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From 1 to 5 October 2026, Chantal Djédjé, President of La Fabrique Culturelle, was in Lagos with the company Ivoire Cirque Décalé. They were invited to the very first edition of the Lagos Contemporary Circus Festival, “Circus in Motion”, organised by the National Theatre of Nigeria, led by Tola Akerele, in collaboration with the European Union.
Nigeria’s first contemporary circus festival
On 3 and 4 October, the grounds of the National Theatre in Iganmu became an open-air ring. Free entry, a family audience, full stands: for two days, Lagos discovered a circus without animals, made of acrobatics, storytelling and music.
The festival was preceded by a two-week training residency bringing together young Nigerian performers and companies from across the continent and Europe:
- Ivoire Cirque Décalé (Côte d’Ivoire)
- SenCirk (Senegal)
- Fekat Circus (Ethiopia)
- Jessica Arpin (Switzerland)
“Les Assoiffés de l’or” closes the festival
Ivoire Cirque Décalé presented its show “Les Assoiffés de l’or” (Thirsty for Gold), which was a great success with the Lagos audience. So much so that the Director of the National Theatre, Tola Akerele, asked the Ivorian company to close the festival on the second evening.
A talk on contemporary circus in Africa
On 2 October, Chantal Djédjé gave a talk entitled “Contemporary Circus in Africa: Heritage, Change and Perspectives”. She gave an overview of companies across the continent, named the sector’s two main challenges (training, and getting shows to tour) and shared what eight editions of the RICA festival in Abidjan have taught us.
What we bring back from Lagos
- The audience is there. Families, children, the curious: as soon as the offer exists, African audiences come. We have seen it in Abidjan since 2018, and Lagos has just confirmed it.
- African companies need to meet. Ivoire Cirque Décalé, SenCirk and Fekat Circus sharing the same stage: such exchanges between artists of the continent are still too rare.
- A new festival is born in West Africa. For several years, La Fabrique has supported the birth of circus festivals in the region. After Guinea, Senegal and Burkina Faso, Nigeria joins the movement.
Encounters that will continue in Abidjan
This trip was also an opportunity to prepare the future of RICA:
- Jessica Arpin, a Swiss circus artist, will be hosted in Abidjan for the next edition of RICA, in March 2027.
- A shared creation with Fekat Circus is planned for RICA 2028. The Ethiopian company made its very first international appearance at the first edition of RICA: it will be invited for the festival’s tenth anniversary.
“The next chapter must also be written between African cities — not only between Africa and Europe.” That sentence closed the Lagos talk. It is also a plan: see you in Abidjan from 15 to 20 March 2027 for the 9th edition of RICA.
Acknowledgements
Our thanks to Tola Akerele and the whole team of the National Theatre of Nigeria for their invitation and welcome; to the Delegation of the European Union to Nigeria, which supported the festival; to the Ambassador of Switzerland to Nigeria, who supported Jessica Arpin’s participation through Pro Helvetia; and to the Ambassador of Côte d’Ivoire to Nigeria, who sent his representative to Lagos to welcome the Ivorian artists.