ABOUT
Anne van Helteren (any pronouns), is a circus maker and performer and creative entrepreneur based in The Netherlands, currently studying Circus and Performance Art at Fontys. At the core of her being, Anne is driven by the impact we have on and interactions we have with our environment, the planet, and the people surrounding us. She feels the need to reflect on pressing themes with her work, while also allowing play and lightness to co-exist.
Picture taken by Berkey Photography
In their acrobatic practice, whether this is on the floor, in partner work, on the trampoline, or in any other way, key aspects of Anne’s movement research and training are pushing gendered-expectations, while looking for originality and welcoming happy accidents. They are always crafting in creation, exploring how to use the inherent qualities of acrobatics to share a story on stage.
Besides making circus, Anne has a background in physical theatre and site specific work and loves to work together with and teach other creatives.
Picture taken by Berkey Photography
ABOUT
Anne van Helteren (any pronouns), is a circus maker and performer and creative entrepreneur based in The Netherlands, currently studying Circus and Performance Art at Fontys. At the core of her being, Anne is driven by the impact we have on and interactions we have with our environment, the planet, and the people surrounding us. She feels the need to reflect on pressing themes with her work, while also allowing play and lightness to co-exist.
In their acrobatic practice, whether this is on the floor, in partner work, on the trampoline, or in any other way, key aspects of Anne’s movement research and training are pushing gendered-expectations, while looking for originality and welcoming happy accidents. They are always crafting in creation, exploring how to use the inherent qualities of acrobatics to share a story on stage.
Besides making circus, Anne has a background in physical theatre and site specific work and loves to work together with and teach other creatives.
PORTFOLIO
THE MARIONETTE
A duo work-in-progress by Clara Botros and Anne van Helteren
2024 – ongoing
In the fantastic and strange circus performance The Marionette, you are a witness to the story of two peculiar characters, that unravel their relationship before your eyes. Through a creative and refreshing combination of aerial rope, partner- and floor-acrobatics, the intimate circus performance takes you on an unexpected journey, where the peculiars playfully follow their curiosities, discover their power dynamics, and test their own and each other’s boundaries.
A 10-minute try out of the performance took place at Festival Circolo’s Taste of Talent and at TENT’s Back To Base. With time, we want to develop it into a 25 minute indoor-performance, suitable for adults and children alike. For an impression of the piece, watch the teaser here.
Picture by Jona Harnischmacher | Festival Circolo 2025
Impression of the first research period
Bike!
A duo work-in-progress by Julia Tanner and Anne van Helteren
2025 – ongoing
With this work, we want to explore the expressive, playful, and sonic potential of an ordinary bicycle in performance. At the heart of the piece: a bike, a microphone, a loop-station and two acrobats. Our aim is to create a playful outdoor circus performance of around 15 minutes, suitable for a 360° stage/ circular audience. Through floor- and partner-acrobatic movement, physical theatricality and play, the performance will take shape and the bike will slowly come alive, as our third performer on stage.
We want to thank Het Oude Badhuis in Antwerp for providing us with a residency space, and the Musica Maxima foundation for supporting the project financially.
PASSING THROUGH
A solo work-in-progress by Anne van Helteren
2025 – ongoing
In ‘Passing Through’, the character and their three suitcases take you on a journey, exploring the non-conventional pathways the body can, and sometimes has to take, to navigate itself through our world. Through floor-acrobatic movement and the theatricality of the body, this playful yet pressing circus performance comes to life. It’s a story about houses being torn down, natural disasters, borders, the displacement of people, and having to face the big world alone. As the character interacts with its surroundings – with a certain childlike imagination – the solo gently takes the audience on a journey, where it poetically reflects on our current society.
Impression of the first research period
Picture by Jona Harnischmacher | Ukemi at Deventer op Stelten 2025
UKEMI: The Art of Falling
An outdoor parkour and circus performance by Simon Granit Ossoinak
2025 – ongoing
The worlds of parkour and circus meet in Ukemi: The Art of Falling. On a mobile parkour installation, creator Simon Granit Ossoinak shows the entire process of taking risks with 3 acrobats: from careful preparation to the fall. From the support by the group to the success! Or maybe the fall was just as successful as the trick that succeeded?
Ukemi is represented by HH Producties, performed by Benedikt Löffler, Anne van Helteren, and Ahmed Mokadem, music by Stijn van Strien, supported by Gemeente Rotterdam, Lab-Z, Amarte, and Janivo Stichting.
WET!
by Anne van Helteren and Ahmed Mokadem
A site specific creation aboard Zeilschip de Vrijbuiter
2024
As a part of the initiative De Varende Broedplaats, we created a short site-specific work, based around the inspirations of the ship and its surroundings. For this creation we immersed ourselves into the world of De Vrijbuiter, sleeping, living, swimming, observing, sailing, moving, tasting, experimenting – onboard, from the mast to below deck – which brought us the site specific performance WET!.
The piece invites the audience to join the world of water. While experiencing the boat rocking back and forth, driven by the tides, waves and wind, a short story comes to life, enriched by physical theater, site-specific use of the location, humour, and a splash of acrobatics. For an impression of the piece, watch the registration here.
