From early childhood, Tiemen has always been very sporty. He quickly felt the need to move and therefore practiced many different sports, starting with gymnastics and circus arts. At 18, after completing high school, he took part in the entrance exam for the École nationale des arts du cirque de Rosny-sous-Bois (ENACR) with his companions Niels Mertens and Thales Peetermans, whom he met at the Belgian youth circus school Ell Circo D’Ell Fuego in Antwerp. It was with them that he began practicing the Korean teeterboard in 2017. Together, they followed the preparatory year during which they collaborated with Bertrand Bossard and Dominique Bettenfeld.
After this first year together, and while continuing to explore the circus world, the three of them joined the Centre national des arts du cirque/CNAC of Châlons-en-Champagne. Throughout their training, they worked with Kaori Ito, Guy Alloucherie on the revival of C’est pour toi que je fais ça !, and with Tuur Florizoone on the creation of a jazz evening in Louvain.
During these three years of training, Tiemen developed his own individuality and research directions. Interested in human history and fantasy literature (a genre rooted in imagination and the irrational), he writes his own stories and begins exploring sword and dagger manipulation. In addition to designing them, he also sculpts and fabricates his own swords, daggers, and throwing knives. He further develops a physical practice focused on body control, particularly Pop and Lock (a dance style combining fluid and sharp, isolated movements), adding another expressive tool to his stage vocabulary.
Tiemen and his partners are always searching for new ways to use the teeterboard. Their most recent discovery is the “flying teeterboard,” a structure allowing them to practice this apparatus at height without touching the ground.
Another key value for Tiemen and his collaborators is multidisciplinarity. At the beginning of their second year at CNAC, they initiated a mix of acrobatic lifts and Hungarian teeterboard with three fellow students from their cohort: Alice Binando, Yannis Gilbert, and Tomàs Denis. Together, they formed a collective combining lifts, teeterboard, acrobatics, and rope work.
Trio “Sans Interdit” – Belgium – Korean teeterboard
The trio “Sans Interdit” is composed of Niels Mertens, Tiemen Praats, and Thales Peetermans—three individuals with distinct backgrounds and a shared passion. They met in 2012 at the Belgian youth circus school Ell Circo D’Ell Fuego in Antwerp and began practicing the Korean teeterboard as a trio in 2017.
After building strong technical foundations in a highly demanding training environment, the trio joined the École nationale des arts du cirque de Rosny-sous-Bois (ENACR) in 2018.
In 2019, they continued their studies at the Centre national des arts du cirque. During these four years of training, they had multiple opportunities to collaborate with circus and dance artists and directors such as Dominique Bettenfeld, Bertrand Bossard, Kaori Ito, Guy Alloucherie, and Tuur Florizoone, all of whom contributed to shaping their artistic vision of teeterboard and circus practice.
They named their trio “Sans Interdit” (Sæns), a wordplay that expresses their exploration of the “forbidden directions” of the teeterboard. This reflects their artistic and technical approach, which moves away from traditional circus codes. They aim to challenge the usual perception of danger associated with teeterboard on stage, while fully embracing their passion for propulsion and flight.
The trio is strongly driven by the desire to détourner (reimagine) the Korean teeterboard. Their main goal is to expand their physical and technical abilities by integrating other circus disciplines that complement their practice. For example, they have developed the “flying teeterboard,” a structure allowing them to practice teeterboard at height without touching the ground. This technical innovation opens new perspectives for creation and research, as well as reflections on lighting and stage curtains—on what audiences see and do not see in performance.
In parallel, during their second year at CNAC, while working on repertoire reinterpretation, they collaborated in a very positive atmosphere with three other students from their cohort: Alice Binando, Tomàs Denis, and Yannis Gilbert. They formed a multidisciplinary collective combining acrobatic lifts, teeterboard, acrodance, and rope work, with the intention—once becoming professional artists—of continuing together toward a first shared creation.