Young Stage 2025 Basel Celebrates Its ‘Grande Finale
When the organizers of the festival YOUNG STAGE in Basel announced that its 2025 edition would be the last one, it is not too much to say that the circus community was in shock. In its history of nearly two decades the festival founded and let by Nadja Berger had become a cornerstone in the European circus festival landscape. This history has cone to an end now with a “Grande Finale”, once more featuring a selection of young top-level performers from a variety of circus styles and genres.
When Nadja Berger founded the festival in 2007, few could have imagined how quickly the event would rise to international prominence. What began as a bold idea — to create a stage where young circus artists could present themselves to audiences and industry professionals alike — grew into one of Europe’s most respected circus festivals.
Nadja Berger and the History of YOUNG STAGE Festival
Let’s look back to the beginnings. Deeply involved in the rich youth circus community of Basel since her teenager years, Nadja Berger was aware of the challenges talented young artist face when transforming from into a professional circus career. This awareness planted the seed for what would become YOUNG STAGE. At times when the festival was not a big name and the label “circus” was an obstacle rather than an attraction for potential supporters, it was the core idea of giving young talents a chance to grow that made the festival grow.
However, not only performers face challenges, but also festival founders also do. In the professional talk hosted by Urs Jäckle, this year dedicated to Nadja Berger and her team, she vividly remembers how hard the first year was. Unexperienced as they were as young youth circus enthusiasts, they chose the wrong marketing approach and ended up with empty seats and a poor financial outcome. But one thing kept them going: The audience who saw the shows was enthusiastic about it and among them there was someone who promised to bring the next edition into Swiss TV. That was a life learning for Nadja Berger: even if things go bad, the invested effort could be worth it, and new doors would open. And so they did: from the second festival edition on, YOUNG STAGE was on a consistent growth path.
Early team members describe the vibes of the first editions as chaos that magically evolved into something beautiful. It is hard to imagine when you see today’s level of professionalism and the enormous scale that the festival has taken over the years. However, this development is also the key to understand Nadja Berger’s decision to bring it to an end in this year. Urs Jäckle asked the obvious question already in the very beginning of his interview with Nadja Berger: Why stop such a successful and established event? The truth is, as Nadja Berger explains, that what looks smoothly running to the outside, requires a tremendous energy and commitment to keep it running like that. Together with size, also financial risk was growing. Ticket sales fluctuate and sponsors do not come and stay naturally; it needs constant personal effort by her as the face of the festival. That, as she explains not without becoming emotionally touched, made her reflect that the development of the festival brought her increasingly far away from the reason why she had originally started it: the enthusiasm for the art itself.
Diverse Circus Styles Highlighted at Grande Finale
Therefore, let’s put the focus of this article now on what Nadja Berger would want to be in the spotlight – on the talent of the young artists who participated in the “Grande Finale” of YOUNG STAGE. They represent, more than maybe in any other circus festival, a mix of very different circus aesthetics. Where else in the world, for instance, would you see the technically amazing, classical Chinese slack wire act of Jie Liao and the cinematic style of Clara Alex’ aerial silks performance “Underdog”, telling the story of a young pilot finding courage to fly an old airplane, both in one show?
Golden Star Winner Nicolás Teusa
Innovation is a key criterion at YOUNG STAGE. This explains the jury decision to award this year’s Golden Star to the Columbian Nicolás Teusa. In his pendular hoop performance, he combines traditional hoop diving technique with the magic of a seemingly free-floating hoop. Despite of the impressive visual effect, the act is missing a clear climax for me. In the networking session, Nicolás explained how he is currently expanding the genre by training other Columbian artists. It will be interesting to see how the space of possibilities offered by this new technique will be filled in future – hopefully by continued original creation rather than solely copy-paste production.
The handstand act of Vladyslava Naraieva from Ukraine on the other hand is an example for the opposite. A conventional discipline is turned into a symphony of skill and beauty – following a simplistic yet captivating structure that consists of a one-arm climb-up on a rising line of handstand canes followed by dynamic one-arm turns. She was awarded the Silver Star.
