Now that we have the deadline for the last subsidy round behind us, it's time to return to the essence. Where do the ideas for a circus performance come from, and how many of them fall by the wayside on the way to the stage?

This edition of the MAD Festival will feature several premieres and invites circus professionals to engage in a series of shorter conversations with some of these fascinating creators. These will be skillfully moderated by artist, juggler, director, coach, and furniture maker Bram Dobbelaere.

We aim to get inspired by:

• Ine Van Baelen and Stijn Grupping of Post uit Hessdalen on Ballroom
• Jesse Huygh of ADM on 1st KM
• Kasper Vandenberghe of MOVEDBYMATTER on Mystica
• Camille Paycha on 60 degrees of separation
• Dani Fernandez of Company Alud on Maelstrom
• Thaïs Julià and Mati Muñoz of Som Noise on hybr-ID
• Luise Hoffman on 'What I think, they think' (part of MAD Generation)

Provisional program:

• 10:00 AM - Arrival and coffee
• 10:30 AM - Start of discussions
• 12:30 PM - Free lunch
• 1:30 PM - Visit to Ell Circo D'ell Fuego and MAD Convention at SPRK
• Around 3:00 PM - Visit to MAD Festival

Our Circus Talks are aimed at professionals of all levels of experience from the broader cultural sector. You can register here.