This article is part of the “Inter-magazine Circus Festival 2026” project that is a collaboration between the UP- Circus & Performing Arts Festival, the Université Libre de Bruxelles and six international circus magazines: Juggling Magazine, Stage Lync, Zirkólika, DYNAMO Magazine, Sztuka Cyrku, CIRQUEON, all part of the INCAm network. Students at Université Libre de Bruxelles share their thoughts on current stage and circus performances. Their diverse backgrounds ranging from literature and journalism, to acting and cultural studies bring unique perspectives, whether already familiar with the art form or newcomers. They are united by a curiosity about performing arts, which led them to the MA Arts du spectacle program, offering exposure to various art forms, including the circus. As part of the interdisciplinary and international project Circus | Studies led by Dr. Franziska Trapp, theatre students explore circus, collaborate with emerging artists, and engage in performance analysis and critique. Their experiences culminate in MA theses or articles like the one that follows.
“L’HOMME CIRQUE” can be understood as a living homage to the circus heritage, a tribute to a bygone era. It revisits this ancient language with full awareness. And this way of transforming historical conventions into stage material, of viewing the history of the circus as a resource to be reactivated, is a very contemporary gesture.
Opening the UP! Festival, David Dimitri’s “L’HOMME CIRQUE” offered to the Brussels audience a spectacular introduction. Created in 2001 and toured all over the world ever since, this 25 years old solo piece is based on a simple yet effective premise: a single man on stage, capable of doing anything. Acrobatics, balance, humor, suspense and technical skill. This show directly appeals to the imagination of the traditional circus. Yet at a time when contemporary circus is trying to redefine its forms, what does this figure of the “total artist” still mean today? From the very first moments, “L’HOMME CIRQUE” captivates us with its stage presence. The big top, the audience seated around the stage, the suspenseful moments, the drum rolls and the sequence of acts remind us of the most familiar stems from the performance itself. We laugh, we hold our breath, we marvel. The show fully embraces a form of popular, intergenerational accessibility based on the direct sharing of wonder. The artist climbs, falls, bounces, juggling with the audience’s expectations as much as the objects. He plays on the fear of heights, creates moments of silence, then reignites the tension with a new risk taking feat.
L’HOMME CIRQUE, photo: Martin Pelikan
And what about this success? Its rests above all on the presence of David Dimitri. Trained in Circus Arts in Budapest, then in dance in New York, and the son of the famous clown Dimitri, he embodies an artistic family lineage. “L’HOMME CIRQUE” is carried by this aura. When someone comes to see this show, they are primarily witnessing the performance of a renowned artist, heir to a tradition and custodian of a certain circus prestige. One might wonder whether the show’s longevity owes as much to this singular figure as to its form. Yet, to reduce “L’HOMME CIRQUE” to a relic of the past would be insufficient and quite unfair. For whilst the show borrows from traditional codes, it also subverts them with intelligence and, quite frankly, a great deal of humor. The spectacular becomes intimate. Whereas traditional circus relied on an entire troupe or elaborate machinery, David Dimitri condenses everything into a single body. Whereas the Grand Circus celebrated excess, this show favors a more artisanal form where one perceives the work, the effort, the fatigue at times, and even the joyful absurdity of technical prowess. At 63, the artist continues to climb, to hang suspended, to launch himself into the air, transforming every action into a demonstration of mastery as much as a play on his own vulnerability.
It is undoubtedly in this subversion of conventions that the show connects with contemporary circus, re-enacting tradition in an almost parodic manner, with a sense of detachment. “L’HOMME CIRQUE” can be understood as a living homage to the circus heritage, a tribute to a bygone era. It revisits this ancient language with full awareness. And this way of transforming historical conventions into stage material, of viewing the history of the circus as a resource to be reactivated, is a very contemporary gesture.
L’HOMME CIRQUE, photo: Martin Pelikan
There remains, however, a more sensitive issue: that of the figure placed at the center of the stage. In today’s European circus landscape, characterized by collective creations, a diversity of bodies, the integration of hybrid art forms, and issues of representation, “L’HOMME CIRQUE” revives a dated ideal: that of the lone man, master of the entire space, capable of achieving anything. This image may seem innocuous, but it calls into question the narratives that the circus still chooses to convey. In 25 years we can gladly say that the world has evolved. So the decision to open UP! Festival with this show is undoubtedly no accident. It can, of course, be seen as a tribute to the history of the circus, a unifying, accessible gesture capable of bringing together a wide audience around forms immediately recognizable. But it also raises broader questions: how do contemporary circus festivals choose their opening show? How do they balance tradition and innovation? And what weight do they give to an artist’s reputation compared to emerging new voices?
Ultimately, this show refuses to be confined to either nostalgia or modernity. Perhaps its strength lies in this in-between space. It reminds us of the most immediate things the circus can produce: laughter, tension, dreams, imagination, and the thrill of facing “real danger”. And at the same time, it turns its own traditions into a game. As David Dimitri leaves the big top on his tightrope for his final act, he draws a fragile line between two worlds: that of the circus of yesterday and the one yet to become.
