Jurys

Gildas Aleksa is the artistic director of Teatronas, one of the main organisations in Lithuania strategically developing the field of contemporary circus in the country and across the Baltic region. He is also the programme curator of the international contemporary circus festival Cirkuliacija. 
Educated as a theatre director, he directs theatre and circus shows in both independent and state theatres. Alongside his directing work, he consults and mentors several artists in dramaturgy, directing, and self-production.

Cláudia Berkeley graduated in Theatre from Balleteatro Contemporâneo do Porto and holds a postgraduate degree in Cultural Policies for Urban Transformation from FLACSO, Argentina. 
Since 2014, she has been on the board of Teatro da Didascália, mentoring artistic creation processes with a focus on contemporary circus. She is one of the artistic directors of the Vaudeville Rendez Vous International Festival and the fAUNA – Creation Habitat residency programme, supporting the development, international circulation, and sustainability of emerging and established artists and projects. 
As a performer and creator, she has participated in over a dozen productions in Portugal and abroad. She also directs PLATEIA, the Association of Performing Arts Professionals, where she engages in reflection and advocacy around on cultural policies, funding models, working conditions, and the sustainability of artistic structures, fostering dialogue between professionals, institutions, and policymakers.

Louise Bjurholm von Euler is a Swedish circus artist and performer. Since 2001, she has worked in close collaboration with her acrobatic partner Henrik Agger. Together, they have developed a shared artistic language rooted in long-term partnership. Their work has been presented internationally at festivals and theatres across Europe, Asia, and South America. 
Louise’s artistic practice combines movement with documentary elements, text, and everyday situations, transforming them into intimate and personal performances that resonate with universal human experiences. She holds a Master’s degree in New Performative Practices from Stockholm University of the Arts (SKH) and a diploma in Circus Arts from the Moscow State School of Circus (2001–2006), where she studied under the legendary acrobatic coach Boris Nikiforovich Belochvostov.

Julia Christ is a circus artist who graduated in 2001 from the École Supérieure des Arts du Cirque in Brussels. In over twenty years of creative work, she has developed a singular physical language. She began her career with Feria Musica (Calcinculo) and went on to collaborate closely with Gilles Baron (Droit comme la pluie, Oozing Tears, Animal Attraction) and Jean-Baptiste André, co-signing the choreographies of Qu’après en être revenu, Pleurage and Scintillement. She created the solo Bambula in 2009, followed by Soulcorner (2016, circusnext laureate) and Chimera (2018), both in collaboration with Michel Cerda.
Alongside her work as a performer, she has collaborated as an artistic consultant with several contemporary circus companies (Circo Aereo, Kirn Compagnie, Compagnie Les Happées, Association W, La Dérive), focusing on the body, dramaturgy, and precision of gesture. She was an artist-in-residence at Nexon – Le Sirque and joined the circusnext jury in 2022.

Marion Collé is a poet and tightrope artist. Trained at the Académie Fratellini and the Centre National des Arts du Cirque, she co-directs the Collectif Porte27, through which she develops a practice where poetry, wire, body, and language intertwine. She creates performances and presents her poetry readings on stage. Before taking up tightwire, she pursued literary studies in classes préparatoires, completed a master's thesis on Guillevic, and a DEA on the figure of the itinerant performer in literature. Her poetry collections are published by Éditions Bruno Doucey.
Above all, she is drawn to making languages resonate with one another — weaving threads between philosophy, writing, and the performing arts. Her work engages with questions of lyricism and commitment, forging unexpected paths that bring the intimate into dialogue with the world around us, and transforming it.

