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Arete is dedicated to supporting emerging circus artists in their creative and performative growth. Through Arete’s workshops and mentorship, owner and director Jennifer Drabik Pierce aims to equip artists with the tools to develop their own creative voices and make empowered artistic choices.

Jennifer transitioned into her career as a circus performer and coach from the world of professional dance. Lance Ringnald played a pivotal role in her transition into circus arts.  He strongly believed that circus art is meant to be shared and taught—a philosophy that has guided Jennifer’s approach ever since. Throughout her dance career, she was keenly aware of how creation, production, and performance elements converge to build immersive worlds for the audience. When she began coaching circus artists, she realized that many focused heavily on technical skills while overlooking broader performance factors. From learning to hold space on stage to honing creative adaptability, Arete’s workshops help artists bridge the gap between technical skill acquisition and true performance readiness.

Though Arete began as an online venture, Jennifer now offers live workshops alongside online coaching. Current offerings include:

• Own the Stage: Equips artists to navigate the often non-linear creative process. By tackling common creative roadblocks—such as interpreting music, connecting with material, and defining the core purpose ("why") of an act—this workshop teaches performers how to connect with their audience, work efficiently, and adapt with flexibility.

• Stage Ready: Focuses on foundational stage presence, teaching artists how to walk, stand, shape stage pictures, and embody an ensemble role. Mastering these fundamentals builds the presence and confidence needed to captivate an audience—even before executing a single circus skill.

Rooted in the Ancient Greek concept of arete—meaning excellence and reaching one's highest potential—Arete invites you to take the next step in your artistic journey.

To learn more, follow @Arete.ActDevelopment on Instagram.

photo credit Maike Schulz

You might know the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus as an international touring show bringing the traditions of circus, variety, and sideshow and world-class entertainers to your local theater, concert venue, festival or neighborhood park.  Perhaps your kids and elders participate in circus arts education and enrichment activities.  Or maybe you are an emerging artist stepping into the spotlight at the Open Stage Variety Show.  At the heart of these varying Bindlestiff programs is a deep commitment to the thing that brings us all together….community.  Community comes first in all Bindlestiff experiences, where all creative forces have a say in building the world we want to live in together.
 
The Bindlestiff Family Cirkus, founded in 1995 by Keith Nelson and Stephanie Monseu, came out of the traditions of DIY/punk rock and traveling entities, both of which operate from a strong sense of community and collective experience.  From its inception, BFC has maintained an irreverent respect for the past by reaching out to mentors and those in whom the history is still alive. 

For over 30 years the Bindlestiffs have been answering the call of our souls, touring the country as a pro-performing entity bringing cirkus to the people.  Locally, emerging artists find support through their First of May, Open Stage, and Cavalcade of Youth programs.  Through a social circus model, the next generation of humans are learning circus in after school programs.  

Co-founder Keith Nelson says, "Luckily we’ve been able to stay alive and survive while keeping the artist first and the community first. Folks come back because they want to have a Bindlestiff experience.  Everyone of every age will get something from a Bindlestiff experience, but it won’t be the same thing for each one."  At the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus you can be uniquely yourself, in community with others.  

You can meet up with the Bindlestiffs this month at New York City Unicycle Festival.  See event listing below.  To learn more about the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus visit https://bindlestiff.org/

In Northern California’s coastal town of Mendocino, a small but exceptional circus school has been cultivating remarkable aerialists and building a vibrant circus community since 2005: Mendocino Center for Circus Arts (Circus MeCCA).

The first thing co-founders Bones and Holly Newstead will tell you is that Circus MeCCA is extremely fortunate to operate in a way that would be difficult for most any other circus school.  While I won’t dispute that claim, there is something deeply valuable to be gleaned from their approach. It may not be economically sustainable for others, but it is energetically and spiritually sustainable—and there is a lesson in that for all of us.

