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🇧🇪 Belgium /Culture & Society

Aalst Kicks Off 17th Edition of Open-Air Festival CIRK! with Acrobatics and Street Theater

From VRT NWS · () Dutch

Translated from Dutch and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

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  • The city of Aalst is hosting its 17th annual CIRK! festival, transforming 16 public squares into stages for circus, street theater, acrobatics, and music.
  • The festival, largely free to attend, features a diverse program ranging from clowning to acrobatics and includes an alternative funfair and a horse circus.
  • Organizers hope to attract around 40,000 visitors, similar to last year, but acknowledge that the predicted rainy weather could be a challenge.

Aalst has once again become a vibrant hub for performing arts with the opening of its 17th annual open-air festival, CIRK!. The city's public squares are transformed into a grand stage, showcasing a wide array of circus acts, street theater, acrobatics, and music performances throughout the weekend.

We often have more than 16 squares where a circus act takes place over the entire weekend. Hopefully, we will have as little trouble with rain as possible.

— Esther SevensDescribing the scale of the festival and expressing hope for good weather.

Esther Sevens, production leader for the city of Aalst, highlighted the festival's commitment to accessibility, noting that a significant portion of the events remain free for the public. The program is designed to be diverse, offering everything from lighthearted clowning to impressive acrobatics and various other circus disciplines. This year's festival features an alternative amusement park on the Vredeplein and the unique D'or et de Sang horse circus in the city park.

It's important to us that it remains 75 percent free again this year.

— Esther SevensHighlighting the festival's commitment to accessibility.

For those seeking specific highlights, Sevens recommends the Stationsplein for spectacular acrobatic shows and the Graanmarkt for more intimate performances. The festival also includes Studio Cirk, the city's own circus school, offering opportunities for both children and adults to try out circus activities, including a tightrope walking initiation for adults.

For the acrobatic shows, I can imagine you need to be at the Stationsplein; for the slightly more intimate shows, I would choose the Graanmarkt.

— Esther SevensRecommending specific locations for different types of performances.

While the festival aims to replicate last year's success of attracting approximately 40,000 visitors, Sevens expressed a note of caution regarding the weather forecast, which predicts a rainy weekend. Despite potential challenges, the organizing team looks forward to seeing months of planning come to fruition, emphasizing the importance of happy volunteers and artists for a successful festival conclusion.

The nicest thing on Sunday evening is to see that everything you have worked on for the past months has become a reality.

— Esther SevensReflecting on the satisfaction of seeing the festival come to life.
About this summary

Originally published by VRT NWS in Dutch. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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