Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain in Paris is one of the world’s most famous circus festivals, about to celebrate 40 years of exposing audiences to the future of circus, to contemporary artists breaking ground on unusual work.

Happening almost back-to-back with the Monte Carlo International Circus Festival, I always thought of the two as somewhat complementary: one, a celebration of traditional circus and its role in European entertainment history, an event dedicated to respecting and preserving the past; the other, a competition looking ahead to the future, to “tomorrow”, collecting the most innovative artists from around the world and giving them a stage to show us the direction in which circus is heading. I had dreamed of going to Cirque de Demain for years, and in 2018 the stars had finally aligned. So off to Paris I went with tickets to both programs, so that I may witness every single competing act in this year’s edition. Certain aspects of the festival lived up to the hype: the stage was large and well-equipped, the lighting enhanced the performances, the technical team ran a tight ship, and above all I was impressed with the technical level of the acts, each displaying d...