Because Circus Mecca operates as a volunteer-run nonprofit, less energy is spent on administrative overhead and chasing funding. Students pay an affordable tuition that goes directly toward core operating expenses like space rental, equipment, and insurance. The instructors are volunteers too, though Bones and Holly actively help them secure paid coaching gigs at other local studios. Mecca operates across two locations: one at Mendocino High School and an inland space at a gymnastics studio in Ukiah. Between both spaces, the school serves about 60 students. To keep the workload manageable, they intentionally maintain a small student body and no longer teach beginners in Mendocino. They rarely advertise—they already have to turn prospective students away.

This approach, Bones acknowledges, wouldn't work for every circus school. While limiting enrollment can be restrictive, it allows coaches and students to focus purely on the art they love while shielding them from administrative burnout. “We really love circus and sharing it with others,” Bones says—and you can hear that genuine care in his voice.

Mecca uses a structured skill-development curriculum with clear checkpoints and progressions that have produced exceptional aerialists. Yet what impressed me most is the self-motivation and communal ambition the studio fosters. Classes rely mostly on open-studio time with coaching, where advanced students train alongside newer ones, encouraging each other as they go. Learning happens in community—much like youth or traditional generational circuses—where immersion in the environment is just as vital as direct instruction. Driven by their own passion, many students reach extraordinarily high skill levels. As Bones puts it, “We love seeing students push themselves, and supporting them in doing incredible things.”

Ultimately, this intrinsic motivation—ignited by joy and love of the craft, and maintained by community—is what Bones wants his students to carry forward. Circus careers today are fiercely competitive. “I don't want to encourage anyone to pursue this as a career unless they are truly driven,” he notes. If students learn self-motivation, discover they are capable of doing hard things, and learn to collaborate, their time is well spent regardless of whether they “make it” professionally. Circus Mecca may not be a template every school can replicate, but its philosophy can inspire all of us in the way we do circus.  You can keep up to date with Circus Mecca on facebook https://www.facebook.com/circusmecca/, or instagram https://www.instagram.com/circusmecca

If there is one thing that can rival the romance and allure of the traveling tented circus, it just may be the mystique and poetry of a traveling river circus. Flotsam River Circus is a non-profit troupe of world-class musicians, circus performers, and puppeteers who float their "ramshackle raft" stage along open waterways, giving free performances to the communities they travel through. They capture the imagination with their performances and way of life, bring people together to engage through art and the environment, and are gone with the tide (so to speak) to do it all again in the next town downstream.

Flotsam is the passion of Jason Webley. While not a mariner by training, Webley says that he has been drawn to waterways since boyhood. Touring the world as a musician, he found himself drawn to the water in the places he visited. Waterways are the veins of civilization—from giving life through water and fertile land, to commerce and trade, to shaping and carving the land itself. Having lived on a houseboat for years and being immersed in an art scene where eccentric art boats were common, Webley gathered creative friends and collaborators to create a traveling river show that ended up being, among other things, a circus.

Flotsam weaves a story through music, puppetry, physical theater, and circus artistry. It is a somewhat absurdist ecological tale with a touch of post-apocalyptic reality. The show is not glossy; there is no artifice whatsoever. It might even be a bit clumsy at times—maybe the stage is rocking in the wake of a passing boat and the performers stumble a few steps—but it is all exposed and happening right in front of you. There is something extraordinarily real and compelling in seeing top-tier artists perform world-class feats on a raft rocking just off the shore.

Since 2019, Flotsam has covered nearly 3,000 miles of river, performing in 15 different states. Each year, the show travels a new waterway and hosts as many free performances as possible. The river determines the tour route (obviously), but also the pace of the tour and the nature of the audience. While some people do travel from afar to see the show, the audience is primarily the local community. Advertising is mainly word-of-mouth and travels downstream with the raft. Webley is still astounded by how word spreads and audiences turn up for the shows—sometimes thousands of people. And while the audience generally stays upriver when the show moves on, the continuity of the waterway as a physical and poetic connection from town to town creates one long story, with each community and performance serving as a new chapter.

This year, Flotsam will travel up the Illinois River from St. Louis to Chicago in August and September. More information and tour dates can be found at rivercircus.com.

