Deconstructing the Cyr Wheel

Fenja Barteldres at the showing of her new creation "Tyr Auf!" in Berlin (c) Daniel Burow

Innovation often involves taking something apart and putting it back together in a different form. The young German artist Fenja Barteldres has taken this quite literally. With her Cyr wheel, which she disassembles on stage and "plays" with in a variety of ways, she has become one of the current rising stars of the contemporary circus scene. Her journey is a prime example of how to navigate the practical constraints and demands of circus education and career while consistently pursuing one's own artistic vision.

It all started with a playful assignment given to her by her teacher, Birgit Haberkamp, ​​at the Codarts Circus School in Rotterdam. She was to portray one of her classmates through an act, or rather, use them as inspiration for creating the act. Fenja chose the juggler Batist van Baekel, whose playfulness on and off stage she admired. He juggles five clubs – her Cyr wheel consists of five parts. She wanted to take up this parallel and use the individual parts of her prop for object manipulations similar to juggling.

The work "Portrait of a Juggler" in 2020 gave rise to the idea of ​​deconstructing the Cyr Wheel. (c) Manon Verplancke

To further develop the material for her final act, more technical elements were needed, as she wanted to demonstrate her skills with the Cyr wheel. So Fenja began experimenting with how the wheel could be disassembled and reassembled during her performance. The result was an eight-minute Cyr wheel act, with which she completed her bachelor's degree in Rotterdam in 2022.

But the journey wasn't over yet. The idea of ​​deconstructing the Cyr wheel sparked Fenja's imagination even further – leading to the creation of her 40-minute solo show, Cyrrealism. While many solo shows focusing on a single discipline quickly exhaust their potential, the possibilities with Cyrrealism seem endless. The Cyr wheel transforms into an open, serpentine structure, dissolving into sub-components that Fenja sets in motion with swaying movements. "It looks like dancing with the moon," she says, describing the movement. What appears so playful requires the utmost control over her prop. Cyrrealism is a prime example of how playful inventiveness doesn't replace technical virtuosity, but rather makes it possible through it.

Fenja received support from the Dutch artist Kim-Jomi Alstadsæter as Outside Eye, whose own work explores the boundaries between acrobatics and dance. Later in the process, musician Flavia Escartin joined the project. The jazz cello student at the Amsterdam Conservatoire composed the music for Cyrrealism. Her voice, cello, and percussion blend together with help of a loop station to create experimental sounds - constantly improvised from the energy of the moment, in a symbiosis of sound and circus arts, performed live on stage or as a pre-recorded piece.

Cyr Wheel in a different way - a scene from Cyrrealism (c) Manon Verplancke

Cyrrealism exists in a solo version and in a version with Flavia on stage, and in addition to the 40-minute stage show, also as a 7- or 10-minute act, as well as a 20-30 minute outdoor show. This demonstrates that from the beginning on this work was intended to find an audience, not as a creation for the sake of creation, as it is unfortunately all too common in contemporary circus. The openness of the format allows Fenja to perform in diverse contexts, such as in the upcoming production at the Krystallpalast Varieté in Leipzig. Her breakthrough in terms of recognition beyond the contemporary circus "bubble" certainly came with her silver-awarded performance at the Young Stage Festival in Basel in 2024. For the application, she simply edited together excerpts from the 40-minute show and then created a short act from the highlights.

In 2024 Fenja won silver at Young Stage Festival (c) Pablo Wünsch Blanco

Fenja encountered some challenges when she wanted to further develop her show. Cyrrealism premiered in 2024, especially shortly after Flavia joined the project. They both recognized the significant potential in their collaboration. Fenja wanted to apply for further residencies to continue working on Cyrrealism together – but without success. Most residency programs in Europe focus on new creations and exclude revivals of previously toured productions.

One of the potential funders Fenja contacted during this time was Andree Wenzel from the German creation program ZirkusOn. He advised her that to delve deeper, she needed to create something new, to start a new project. This marked the beginning of "Tyr Auf!", the working title of the follow-up production. Thematically, it picks up on questions Fenja had already explored with Cyrrealism. How can we overcome the limitations we have in our minds, limitations perhaps imposed from the outside? How can we shift our perspective, find ways to discover lightness or humor even in difficult situations? "I find this philosophy beautiful in life as well," explains Fenja when I meet her at one of the first work-in-progress showings of "Tyr Auf!"

It's a cold November afternoon at the Katapult creation center in Berlin. Fenja has invited friends and acquaintances from the Berlin circus community to give their feedback. After the performance, everyone gathers in a circle, hot homemade apple juice is served, and a pleasant creative energy fills the room. For me, what was shown is practically emblematic of what we call innovation. Things are taken apart and reassembled, set in motion to see what happens - action and reaction, trial and error.

Fenja Barteldres and Flavia Escartin during the feedback session for "Tyr Auf!"

Fenja is taking her time creating her new show, as she's simultaneously touring with Cyrrealism. From December 2025 to June 2026, she'll be fully booked with it. After that, she'll participate in a residency in Italy as part of the European creative program CircusNext. Residencies in Belgium and the Netherlands will follow, until the show is expected to premiere in 2027. It's a life on the move – quite literally. Fenja prefers to travel to all these locations in her camper van.

It will likely be making many stops in the coming years. Few emerging circus artists are currently receiving as much attention across the circus and variety genres, from "classic" to "contemporary." Fenja apparently approaches established thought patterns in the community in the same way she approaches her Cyr wheel: taking them apart, reassembling them in a completely different way, accepting no limitations, and constantly discovering new possibilities.