Stockholm University of the Arts

Graduate Degree Program

The Bachelor’s Programme in Circus is for you who wants to work as artists within the field of contemporary circus. As a student you will work with artistic expression within the many different forms of circus art. You will get the opportunity to develop your own discipline and explore your personal artistic language. Working with contemporary circus includes many possibilities. Contemporary circus can be presented in many different forms and arenas. Our previous students work as freelancers, in companies, form their own companies, take part in festivals and events and have expanded the boundaries for where and how you can present circus skills. Circus artists work in different genres and many create collaborations with other art forms. There is freedom to work both nationally and internationally, as a soloist or in an ensemble. A Bachelor's Degree in circus gives you the possibility to study at an advanced level, for instance at a master programme. In the Bachelor’s Programme in Circus you develop tools for your artistic practice both to be able to take part in collective processes and to be able to work on your own and create your own projects. The programme contains courses in circus discipline training, artistic processes and how to create a sustainable career as a circus artist. As a student you will work with performance, interpretation, improvisation and how to face/approach the audience. The different aspects of creative stage work will be deepened as you continuously explore, create, practice and present artistic projects in different formats. Another important part is safety for both physical training and rigging. In the Bachelor’s Programme in Circus there are also courses where you as a student can relate your own practice within circus to a historic, artistic and social contexts.

Post Graduate Studies

The Master’s Programme in Contemporary Circus Practices, 120 credits, is aimed at practising circus artists who want to deepen their circus technique, develop new forms of circus and contribute to the dialogue/discussion in the contemporary art field. As a student you are encouraged to develop practical tools so that you can extend and challenge circus as an art form and the arenas/platforms where it is presented. The programme also gives you the possibility of applying for PhD (third-cycle) studies in artistic research. Contemporaneity in Circus requires analysis, critique, openness to other fields and an understanding of the contemporary conditions that shape human experience. The programme challenges you as a student to develop advanced artistic and conceptual skills of relevance to the existing field of circus. Your projects should help you to expand as an artist and contribute to circus discourse and practice. You will have courses within which you can develop and study your circus discipline and movement practices in depth, explore the relationship between theory and practice, and work with rigging and the development of material and design. You will meet international artists whose processes challenge the world around us, and you will have the opportunity to present your projects throughout the programme.

Intensive Courses

The independent courses form an important part of the activities at SKH circus. The courses are aimed at addressing the needs for further development of circus practitioners in the field. They also create an environment for experimentation in the meeting point between education and research with the aim of being on the cutting edge of the development of circus art. The independent courses are offered continuously over the year and vary in length and contents. Some examples are: circus pedagogics, artistic development within the circus discipline, introduction to research design as well as courses in different circus disciplines that have attracted students from round the world.