Almanac’s Artistic Director, Ben Grinberg, has experienced every stage of the lifecycle of devised creative work– from performing artist on stage to producer behind the scenes.  Through these various roles he deeply understands what independent creators need at every stage of their journey from creation to touring. Today, Almanac has built a sustainable model that doesn't just support the initial creation of new work, but also provides the financial backing and infrastructure needed to give those projects a real life on tour.

Almanac began in 2013 as a collective of artists passionate about devised theatre and circus. The company created and toured work around the Philadelphia area, using the Philadelphia Fringe Festival as their primary annual platform for launching new material.  However, after a transformative trip to the Edinburgh Fringe in 2019, the team realized that Philly needed a more centralized hub to foster artistic exchange and streamline the production experience for artists. That realization birthedthe Cannonball Festival.

Cannonball grew rapidly, expanding from 28 performing shows to 65, and eventually to 154. It became clear that independent artists were incredibly hungry for this kind of production support. But managing Cannonball became a massive, year-round job, and Almanac’s own creative projects were being pushed to the side. To maintain Cannonball's independent spirit and return to Almanac’s own creative work, the two have become separate entities.

WithCannonball independently thriving, Almanac has looked ahead to the next rung on the ladder. Cannonball proved that independent artists can create and perform compelling new works. But what comes next? How do you take a first-draft fringe show and elevate it to the global stage?  That is the link Almanac is working to provide for the circus community today. By stepping in as a producer for independent works, Almanac aims to invest vital resources into promising, innovative stories, ensuring they have the runway to succeed on the international touring circuit.

They’ve already seen this model succeed with the first pilot project Full Out Formula’s show, I Think It Could Work.  After being initially produced at Cannonball, the show received funding and production support to go into residency, immersing themselves in refining and evolving the show to present at the Philadelphia Contemporary Circus Festival.  At every stage of the way Almanac was able to provide financial and infrastructure support to the show.  The polished version went on to achieve major international success, touring from Philadelphia to the Edinburgh and Perth Fringe Festivals.

Almanac hopes that this model can act as a blueprint to support the growing number of US shows entering international arts markets. American independent artists absolutely have the talent to succeed globally; they simply lack the infrastructure.  Ben Grinberg asks us to consider what could be possible in terms of resources and pathways if we worked together? Almanac is getting ready to announce its next round of produced shows and artists.  "We want to be in solidarity with people who have similar goals."  If you would like to learn more about Almanac or get involved, visit thealmanac.us.

Co-artistic directors of Company29, Bella Diaz and Keaton Hentoff Killian, inspire us to create and engage with ourselves, one another, and life itself. Acclaimed and accomplished performers in their own right, their collaboration has sparked a newfound delight and curiosity, ultimately leading to the formation of Company29. Their upcoming show, Natural Causes, explores how a group of people can occupy the same space yet experience it in vastly different ways. Using the premise of a walk through the woods, the performance leans into the darkness of the unknown while embracing the levity and whimsy of the world. In Natural Causes, Keaton and Bella are joined by Sierra Rhoades Nicholls and Kevin Flanagan (of Full Out Formula). The intersection of individual and shared experience—as performing artists and as humans in the world—seems to serve as the jumping-off point for much of the company’s work.

“What we’re really working for as we build this company is trying to find our own language," they explain. "We have the influences and history of what we have done in the past, but we want to create our own language and speak it with other people and other bodies.” There is something profoundly connective in this pursuit. It springs from a desire to perfectly articulate and share our experiences with others, communicating in a deeply personal way. As modern dance pioneer Isadora Duncan once said, “If I could say it… I wouldn't have to dance it.” The more fluent we become in our language of choice, the more fully we are able to express and connect.

Keaton and Bella are certainly fluent in a multitude of physical languages. With lifetimes of experience in dance, physical theater, circus, and acrobatics, they are virtuosic in their movement. I was struck by their commitment to the enjoyment of the process—to ongoing discovery and invention. An underlying curiosity seems ever-present in their work. When I asked about their future goals, their primary commitment was simply to keep the work fun and exciting. “One step at a time, one project at a time," they said, "so that we don't brutalize ourselves in pursuit of the show.”

