Robin and Jean-Baptiste know each other from art school
The two do not come from circus families, as is often the case. "My mother thought I had too much energy and took me to a circus school," says Leo. "After that, I was so enthusiastic that I enrolled at an artist school to continue my training." The circus school in Brussels was also where the two stage partners met. The "Cyr Wheel" discipline - the name of the act they are performing at Circus Monti this year - is actually only performed by individuals. But they wanted to try something new: "We hit it off straight away and even ended up doing our final piece together!"
In the wheel, they can turn in all directions, jump through, hold on to each other and much more. Of course, this requires a lot of body tension: "When you're new to the bike, it takes a really long time to learn the basic movements," says Leo. "Once you've got them down, you can build on them and it gets easier and easier." It's important to keep your posture and keep your fingers in the right place so that you don't pinch them. "The danger is part of it, that's the adrenaline for us," says Leo.
Two months of rehearsals for the new program
They have already heard a lot about Circus Monti: "Many people have told us that it's a great opportunity, especially for us as new graduates, because you learn a lot here," says Leo. In total, the two have been with Circus Monti for six months, two months of which - an exceptionally long time - have been invested in developing the new "Downtown Monti" program. "It's really cool to be able to plan the whole program down to the last detail. We are all involved," says Leo. This year, overall responsibility for the program lies with the duo Full House, who are also on stage themselves and have made a name for themselves with comedy shows, including "DASZELT". Robin Leo doesn't want to give too much away about the program: "It's a story with a wide variety of people from the artist city of Downtown Monti. We're both playing twins," he says with a grin.
The André Leo duo has had good experiences in Switzerland: a major success this year was winning the silver star at the 8th International Circus Festival Young Stage in Basel. "That was great for us," says Leo.
The two were very excited before the premiere: "But once we were in the ring, everything was fine again." But the ritual afterwards had already been decided before the end: "I had some good Belgian beer with me. We treated ourselves to that for the successful premiere!"
