erika Peterson Country: Estonia Specialisation: aerial rope Coach: Viivi Roiha Email: miaecircus@gmail.com Insta: @mia_erika__ Biography Mia Erika Peterson is an Estonian circus artist graduating from Codarts Circus Arts in Rotterdam. Growing up in a family of visual artists, Mia developed a strong connection to visual expression from an early age. She began circus at the age of 10 in a youth circus, before moving to Rotterdam to deepen her practice at Codarts. Mia specialises in aerial rope, but also enjoys handstands, contortion, drawing and poetry. Her work values the sincerity of human experience and poetic imagery, exploring the expressive possibilities of the human body through symbolism and strong visuals. Mia doesn’t have a driver’s licence, but she has a bathtub. Performance description Title: Open eyes underneath the water At centre stage stands a beautiful white, lion-legged bathtub - a place for relaxation, solitude, and escape from everyday stress. Inside the tub, the water begins to flow through the body, bending and curving it away from everyday tensions. As she is carried by water, the performer drifts further and further. The depths of underwater world slowly rise into the air, transforming the stage into a surreal universe where an aerial rope becomes a path to float even further away from reality. Open eyes underneath the water is a surreal aerial solo - an escape into the abyss of water. Mikk Bernadt - Ball Juggling Mikk Bernadt Country: Estonia Specialisation: bal juggling Coach: Jan Daems Email: mikk.bernadt@gmail.com Insta: @mikktricks Biography Mikk Bernadt was born into an artistic family and came into contact with circus from an early age through his mother, a former circus artist and youth circus director. At the age of five, he joined her youth circus, where he explored many disciplines and performed across Europe alongside school. At the age of nineteen, Mikk enrolled at Codarts Circus Arts in Rotterdam, specialising in ball juggling. Mikk loves to explore his relationship to his objects and what they express through different minimalist contemporary pieces. He often uses a high number of juggling balls, throwing multiplexes and numbers juggling patterns. Performance description Title: ENIGMATRIX What does it mean to be in context? Do we truly understand each other? ENIGMATRIX is a performance that blends ball juggling, spoken word and audio to explore questions of free will and manipulation. Wrapped in absurd humour and ridiculous situations the act slowly begins to question who is actually in control. Are we being manipulated? Are we simply not grasping the full picture? Balancing between chaos and philosophical confusion, ENIGMATRIX recontextualises recontextualisation. After all, to wake up, one must realise they are dreaming. Nienke Goodijk - Aerial Rope Nienke Goodijk Country: Netherlands Specialisation: aerial rope Coach: Michael Zandl Email: nienkegoodijk@gmail.com Biography Nienke Goodijk is a circus artist from the Netherlands specialising in aerial rope, whose practice extends into acrobatics, other circus disciplines, and collaborative creation. Her work reflects her fascination with disrupting everyday logic. Through unconventional uses of objects, she creates playful and absurd scenes where bodies and objects behave in unexpected ways, inviting audiences to see the familiar differently. Alongside her artistic practice, she also enjoys contributing to the technical and backstage side of performances. Nienke’s circus journey began at a youth circus in Groningen before continuing her studies at FLIC Scuola di Circo and later at Codarts Circus Arts in Rotterdam. Performance description Title: A Dead End A character enters a space filled with ropes. At first, everything seems familiar, until the ropes begin to move in unexpected ways. They twist into strange shapes, slip out of control, and slowly seem to develop a will of their own. What starts as a simple interaction turns into an absurd relation between performer and object. Combining aerial rope, acrobatics, and object manipulation, A dead End transforms the rope from a tool into an unpredictable force that constantly pulls back, resists and decides. The result is both absurd and strangely funny. Beneath the chaos, a question slowly begins to surface: who is actually in control here? Swantje Theesfeld - Static Trapeze and Object Manipulation Swantje Theesfeld Country: Germany Specialisation: static trapeze and object manipulation Coach: Júlia Campistany Email: swanthe.info@gmail.com Insta: @swantje_th Biography Swantje Theesfeld (1999, DE) is a Rotterdam-based circus artist whose work combines static trapeze and object manipulation, developing a precise and playful movement language between control and unpredictability. Her work builds on storytelling, character work, absurdity, and light humor to create small worlds in which the unexpected is allowed to happen. Swantje’s practice is further complemented by hair hanging, duo trapeze, show hosting, and interdisciplinary collaborations. Originally from Bremen, Germany, her path led through South America and the Cirque Jules