Jean-Michel Guy is a writer, dramaturge, director, and artistic advisor. A research sociologist at the French Ministry of Culture from 1980 to 2020, he conducted extensive studies on performing arts audiences and cultural representations. He has also written widely on circus and teaches dramaturgy at the Centre National des Arts du Cirque.
He is co-founder of the theatre-circus company La Scabreuse (2004–2012) and co-author of the Circonférences cycle (2012–2018): a series of lecture-performances exploring circus disciplines, written, directed, and performed in collaboration with various artists. More recently, he has worked with Fabbrica C (Italy), Doisacordes (Spain), and Devir (Brazil). Since 2002, he has been a member of circusnext’s artistic jury. He also sits on the board of the Maison des Jonglages and on the editorial committee of the online journal Jonglages.

Antonia Kuzmanić is the artistic leader of the ROOM 100 collective, as well as the director and producer of the Peculiar Families Festival (Split, Croatia). As a young artist, she was awarded as circusnext laureate back in 2010. In 2015, she switched her focus from performing to designing and implementing projects to develop contemporary circus in her country. 
ROOM 100 is part of the circusnext Platform, the Circostrada Network, projects funded by Creative Europe and numerous collaborative projects with sisterhood organisations from Croatia and Serbia. 
Now based in Barcelona, Spain, Antonia has been focused on getting back to her own artistic practice, experimenting with one-to-one art formats, public space performances, and site-specific installations.

Roberto Magro is a circus director, dramaturg and teacher. After a long career as a circus artist, he runs training courses across Europe and Latin America, directs shows and supports creative processes as a dramaturg or external eye. 
He has been artistic director of the Flic School in Turin (2006–2012), of La Central dal Circ in Barcelona (2013–2015), and in 2022 he launched ICCAR (International Circus Centre for Artistic Research) in Mallorca alongside Circ Bover, a continuing education project for emerging circus artists. He has been a trainer for the CNAC (France) Dramaturgy Certificate and is a member of circusnext's artistic jury since 2014. He organises the Brocante circus festival in Italy every summer since 2006.

Teresa Noronha Feio is a portugese dancer, choreographer, and researcher active in contemporary dance, circus, and performing arts. She graduated in Dance Theatre Studies from Fontys University of Applied Sciences (The Netherlands) and has been based in Italy since 2013. 
Her work focuses on transdisciplinary practices at the intersection of choreography and contemporary circus, with a strong emphasis on collaborative methodologies. She has worked as performer, co-author, and assistant with artists including Vânia Gala, Francesco Sgrò, Paul Blackman and Matteo Maffesanti. She is co-founder of Cordata F.O.R. ETS and Fabbrica C, where she develops artistic and educational projects supported by Creative Europe and the Italian Ministry of Culture.

Molly Saudek is a circus artist and one of the leading tightwire dancers of her generation. Born in Vermont, she began performing in 1989 with Circus Smirkus, training under Rob Mermin and Guennady Totokov in acrobatics, rigging, mime, and trapeze.
In 1994, she entered the École Nationale de Cirque de Montréal, specializing in dance and tightwire. She has performed for over thirty years with major companies across the international circus scene, including Tsirk Nikulin, Cirque du Soleil, Cirque Éloize, Cirque Plume, Big Apple Circus, Circus Monti, Cirkör, Rasposo, and Cirque Romanès. In 2006, she joined Les Colporteurs in France for Fil sous la Neige, and continues to perform today in Méandres and Cœurs Sauvages. 
Molly holds an MA in New Performative Practices from Stockholm University of the Arts and works as a choreographer, director, and teacher. Since 2017, she has also served on the artistic jury of circusnext.

Simon Thierrée is a French musician and violinist. Trained at the Conservatoire de Rennes and later in conducting at the Brussels Royal Conservatory, he spent several years living and working with itinerant circus companies before devoting himself to composition for the stage. He has created music for circus — Les Oiseaux Fous, Circo Bidone, Roberto Magro, Petr Forman — and in 2022 composed his first CircOpera, CircoInCanto. 
A composer for dance and film, his works have been performed by several European symphony orchestras. Co-founder of the composers' collective NONE, he received the Wallonie-Bruxelles prize at the Proquartetto International Composition Competition in 2023.