Still from the registration of the performance
Het Circus van de Mens at Festival Onderstroom 2019
Theatercollective Zurøck
2016-2023
Consisting of diverse, young, creative makers; Zurøck creates multidisciplinary, immersive, sitespecific, and experimental performances full of wonder. The theatercollecitve has produced multiple, mostly site-specific, performances throughout the years. In these performances a vast array of disciplines came together, including (physical) theatre, live music, decor and costume design, choreography, acrobatics, spoken word, performance art, sound and light design, and scenography.
Throughout the years the collective has had a lot of help from Rob Maaskant, Kunstbende Zeeland, Festival Onderstroom, Ramon de Nennie, N8vdN8, all of our parents, and many others. The collective is currently not active, as all of its members have followed their own ways into different creative fields, but you never know when and where we will resurface…
PORTFOLIO
THE MARIONETTE
A duo work-in-progress by Clara Botros and Anne van Helteren
2024 – ongoing
Picture by Jona Harnischmacher | Festival Circolo 2025
In the fantastic and strange circus performance The Marionette, you are a witness to the story of two peculiar characters, that unravel their relationship before your eyes. Through a creative and refreshing combination of aerial rope, partner- and floor-acrobatics, the intimate circus performance takes you on an unexpected journey, where the peculiars playfully follow their curiosities, discover their power dynamics, and test their own and each other’s boundaries.
A 10-minute try out of the performance took place at Festival Circolo’s Taste of Talent and at TENT’s Back To Base. With time, we want to develop it into a 25 minute indoor-performance, suitable for adults and children alike. For an impression of the piece, watch the teaser here.
Bike!
A duo work-in-progress by Julia Tanner and Anne van Helteren
2025 – ongoing
Impression of the first research period
With this work, we want to explore the expressive, playful, and sonic potential of an ordinary bicycle in performance. At the heart of the piece: a bike, a microphone, a loop-station and two acrobats. Our aim is to create a playful outdoor circus performance of around 15 minutes, suitable for a 360° stage/ circular audience. Through floor- and partner-acrobatic movement, physical theatricality and play, the performance will take shape and the bike will slowly come alive, as our third performer on stage.
We want to thank Het Oude Badhuis in Antwerp for providing us with a residency space, and the Musica Maxima foundation for supporting the project financially.
PASSING THROUGH
A solo work-in-progress by Anne van Helteren
2025 – ongoing
Impression of the first research period
In ‘Passing Through’, the character and their three suitcases take you on a journey, exploring the non-conventional pathways the body can, and sometimes has to take, to navigate itself through our world. Through floor-acrobatic movement and the theatricality of the body, this playful yet pressing circus performance comes to life. It’s a story about houses being torn down, natural disasters, borders, the displacement of people, and having to face the big world alone. As the character interacts with its surroundings – with a certain childlike imagination – the solo gently takes the audience on a journey, where it poetically reflects on our current society.
UKEMI: The Art of Falling
An outdoor parkour and circus performance by Simon Granit Ossoinak
2025 – ongoing
Picture by Jona Harnischmacher | Ukemi at Deventer op Stelten 2025
The worlds of parkour and circus meet in Ukemi: The Art of Falling. On a mobile parkour installation, creator Simon Granit Ossoinak shows the entire process of taking risks with 3 acrobats: from careful preparation to the fall. From the support by the group to the success! Or maybe the fall was just as successful as the trick that succeeded?
Ukemi is represented by HH Producties, performed by Benedikt Löffler, Anne van Helteren, and Ahmed Mokadem, music by Stijn van Strien, supported by Gemeente Rotterdam, Lab-Z, Amarte, and Janivo Stichting.
WET!
A site specific creation aboard Zeilschip de Vrijbuiter by Anne van Helteren and Ahmed Mokadem
2024
Still from the registration of the performance
As a part of the initiative De Varende Broedplaats, we created a short site-specific work, based around the inspirations of the ship and its surroundings. For this creation we immersed ourselves into the world of De Vrijbuiter, sleeping, living, swimming, observing, sailing, moving, tasting, experimenting – onboard, from the mast to below deck – which brought us the site specific performance WET!.
The piece invites the audience to join the world of water. While experiencing the boat rocking back and forth, driven by the tides, waves and wind, a short story comes to life, enriched by physical theater, site-specific use of the location, humour, and a splash of acrobatics. For an impression of the piece, watch the registration here.
Theatercollective Zurøck
Consisting of diverse, young, creative makers; Zurøck creates multidisciplinary, immersive, sitespecific, and experimental performances full of wonder.
2016 – 2023
Het Circus van de Mens at Festival Onderstroom 2019
The theatercollecitve has produced multiple, mostly site-specific, performances throughout the years. In these performances a vast array of disciplines came together, including (physical) theatre, live music, decor and costume design, choreography, acrobatics, spoken word, performance art, sound and light design, and scenography.
Throughout the years the collective has had a lot of help from Rob Maaskant, Kunstbende Zeeland, Festival Onderstroom, Ramon de Nennie, N8vdN8, all of our parents, and many others. The collective is currently not active, as all of its members have followed their own ways into different creative fields, but you never know when and where we will resurface…
