Clarisse was born in the Paris suburbs at the beginning of 2002, the year the Euro was introduced—an almost perfect anagram of “wheel” in French (“roue”).
As a child, she used to do cartwheels rather than ballet steps in dance class, so she was eventually directed toward gymnastics. Then, while clowning around on the balance beam, she ended up joining the circus.
Alongside this, Clarisse developed a taste for sewing, photography, video, and cycling journeys—activities all containing the letter “O,” and all becoming additional strings to her bow as a circus artist.
During her teenage years, she took up unicycle riding, developed a vocabulary close to juggling, won several medals, and earned three French championship titles.
She began Cyr wheel at the circus high school in Châlons-en-Champagne, then joined the preparatory program at Rosny-sous-Bois. She continued her training at the Centre National des Arts du Cirque (CNAC, 36th cohort), where she met Garniouze during a public space project titled “À plus dans l’bus !”. This project confirmed her interest in “outdoor circus”: circus that meets its audience directly and steps outside the traditional stage space.
In 2022–23, she spent a year on Erasmus in Rotterdam (Codarts), a rich experience filled with encounters, hybrid projects, and multicultural exchanges that broadened her understanding of circus practices. She then rejoined CNAC with the 37th cohort.
She develops a playful relationship with her Cyr wheel—both technical and offbeat—built on falls, swinging movements, and balances. Her work has been shaped by numerous teachers and artists such as Sylvain Laurent, Anthony Lefevre, Marica Marinoni, Juan Ignacio Tula, Stefan Kinsman, and Mark Glover.
Alongside this, she works with Iuna and Toni, fellow Cyr wheel artists from her cohort: together they develop a collective vocabulary combining partner acrobatics and group play around this otherwise largely individual apparatus. They intend to continue this research after graduation.
In April 2024, she traveled solo from Châlons to Rotterdam with her Cyr wheel, transported in a trailer pulled by her bicycle. This journey became a field of experimentation for a potential future zero-carbon touring project, and led to the unofficial confirmation of the saying: “Clarisse qui roule n’amasse pas mousse.”