Most of us working in the circus arts count ourselves lucky to love our jobs. Company29 adds a layer of tenderness and wisdom to that sentiment, reminding us to care for ourselves and our partners just as much as we care for the work we love.  To keep up with them, follow @company__29 on Instagram.  Keep an eye out for an August preview of Natural Causes at Circus Academy in NYC. 

AcroSports, located in San Francisco, CA, was founded in 1993 by two acrobats from the Moscow Circus, a gymnast from Ukraine, and a community organizer who believed that gymnastics provides the foundation for excellence in acrobatics. Through this foundation, students at AcroSports have always discovered how to learn, building skills while fostering a sense of community. While many students have gone on to find phenomenal success in the professional circus world, the core goal has always been to learn in connection with others.

AcroSports offers a unique blend of disciplines—including circus arts, gymnastics, parkour, and breakdancing—each a melding of movement styles and physicality. Classes are available for all ages, from 10-month-old toddlers to seniors. The organization also features its Integrative Program, which provides specialized movement and circus arts instruction designed for neurodiverse students, those with different functional needs, and any child who thrives in a non-traditional class format. From recreational students to the aspiring artists in the CircusLab youth troupe, the AcroSports gym is vibrant and full of action throughout the day.

The team credits a great deal of their success to their community. Students and families love their experience at AcroSports and share those stories with their own networks. This word-of-mouth reputation extends throughout the city, allowing AcroSports to focus on doing what they do best. 

Now AcroSports is looking to support its circus community at large.  The future of the San Francisco circus scene is becoming much more collaborative. While local organizations have always done great work, they often operated in silos; now, AcroSports is working with other Bay Area circus organizations to build deeper connections with other artists and companies.  This past December, AcroSports, Circus Bella, and the American Circus Alliance hosted a Bay Area Circus Community gathering. Realizing that they have more common ground than they have differences, this formidable group of circus companies has come together to produce the upcoming first annual San Francisco World Circus Day Festival.  

If you are interested in joining the AcroSports team, they are currently hiring for a Staff Development/Training Manager and an Integrative Program Coach. For more information about these positions and to learn more about AcroSports, visit acrosports.org.

As a 20-year-old dancer in Texas, Caroline Calouche experienced a spark while attending an aerial dance performance. She had seen the traditional Ringling Bros & Barnum and Bailey Circus as a child, but it hadn’t resonated. In this aerial dance performance, Caroline was introduced to a "whole other plane of physical language." A few years later, while studying choreography in Italy, she went to a tented contemporary circus performance and the spark was ignited. She was compelled to explore the air and the ground together; their physicality, artistry, and potential for communicating new things to new audiences.

Today, the success of that hybrid identity is apparent as Caroline Calouche & Co. celebrates its 20th anniversary with a performance of Carmina Burana. To Calouche, the work is neither strictly "circus" nor "dance"—it is its own language that uses the best that each art form has to offer. "The fun challenge is always how to put the pieces together to make a seamless blend," she says. To do this, she looks for artists who possess both a strong technical background and are confident enough to experiment and solve problems in real time.

The audience experience is paramount to Calouche in the creation and execution of her work. She has found that by using all of the available tools from the circus and dance worlds, she is better able to connect with the audience. This feels especially important in an era when audience numbers are in decline and people are moving their bodies less. Building a bridge to the audience invites them into the performance, but also into their own physical beings.

With 20 years of making works behind her, Calouche is at a stage where she can revisit older pieces, dig deeper into their themes, and refine their execution to give them new life. Sometimes that takes the form of revisiting works yearly, such as the company’s annual Nutcracker performance and winter cabaret show, Rouge. Next season, her acclaimed show Star Gazer is set to begin touring. For Calouche, touring is more than just a business strategy—it is a form of scaling her vision and sharing it with bigger, more diverse audiences worldwide. These are audiences that, no matter what language they speak, can understand and be moved by the communication that emerges where air and ground meet.

To learn more about Caroline Calouche & Co., visit carolinecalouche.org.

