Le Plongeoir – Cité du Cirque

Le Plongeoir – Cité du Cirque is the Cirque du Mans national circus center, one of fifteen in France and the only one in the Pays de la Loire region. It is located at boulevard Winston-Churchill, in the Sablons neighborhood (tram T1 and T2, Saint-Martin stop), and brings together two venues: the Chapiteau permanent, a wood-and-canvas big top with 400 seats around a 13-meter ring, and the Cité du Cirque, the former Sablons swimming pool converted into a training hall, classroom space, and residency space.

Contrary to what many people assume, the venue is not reserved for insiders. The Café du Chapiteau is open to everyone, Monday through Saturday: come sit with a book, a comic, or a game from the game library. Kids come on Wednesdays, and the lobby regularly hosts small activities. About once a month, a duo evening introduces the work of a company in residence, followed by a dance workshop or a game night: it is free and no registration is needed. During school holidays, free activities are offered for teens (Mondays), kids ages 5 to 10 (Tuesdays), and toddlers ages 1 to 4 (Wednesdays).

As for shows, the season is organized in “acts”: a dinner show in November, a December highlight focused on unusual aerial and acrobatic apparatus, shows for toddlers in the spring, and then the Le Mans fait son Cirque festival in May, on the Promenade Newton, where five or six big tops, a bar, and food trucks set up in a village open to everyone, with no barriers. Some thirty companies come each year to create their shows during residencies.

To practice, the Cité du Cirque has more than 500 students a year, from age 3 to over 65, across the four main families of circus arts (acrobatics, aerial arts, juggling, and object balancing). Introductory workshops run during every school break (family workshops from age 3, ages 5–7, ages 8–13, and teens), as well as weekend workshops led by artists. Le Plongeoir also runs a circus program at a middle school and a circus high-school track with the Le Mans Sud lycée, from 10th grade through the baccalauréat, the only one in the region.

The Chapiteau is shared with the City of Le Mans, which also schedules its own events there.

A bit of history

Before it was a circus venue, the site was a neighborhood swimming pool. The Sablons pool operated from 1965 to 2002 and welcomed more than seven million visitors over its nearly forty years of operation. In 2001, the City of Le Mans launched the first edition of the “Le Mans fait son Cirque” festival. Between 2002 and 2008, the former pool was gradually converted, and in 2008 the “Cité du Cirque” opened, a circus school and artist residency center housed in the former pool building.

Starting in 2016, performance, creative support, and teaching activities were brought together under a regional circus hub combining the Cité du Cirque and the City of Le Mans, with Richard Fournier appointed artistic director. In 2019, the process to earn the national circus center designation began. Construction of a permanent big top started in 2021, the year the Cité du Cirque changed its name to “Le Plongeoir – Cité du Cirque,” for the festival's 20th edition.

Richard Fournier was appointed director of Le Plongeoir in April 2022, the year the permanent big top, designed by architect Christophe Theilmann, was inaugurated in November. In June 2023, Le Plongeoir – Cité du Cirque du Mans officially received the Pôle national Cirque (PNC) label from the Ministry of Culture, becoming the 14th national circus center in France.

Since then, the venue has found its rhythm. The Chapiteau, built with strong support from the City of Le Mans, is shared with the city, which also schedules its own events there. Le Plongeoir is pursuing its “everyday circus” project, now entering its fourth season: a café open to all, free duo evenings featuring companies in residence, holiday activities, more than 500 students a year, and a circus high-school track with the Le Mans Sud lycée. In 2026, the Le Mans fait son Cirque festival celebrated its 25th anniversary, and for the occasion Le Plongeoir published Les Souvenirs, a book of 25 circus stories written by two artists and a journalist. The 26th edition will take place from May 19 to 30, 2027.