Festival Circolo makes more than 10,000 hearts beat faster during 12th edition

Festival Circolo can look back on a sunny and smooth 12th edition. During the autumn holidays, the Netherlands' largest circus festival took over the heart of Tilburg to make people's hearts beat faster. More than 10,000 paid visitors plopped down in the plush and stands to enjoy contemporary circus in beautiful, funny and blood-curdling performances. With additional free programme in Spoorpark and interventions in the city centre, the whole thing added up to a 10-day circus festival.

Festival Circolo uses contemporary circus to enrich the world with more wonder and connection. This mission came together in the 2024 edition under the banner 'Come closer'. Circolo brought people together shoulder to shoulder on the stands, side by side at the table to break bubbles and face to face with extraordinary stories. For instance, collective Corpo Máquina Society presented a rock-solid performance developed with 13 performers from the AZC in Oisterwijk. Broodje Aap & Linke Soep treated with a hand-warming bowl of soup and a heart-warming group of cooks from all walks of life. And, of course, there was spectacle. Super talent Julian Vogel brought people face to face with a seriously fragile and explosive performance where ceramics and circus came together. Lauded collective Compagnie L'Oublié(e) pushed the boundaries of the possible in La Chutes Des Anges. And Alta Gama amazed with unprecedented bicycle acrobatics. 

At Festival Circolo 2024, everyone was briefly allowed to become part of the circus family. This allowed visitors to practise circus themselves on the grounds and dine together with companies and acrobats they had seen spectacling in the arena before. But family Ronaldo took the family hook even more literally. In the big crowd-pleaser of Festival Circolo 2024 Da Capo the Belgian circus company took the whole family, from grandma to the smallest offspring, to celebrate 180 years of circus history. This unique family gathering provided sold-out performances night after night.

With more than 10,000 paid and many more free visitors, Festival Circolo can speak of a successful edition. The tents will be taken down, the circus artists will once again head out into the wide world and the Spoorpark may wait another year for the next circus spectacle. Those not returning next year, unfortunately, will be De Stijle, because... the patriarchs of tented theatre are waving goodbye after 40 years and played for the last time at Festival Circolo. Festival Circolo says goodbye to these pioneers and the 12th edition with a filled heart and takes a deep bow to its audience, the artists, sponsors, volunteers and everyone who helped make the festival possible.