In my conversation with 3AM Theatre co-director and operators Kyle Driggs and Logan Kerr, I began to imagine 3AM Theatre as a nexus—a meeting point, a physical location holding the ephemeral worlds of art-making and community building.  Making performance is building with the intangible: with movement and music, carving time, space, and energy. But we cannot craft the intangible without a physical space. We need a place that not only holds the work of creation but anchors us in the material world. A literal and metaphoric touchstone.

Based in New York City, 3AM Theatre was founded in 2018 as a touring ensemble company. In 2023, they took a major leap, opening a performance and rehearsal space in Queens. Finding spaces to practice and stage circus productions is incredibly difficult, so tackling that infrastructure question felt necessary.  Because 3AM’s creative work features strong images, controlled production values, and focused lighting, it became clear that they would have to build their own space to accommodate those specific creative needs—needs that, it turns out, are shared by many artists and companies.

This shift established a home base for the company. It provided a home for rehearsals, residencies, and in-house productions, and allowed 3AM to become a hub for visiting artists and local audiences. Run by artists for artists, the space operates on a symbiotic relationship to fulfill shared needs. As word spreads, Kyle and Logan have found a dedicated group sticking around to be a part of the project's evolution.

In September of 2025, the company acquired studio space adjacent to its existing theater. 3AM Studio is now open for classes and artist renters needing space to train and create. With two fully functional spaces, 3AM is better equipped than ever to serve the performing arts community.  Currently the theatre presents W3AM,a monthly curated performance featuring circus artists, dancers, musicians, and short stories.  They like to say that it’s a circus take on NPR’s tiny desk series.  This year also premiers the latest 3AM Theatre full length creation First Light.  In the future Kyle and Logan hope to release an artist incubator series, where artists enroll for a month of training, creation, performance, and filming.  

With so much on the horizon and knowing that any one of these projects is a full-time job, I asked Kyle and Logan the obvious question: How do you do it?  The answer is in the name: 3AM. You might be up until 3am doing the work, but there is no other work you’d rather be doing.  "Having this space is not a way to hide from the ugliness of the world, but a way to know that there is goodness left."  In this world and this work, it is necessary to have a touchstone place and community.

To learn more, visit 3amtheatre.com or follow them on Instagram @3amtheatre and @3amstudio. Better yet—go take a class, see a show, and stay to hang out after. They’ll be happy to see you.

Written by Ariele Ebacher based on an interview with Michelle Hunt

If you’ve ever been to the Las Vegas Circus Center (LVCC), you were probably struck by two things: the space itself and the vibrant community that fills it.

The 52,000-square-foot training space is a state-of-the-art facility containing a multitude of specialized circus apparatus, such as a flying trapeze, tramp wall, high-speed winch, and specialized equipment that mimics what is used in the professional entertainment industry. Every time I have been there, the space has been dotted with clusters of students, professionals, and coaches, all deeply engaged in reaching their next goal together. The building has a palpable feeling of community and exchange.

In our conversation, Michelle Hunt told me the business was consciously built to be a place that supports both students and professionals. Partially thanks to the vastness of the space and the tremendous growth and draw of Las Vegas as a global circus city, that vision has come to fruition. It is a space where pros can train without disruption, and where beginners can learn and grow by training side-by-side with the older generation. They truly complement each other.

The space is primarily focused on training for semi-pros and professionals during the day and evening. In the afternoon until dinnertime, the facility is mostly used for classes. On weekends, the schedule flips, with classes taking place during the day and training slots filling up the evenings. LVCC has even dabbled in show building and creation. While it’s logistically tricky to manage and a lot of work to flip the space from a gym to a theatre, the fantastic staff at LVCC makes it happen.

It is truly a remarkable thing to be in LVCC and see it host all in one moment: a third-generation flying trapeze coach rehearsing students for an upcoming performance, a Cirque du Soleil artist developing material for an independent project, a group of young aerialists learning a new drop, and a duo polishing their new act before heading out on contract. Together, they create the momentum, evolution, community, and collaboration that have become an integral part—and indeed, partially responsible for—the blossoming of Las Vegas as the US’s premier circus center.

To learn more about the Las Vegas Circus Center, visit https://lasvegascircuscenter.com/