Since 2020, Germany’s CircusDanceFestivalhas worked to help young talents promote themselves and share their work with a public audience… and to bolster the status of Germany’s circus sector. Theater Art Life’s Liam Klenk provides an overview of years one through three of the festival.

The CircusDanceFestival project was initiated by the company label Overhead Project to further the promotion of young German talent in circus and dance. A combination of a standard festival, a sector-specific residency, and a co-production program, the project initially followed a three-year model, which ran from 2020 to 2022, with nationwide broadcasting in Germany. It has since been extended into 2023 and beyond. In its initial run, the heart of the project – the five-day festival – first took place during Pentecost in 2020, again in 2021, and one last time in 2022. The main location is in three large tents in the outdoor area of the TPZAK Circus and Artistic Center of Cologne. However, the performances were presented in various formats: tent performances, university cooperation, site-specific and city interventions, lectures, workshops, and research presentations. TheCircusDanceFestival’s goa...