Having mentioned the various aesthetics featured by the festival, it is especially interesting to compare acts of the same genre. Continuing the teeterboard trend manifested already at other recent festivals, there are two groups who interpret this old discipline in fresh ways. The French German Trio “Les Triphasés” chooses a comical, character-focused approach in their act “Palpitation”. They play their own role as circus artists, depicting the cycle of training, exhaustion and mutual support while blending in elements of partner acrobatics.
The performance of the Swedish Norwegian German “Blauwal Company” – all mates from the Stockholm University of the Arts – is based on high pace and continuous jumps. It is characterized by surprising variations of hight as well as interesting qualities of movement up in the air. For both distinct style and strong technique, they receive the Bronze Star.
Another trend discipline of the recent years is Diabolo. Inspired by the 2023 Gold Star winner Hng Thean Leong, the young Swiss Jano Schorno started to dream big. Now he stands on the festival stage with his Diabolo act “In Dreams” and a trick sequence of highest skill level. If the festival youngster further improves on stage presence and act dramaturgy, it has the potential for a top act. For the alumni jury it was already worth the Grande-Finale award.
The second Diabolo act is a duo from France. Matéo and Aélia interpret the genre with a focus on dance and physical storytelling, both being more prominent in their act that the actual Diabolo technique. Telling a story about forbidden love, Aélia is supporting Matéo’s Diabolo play with an expressive background dance, switching between contrast and synchrony.
While the Grande Finale award is special for the last edition, the award of the YOUNG STAGE friends is already a tradition. This year, it goes to the Ukrainian hand-to-hand duo Mariana & Daria. Their act, which they had presented already at European Youth Circus Wiesbaden before, involves a mirror frame to depict the inner conflict between a younger and older self. Their background in gymnastics is unmistakable. While being an impressive showcase of highest-level acrobatic skill, the storytelling stays somewhat disconnected from the acrobatic parts and seems like relegated to a supporting role during the rest phases between tricks.
The list of competing acts is completed by Frank Álvarez from Mexico. His straps act “Solitude” meanders between loneliness and it’s overcoming by physical strength, manifested especially in sequence of both impressive and unconventional upswings.
The “Grande Finale” wouldn’t be a finale without a look back into the festival history. That is done by inviting former award winners as guest acts. Natalie Oleinik and Joachim Ciocca won the Golden Star in 2019 with their aerial rope duo “No Longer Strangers”. Since then they have continously developed this delicate piece of aerial art that capitivates through slow movement.
Fast movement on the opposite, is the key to the JoJo-performance “Toy Toy Toy” by Naoto Okada & Shu Tokada, Silver Star winners of 2022. With an impressive sense for timing and synchrony, they brougt JoJo-playing to another level and made European audiences aware of this art.
Finally, the Golden Star winner of 2021, Mikail Karahan, lets the Basel audience once more enjoy his gorgeous Cyr Wheel act “IT SOCKS” – named after his trademark red socks. Character, a sense for slapstick comedy and an incredible level of control over his wheel altogether make this act unique.
“It’s best to stop when you’re ahead” – if that saying is true, then Nadja Berger chose an appropriate timing to bring YOUNG STAGE it its “Grande Finale”. The audience, the artists, the many producers, agents and other industry professionals that attended the festival – they all witnessed a great celebration of circus arts in all its diversity and creative potential. While the festival YOUNG STAGE will always have its place in circus history, the brand YOUNG STAGE and the association behind will persist with the unchanged goal to promote and support young talent in the circus arts. We are curious what will come next.
Images: Courtesy of YOUNG STAGE
Editor's Note: At StageLync, an international platform for the performing arts, we celebrate the diversity of our writers' backgrounds. We recognize and support their choice to use either American or British English in their articles, respecting their individual preferences and origins. This policy allows us to embrace a wide range of linguistic expressions, enriching our content and reflecting the global nature of our community.
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