Already in its first year, the Beta Circus project aims to help European circus artists gain professional skills in cutting-edge performance disciplines such as magie nouvelle (new magic). In this roundtable, French magic and anthropology researcher Valentine Losseau and Portuguese magician Luís de Matos discuss the future of magic on the stage.

The Beta Circus project – initiated and organized by four European partner organizations, Bússola in Portugal, Teatro Necessario in Italy, Ludifico in Serbia, and Rigas Cirks in Latvia – offers some of Europe’s up-and-coming circus artists high-level professional training, with an inaugural curriculum focused on magie nouvelle. The project unfolded almost like a foundational course in magie nouvelle, giving the artists multiple perspectives and chances to find contact points between the techniques and their own ways of working. Part of this project was a full-day professional gathering that focused on the project results, including discussions about the future of magic and highlighted perspectives for the ongoing development and innovation of contemporary circus. The BETA CIRCUS final conference in Ílhavo, Portugal, provided an opportunity to exchange, learn, and network for participants. On behalf of Beta Circus, we are happy to launch this 3-part series and sha...