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Five Cirque du Soleil productions, four continents, named soloists in every one. Plus the only female-only circus festival in the world, the densest French independent calendar we've tracked, and Phare nightly in Siem Reap.
Five Cirque du Soleil productions, four continents, named soloists in every one. Plus the only female-only circus festival in the world, the densest French independent calendar we've tracked, and Phare nightly in Siem Reap.
May and June 2026 are an unusually consolidated window for live contortion. More than 80 distinct shows across six continents and 30+ countries feature confirmed contortion acts, and most of the headline names are clustered into a single two-month block. If you've been waiting for a reason to plan a trip around a show, this is it.
Here's where to go.
The single biggest contortion showcase in North America this spring is Aleksei Goloborodko in Cirque du Soleil's LUZIA. Tula-born, 1994, widely considered the most flexible person alive, Bronze Clown at Monte-Carlo 2024, Guinness record holder — he performs the solo contortion act among glowing candles. The Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, PA, runs the show May 7 through June 7, then Toronto's Big Top at Lake Shore opens June 18 and runs through August 30. If you've not yet seen CBC Gem's Cirque Life docuseries (premiered March 19), it's worth watching first. Find him at @galexey94.
Up in Montréal, Shakirudeen "Bonetics" Alade brings ECHO to the Old Port Big Top from May 22 through June 28. His act, The Fossorial, combines contortion with dislocation — and the same artist closes out the Texas leg at Lone Star Park, Grand Prairie, through May 9 before the Montréal opening. UK-Nigerian, and worth following at @boneticsart.
The Las Vegas residencies continue running nightly through May and June. O at the Bellagio still features the synchronised four-woman contortion act on the floating Bateau, performed by a predominantly Mongolian-trained ensemble whose coaching lineage traces to Otgo Waller and Angelique Janov. Mystère at Treasure Island has the hybrid hand-balancing-and-contortion atop the Chinese Poles, again with a Mongolian-trained female soloist. Mad Apple at NY-NY and Atomic Saloon Show at the Venetian both list contortion among featured disciplines on rotating-cast nights. Down at Vidanta Riviera Maya in Mexico, JOYÀ runs Tuesday through Saturday with the Aquatik jellyfish hand-balance-on-canes act — ballet, hand balance, and contortion blended.
A note on what's not running: KÀ, Awakening, and Michael Jackson ONE don't include dedicated contortion acts in their 2026 lineups, and OPM at the Cosmopolitan closed in late 2024.
For a different kind of show, the reimagined Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey arena tour features American contortionist Jordan McKnight (@jordancontortion) within a global cast of 65 from 17 countries. The eastern seaboard routing covers Columbus OH (Apr 30 – May 3), Charleston WV (May 7–10), Louisville (May 15–17), Allentown PA (May 21–24), Providence RI (May 29–31), and Norfolk VA (June 4–7). The same tour also features Colombia's Acro-Salsa Troupe and a Chinese Acrobatic Bikes & Hoop Diving troupe.
If you're in NYC, The Slipper Room runs nightly variety Wed–Sun and House of Yes in Bushwick puts on its "Dirty Circus" Friday and Saturday — both regularly feature contortion content. Company XIV is premiering Petite Rouge at Théâtre XIV in Brooklyn through May and June. In Miami, the Contortion Sisters (@contortionsisters) hold a residency at the Setai Hotel.
For coaches and pros, the San Diego Circus Festival (May 21–24) is worth the trip. Multi-tiered with Academy Spotlight, Rising Stage, and Mainstage Competitions, judged by Stacy Clark (former Cirque du Soleil Director of Casting), Blaze Birge (Flynn Creek Circus), and Adam Vazquez. It functions as the main pipeline into global touring contracts for North American–trained artists.
And on television: America's Got Talent Season 21 premieres Tuesday June 2 at 8/7c on NBC. Specific contortion contestants only get revealed on broadcast, but the show has an established habit of featuring at least one or two each season.
Europe is the richest region this window, with three Cirque du Soleil productions running simultaneously.
In Valencia, Oyun-Erdene "Oyuna" Senge (@oyunasenge) — Mongolian, Guinness record holder for contortion roll push-ups — is the named contortion soloist for Alegría: In A New Light at the Antiguo Recinto Estación Grau, May 22 through June 28.
In Bilbao and then Malaga, KURIOS brings its deep-sea-creature contortion pyramid: a four-artist group act that's one of the most distinctive ensemble contortion pieces in current touring repertoire. Bilbao runs through May 24, Malaga from June 4 to July 5. Bayarma Parry (@bayarmabella) is publicly associated with the act.
The big one to watch is OVO's European arena tour, which features two billed flexibility-discipline soloists. Nyamgerel Gankhuyag (@nyamgepel) performs The White Spider — the show's signature solo contortion act, gripping a pole in her mouth while folding her body in half and again. Cooper Yarosloski (@circuscoopr) performs Orvalho, the Dragonfly hand-balancing act atop a climbing-frame structure shaped like plant tendrils, balancing one-handed while bending his back and legs into impossible angles. Yarosloski graduated from Montréal's École nationale de cirque with a specialty in hand balancing and contortion. The May routing: Sofia (Apr 30 – May 3), Belgrade (May 7–10), Thessaloniki (May 14–17), and Istanbul May 21–24 — Cirque's first Istanbul return in a decade.