Verne in Amiens to Codarts Circus Arts in Rotterdam, where she is currently completing her Bachelor’s degree. Alongside performing, she teaches circus and gives workshops. Performance description Title: Half Alive In the poetic, slightly absurd world of Half Alive , things do not need to make sense to feel true. Unexpected moments simply happen. Everyday objects come to life, and small cracks in reality begin to appear. The performer moves through this in-between world carrying the weight of her own reality, until the world around her slowly begins to respond. A trapeze offers support and juggling clubs interrupt or guide her. Combining static trapeze and object manipulation, ordinary actions transform into a new physical language. Half Alive invites the audience to linger with the strange and the quiet humanity within it. Thaïs Ragot - Floor Acrobatics Thaïs Ragot Country: France Specialisation: floor acrobatics Coach: Elsa Bouchez Email: thais.ragot@gmail.com Biography Thaïs Ragot started circus at a young age in a small circus school in France. She had the opportunity to take part in three different productions touring in circus tents. There, she discovered not only the artistic side of circus, but also became inspired by the strong social aspect of the community. After a two-year preparatory programme, she studied at Codarts (Rotterdam, NL), specializing in floor acrobatics. Her work blends physical technique with theatrical storytelling, using movement to explore emotional states and inner conflicts. Focusing on dramaturgy, visual composition, and character work, she creates poetic performances that feel intimate yet unsettling. Performance description Title: LIMBO Through floor acrobatics, Thaïs Ragot creates an intimate portrait of a woman from the 1960’, Judith, trapped in the suspended space of waiting, the moment before something happens. Or doesn’t. Within the confined space of her living room, her acrobatic movement guides us through her emotional journey oscillating between buried memories and a reality slipping away from her. LIMBO is a circus solo about the emotional and physical experience of being stuck in between. Between control and collapse, past and present, dignity and chaos. She waits, for someone, for something, for herself. The body is here, but the mind is already elsewhere. And maybe… nothing comes. Credits Codarts Rotterdam President of the Executive Board David Lauwen Director of Education Caroline Harder Codarts Circus Arts Head of Codarts Circus Arts Rosa Boon, with special thanks to Anna Beentjes, who supported and guided these students throughout the program until her retirement earlier this year. Coordinators Jan Daems, Thomas Falk Study Career Coach 4 th year students Evgeniya Kalugina Education Assistant Eva Loguercio Planning Lena Herrmann TAKE OFF #17 Creators/performers Fourth year students Codarts Circus Arts 2025/2026 Luna Baier, Lise Beaumard, Mikk Bernadt, Axel Bernard-Bouissieres, Alice Clénet, Merel Duffels, Nienke Goodijk, Marcelin Manceau, Corbinian Neubauer, John Ochieng, Mia Erika Peterson, Mathis Platre, Thaïs Ragot, Swantje Theesfeld. Hosts Rafael Martins de Almeida Gonzalez, Jerry Simon, Julie Voisin Director Take Off #17 Thomas Falk Production Vivian Hendriks Light Design & Light Engineering Edwin van Steenbergen Sound Engineering William Bakker Rigging Saar Rombout, Nikolay Pyasta, Erik Berkey Stagehands Third year students Codarts Circus Arts under the direction of Noëmi Wagner Communications & Marketing Karlijn Verschoor, Claudia Klaassen, Iza van Lint Photography Campaign: Tessa Veldhorst ©de Schaapjesfabriek Portraits: Thaïs Ragot, Editing: Charlotte Hofer Teachers/ Staff Codarts Circus Arts Donatas Bielunskis, Cristian Boscheri, Jesse Bom, Rosa Boon, Aurélia Brailowsky, Sandra Buijing, Camiel Corneille, Loek van Cruchten, Robin Eggers, Thomas Falk, Mark Glover, Simon Granit Ossoinak, Tom Greder, Julia Groels, Luc de Groen-Schram, Birgit Haberkamp, Blazej Jasinski, Klaus Jürgens, Evgeniya Kalugina, Gerindo Kamid Kartadinata, Lucia Kiel, Gregor Kiock, Bas Kortmann, Harm van der Laan, Juan Liu, Marc Maris, Anouk Mulders, David Mupanda, Miriana Nardelli,, Nikolay Pyasta, Anne Schaep, Anita Radier, Valentine Remels, Saar Rombout, Tessa Ros-Könemann, Joseph Simon, Menno van Dycke, Marieke Van Oosten, Edwin van Steenbergen, Jorrit Terpstra, Ralph Toria, Luc van Groen-Schram, Bram Verhofstad, Noëmi Wagner, Dixie Wanner, Annemieke Wijers, Wybren Wouda, Mirjam Zwanenburg Artistic Coaches Aurelia Brailowsky, Elsa Bouchez, Erin Burley, Julia Campistany, Jan Daems, Antoine Jacot, Dunja Jocic, Benjamin Kuitenbrouwer, Aurélien Oudot, Tarek Rammo, Viivi Roiha, Liza Van Braekel, Michael Zandl Facility Team Codarts Circus Arts Hans Bakker, Alicia de Boer, Frans Conrads, Petra van Egmond, Aart Muizer, Peter Vogel Members of the international graduation commission Aukelyn Allary - artistic coordinator Perplx Rinus Samyn - workfield advice Circuscentrum Carlos Vianna Leite - head of Ecole Nationale de Châtellerault - president of the board Fedec Jef Kinds - artistic leader and performer company !UKBUM! - alumnus Codarts Circus Arts
