Research report: Taking risks. Taking care. Health, an issue in the careers of circus artists

This research, initiated in 2019, is a follow-up to a first study conducted in 2015 on dancers. The tools and methods used in the first study were taken up and adapted to the specific case of circus artists.

The project was supported by a scientific committee composed of experts in the sector (artists, researchers, programmers, health practitioners) and by the Centre national du cirque (Chaire Icima).

Based on the stories of circus performers, the research questions the place of health and care issues, the factors of physical, mental and social injuries and their prevention in the careers of artists from different generations, disciplines and fields. Through data collected via a questionnaire and qualitative interviews, the aim is to make artists' voices heard on their health, to reveal the way they incorporate this issue in their daily lives and in their professional careers.

This research opens up avenues and dialogues so that this issue can be named in order to better think about support systems and question the role of institutions and the organization of work.

The results are twofold: to establish a snapshot of the sector in terms of practices and perceptions of health and care, and to make the word on these subjects sensitive and visible through portraits of artists.

Who is Agathe Dumont?

Agathe Dumont is a dancer, an art teacher at the École supérieure d'art et de design (TALM) in Angers and an independent researcher in the field of circus arts, dance and visual arts.

The research is currently only available in French.