Berlin in the 90’s was a melting pot for early German new circus, which was, through the lack of funding, necessarily a commercial form that relied largely on acting techniques to transport a theme while using circus content as a supporting feature. The atmosphere in the city was provoked by a mix of those looking to develop this form, like the then incarnation of the Chamäleon Variety, and those who wished to maintain the status quo of classical variety and gala aesthetics. At the same time there was a waning, yet still existing thread of alternative circus culture, left over from anarchist performance collectives such as Mutoid Waste Company and DNTT (Do Not Tell Them), in performances at Wagenburgen (Wagon villages) like the legendary Schwarzer Kanal, and in old factory buildings such as the then dilapidated Arena in Treptow. I came to Berlin looking to further develop my vision of applying post-modern art making principles to circus and found myself quickly more involved with the dance world, where I found like-minded thinkers and makers.

Spaces for circus artists to train and encounter each other were few and far between. The Artistenverein Einigkeit was in a sports hall in Kopfstraße in Neukölln, where you had to show your membership card before beginning every training session. It was a place to encounter a range of approaches from the very classical to the contemporary commercial. The classical circus artists would train with a radio running loudly in the background and in a certain troupe, mistakes made by a member were not tolerated and even punished loudly. This obviously influenced the working environment. I worked in the corner on my sensitive juggling and body-object dialogue and was asked on several occasions whether I also juggled “normally”. Other spaces to train included the Ufa Fabrik which had a juggling training room used by artists working in variety and gala, where I was told that I could be a good juggler if I just did everything faster. Aerialists were training at the Weiße Rose youth centre in Schöneberg and The Ballhaus Rixdorf in Neukölln. The Chamäleon Theatre was generous in allowing those not currently involved in shows there, to use the theatre space to train and another great supporter was Cabuwazi am Spreewaldplatz, run by Christine Kölbel and Joachim Schaffler who went on to found and run Circus Schatzinsel. Christine and Achim were consistently kind and generous in sharing their resources with young circus artists looking for training spaces and the chance to show their own work. In 1996 I was given a key to use a youth centre called the Stadthaus Böcklerpark, where I could train and create peacefully on a nearly daily basis. Here I continued my work at the intersection of juggling and contemporary dance practices.

In circa 2004, Alan Blim opened Die Jonglierkatakomben in a 7-meter-high old brewery cellar at the border of Kreuzberg and Schöneberg. This was a dedicated circus training space which gave the Berlin circus world the central meeting point that it needed for artists from all disciplines to train and exchange with each other. Workshops with international teachers were organized and there was a sense of things moving forward in a new way. Many circus artists, mostly jugglers, came to Berlin specifically to train at Die Jonglierkatakomben. During a long break due to fire damage, Katapult was established in Schöneweide by ex-Die Jonglierkatakomben regulars Declan Mee and Oli Pinchbeck and focused on running workshops with international teachers while providing open training possibilities. Both Katapult and the now re-named Katakomben still thrive at the time of writing and continue to be important hubs for the Berlin circus scene. Around 2014 a new dedicated circus training space called Artistraum, was opened by a small collective in Weißensee. A significant step forwards was taken in 2023 with the establishment of a municipally supported, collectively run, multi-disciplinary training space called Studio 0/1 Interdisciplinary Art Space, in Tempelhof.

In retrospect I can see that, over the years, there has a been a steady growth of interest in Berlin circus artists in further educating themselves in workshops and classes. This has certainly helped Berlin and German circus grow in depth since the 90’s, when the creation process was very much product driven and less research oriented than it sometimes is today.