From September 9^th to 18^th, the international contemporary circus festival HELIUM will take place in the Arts Printing House in Vilnius! At this year’s festival, the audience will have an opportunity to see an exceptionally wide contemporary circus program from the Baltic and foreign countries, including Lithuanian, Estonian, Latvian, French, Dutch, Belgian, Slovak and Danish performances.

HELIUM Program Highlights: Circus About the Fear of Death, Diapers, Broken Glass and 200 Kilos of Kettlebells

“Usually, when we think of circus, we think of wonder, complex tricks and impressive scenography, but contemporary circus can also be different! This will be revealed in part of this year‘s festival program. The audience will be able to become a part of some of the performances themselves, explore serious topics in the language of movement, see the everyday life of a Lithuanian grocery store on stage, witness a circus project staged by diapers or admire juggling while travelling across various spaces of the Arts Printing House”, says Gabrielė Kundrotaitė, the creator of the HELIUM program.

During the first days of the HELIUM festival, after a break of several years, the viewers will be able to see an extensive program of Baltic contemporary circus: the performance Kehakone by Estonian Grete Gross will remind of a warm embrace, the Lithuanian team Teatronas and its performance Itch will talk about the fear of death, the company būda.collective and its work Groceries will explore the everyday life of a grocery store, Marija Baranauskaitė – Liberman and her Diapers Project, the performance inTENSE by company Taigi Cirkas, which was inspired by the force visualisation and the performance How a Spiral Works by the Lithuanian and Latvian creative team Art for Rainy Days, where dance and acrobatics will meet on a rope.

“This year’s HELIUM program includes conceptual circus works that offer an alternative approach to the norms established in the society, as well as performances that will make you doubt whether what is seen on stage is actually real. This year’s program will feature works of foreign creators, performed at the biggest contemporary circus festivals and the latest creations of artists from the Baltic states – some of which will also be presented in France in October”, shares G. Kundrotaitė.

On September 9-18, adrenaline lovers in the spaces of the Arts Printing House will be able to witness the work Pacemaker by the French creators Dissociee, in which a circus performance will take place on broken glass, the Dutch Tall Tales Company which will combine juggling, visual arts and the environment in their moving performance Square Two, and the Belgian company Cie Circumstances which will capture attention with their impressive performance of physical circus and dance – Exit. The Slovak artist Roman Škadra will surprise the audience with his work Girevik, featuring a man and 200 kilos of kettlebells and the Danish company Don Gnu will test your endurance with their latest work – Stamina.

Changes to HELIUM: After this year, the Festival Will be Organised Every Second Year

Contemporary circus festival HELIUM welcomes this year with changes – after this year the festival will be organised every second year!

“In the strategic program of the Arts Printing House prepared at the beginning of the year, we have planned many changes for the upcoming years. One of them is to organise the international contemporary circus festival HELIUM every second year, so from this year, the festival will become a biennial! This choice was determined by numerous reasons, among which it is important to mention the format of the festival and the challenges we face when planning the festival program. We only have one hall technically suitable for most circus performances and 7 to 8 days to present the festival events; thus, our desires have been unable to meet physical capabilities for several years now. Besides, when planning the future activities of the organisation, we noticed that the inclusion of performances by foreign companies in the repertoires of performing arts organisations is still a rare phenomenon. Usually, such performances are linked to the programs of international festivals organised in Lithuania. These and several other reasons prompted us to rethink the presentation of contemporary circus as a genre to the audience of the Arts Printing House and to choose a slightly different form. Therefore, from next year we will invite fans of contemporary circus to follow our repertoire and to attend the contemporary circus performances by foreign creators throughout the year, and return to the HELIUM festival in 2026“, Jolita Balandytė, the head of the Arts Printing House, shares about the upcoming changes.

In the upcoming years, the contemporary circus will remain one of the priority areas of activity of the Arts Printing House. Therefore, more circus performances and educational activities are yet to come! “We will continue to support the professional circus community and contribute to raising the profile of this genre through various educational activities. Already in October this year, in collaboration with the association Teatronas, we will establish the contemporary circus school Cirko Sapiens in the Arts Printing House and invite children and young people to informal education activities throughout the year. We really hope that in the long term, it will become not only a tool for the young audience to get to know contemporary circus and participate in extracurricular activities, but also to relate their future career to contemporary circus”, says J. Balandytė.

The contemporary circus festival HELIUM will take place on September 8-19, in the spaces of the Arts Printing House. The full program is here.

The HELIUM festival program is financed by: the Lithuanian Council for Culture, Vilnius City Municipality, the support of the Government of Flanders, and the Netherland Performing Arts Fund.