The École nationale de cirque, known as the National Circus School, is a circus arts school based in Montreal, Canada.
The École nationale de cirque, also known as the National Circus School (NCS), is located at 8181 Cirque Avenue, Montreal (Quebec), Canada H1Z 4N9. The school is dedicated to research and innovation in the field of circus arts, and to the conservation and enhancement of the heritage, history and living memory of this art.
The NCS was founded in Montreal in 1981. At the time, there were no such establishments in Canada or elsewhere in North America. The school moved to the Dalhousie station in Old Montreal in 1989. In 2003, it established its official headquarters in the Cité des arts du cirque, which it co-founded with Cirque du Soleil and the En Piste group.
The school welcomes more than 150 students each year from across the country and around the world. Its teaching staff includes more than 80 qualified trainers, consultants and artists from the world of circus arts, performance, dance and acrobatic sports. Circus Arts programs (DEC, AEE, AEC) are entered through a two-step audition process, and a Tremplin DEC preparatory year is also offered.
The school has large studios adapted to all circus disciplines and high-performance equipment. Its facilities include the National Circus School Library, which was founded in 2004 and holds more than 22,000 documents, the HUPR Research Centre, the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Lab, and the Circus Arts Research Platform (CARP).
The placement rate for NCS graduates exceeds 95% on average. The school contributed to the birth of Cirque du Soleil, Cirque Éloize and the collective 7 Fingers.