Toon – pronounced ‘Tone’/‘Tɔɔn’
Born in Antwerp to a Dutch-speaking mother and a French-speaking father, I took my first steps in switching between languages. In this city, a cultural crossroads fuelled by its large port, I am shaping my understanding of the world. I attended a small school where I developed the tools to understand my relationship with the world far beyond the confines of this city.
My circus school, Ell Circo d’ell Fuego, was a place where I learnt to live together without any sense of competition. At that time, I saw the circus more as an escape than as a path in life. All that changed during the Covid pandemic; a deep need for physical practice emerged. I discovered the teeterboard, and my circus teacher, Arno Wauters, told me about the possibility of setting up a circus arts school. I gave up my university studies. The biggest leap of my life followed, and I found myself in a teeterboard and aerial group at ENACR.
‘It took me a long time before I dared tell my father that my bilingual first name was crumbling under the stubborn monolingualism of France and the refusal of some people to look beyond the sound of the word “cartoon”’
In Rosny, I discovered a whole new world of circus and my passion for creating electronic music. Under the guidance of Pascal Sogny, the collective had a great time – and that’s what matters most. The desire to work on a joint project took shape and led us to the CNAC in 2023. The years in Châlons allowed us to establish a collective practice that we placed at the heart of our circus artistry. We’re still having just as much fun.
Today, I love working with sound. Whether in music or in my circus practice, my place is wherever that rhythmic tremor spreads.
I live through the collective to experience the world more fully.