The German Varieté circuit is in full swing through both months. At GOP Bremen, Zweifach magisch! (March 27 – June 21) features Russian contortionist Aleksandr Batuev (@alexandr_batuev, ~132K followers) — Future Man, Monte-Carlo accolade holder, ex-parkour athlete with extreme dislocation and bending technique. At GOP Bonn, Alive (April 16 – July 5) pairs Sarah Stachowicz (@sarah_stachowicz) on aerial spinning pole with extreme flexibility, alongside Christoph Muchsel on handstand and cigar-box juggling. At the Moselpalast in Traben-Trarbach, WONDERFUL (April 24 – October 31) is anchored by Magdalena Stoilova, the snake woman known to Das Supertalent and Britain's Got Talent audiences. The Krystallpalast in Leipzig is running SCHWERELOS – Moderne Artistik through June 27, with Cirque de Demain 2025 winner Nicolás on Pendular Hoop alongside Cyr wheel and Chinese pole acts.
In Berlin, Friedrichstadt-Palast continues BLINDED by DELIGHT throughout the window with 100+ artists from 28 nations, and Wintergarten still has Maxim Voronin (@magiccircusmax) in Flying Lights / Mad Magic. Roncalli is on its 50th anniversary jubilee tour: Köln through May 25, then Düsseldorf from May 30 through June 28, with Duo Vitaly's extreme adagio-with-bending act.
The UK has fewer dedicated contortion residencies but two touring tents bill it explicitly: Zippos Circus's Bon Voyage features Mongolian contortion across stops including Acton Green, Leyton, Wimbledon Park, and Shrewsbury; Big Kid Circus's Jurassic names contortionists in its Scottish tour cast (Motherwell, Greenock, Falkirk, Cumbernauld, Arbroath, Perth). One of the most interesting one-off bookings is Elise Reine (@elisereine) performing The Shedding — solo trapeze, contortion, and performance art — at Jacksons Lane in London on May 28. London's Cirque le Soir still runs Mon/Wed/Fri/Sat with rotating in-house contortion. Brighton Fringe runs throughout May, though most of the highlighted circus content is acrobatic rather than contortion-led. And on TV: Britain's Got Talent Series 19 holds its final on Saturday May 23 (the Sunday May 17 semi-final was shifted because of Eurovision).
France is the surprise of this report. The independent and municipal listings are unusually well-documented at the artist level, and most of the named contortionists are women. In date order:
If you're in Paris and don't catch any of those, Crazy Horse is still running its troupe of contorting dancers nightly with Totally Crazy!
The most contortion-dense single event of the entire window is in Russia. The 12th International Princess of Circus Festival — the world's only female-only circus festival — runs May 28–31 at the Saratov State Circus with 18 countries represented. Past editions have featured Mongolian and Ethiopian kauchuk groups heavily. If you can get there, this is the trip.
Hot on its heels, Moscow's Idol-2026 10th anniversary festival at the Bolshoi Moscow State Circus stages competitive programs June 4–7 and gala shows June 10 onward through July 12. 170 artists from 12 countries (DPRK, Mexico, and Mongolia among them), hosted by Edgard Zapashny, with group kauchuk a recurring category.
The Nikulin Moscow Circus continues Matreshka through both months, featuring an explicit Equilibre-kauchuk with hula-hoops act by resident soloist Alesya Laverycheva (Алеся Лаверычева). Showtimes are weekdays at 19:00, weekends at 14:00 and 18:00.
In a regional first, Cirque du Soleil's OVO returns to Central Asia for the first time since Expo 2017: June 4–7 at Barys Arena in Astana, then June 11–15 at Almaty Arena. Seven shows per city. The Spider/Web contortion act travels with the production. And Moscow Circus on Ice plays the Kyrgyz State Circus in Bishkek from May 1 through June 2 (Fri/Sat/Sun, 16:00 starts).
For inclusion-focused programming, Sochi's Ordinary Miracle festival on May 14–15 features 150+ participants, including kauchuk by young performers with disabilities.
The Capital Circus of Budapest is staging MIRÁZS – Örökség through June 13 — a joint production with Kazan State Circus on Hungarian and Central Asian mythology themes. The cast includes the Old Circus School Ukraine ensemble (~11 women, led by Momot Svitlana), trained in the Pozdniakova handstand-contortion school of Kharkiv. The discipline mix is listed as Handstand and Aerial Hoop but incorporates classical contortion shapes throughout.
Magyar Nemzeti Cirkusz has its 2026 jubilee tour running March – October across eastern Hungary, with Ludmila — an 8th-generation Spanish circus dynasty performer — on antipodism. Circul Metropolitan in Bucharest has confirmed Acrografica performances on May 22, June 1, June 6, and June 20.
In Prague, Cirk La Putyka at Jatka78 performs K on June 9 and 22, with the new Ballroom premiering in June and the ongoing St.art and Senses in repertoire — contemporary new circus rather than classical contortion, but the technical work overlaps. Belarusian State Circus in Minsk launches a new summer program on June 14 with the Italian Toni dynasty. Circusstad Festival in Rotterdam runs April 29 – May 3 with its 2026 theme on identity, diversity, and LGBTQI+ inclusion. Circus Festival OU debuts in Oulu, Finland, in June — produced by Arctic Ensemble and Lumo Company.
If you're in East Asia, the permanent venues are still your most reliable bet. ERA 2: Spirit of Shanghai at Shanghai Circus World runs daily 19:30 plus weekend matinees — roughly 38 shows in June alone — with a confirmed 柔术 (rou shu, "soft shaping") ensemble. State media has named Yuan Fei (袁飞) as a 20+ year veteran with the troupe. The resident run is confirmed April 29 – July 31.
The Chaoyang Theatre in Beijing runs the Flying Acrobatic Show daily at 17:30 with classical Chinese Pagoda of Bowls contortion. Heroes of Shu at the Red Theatre fuses jiu-jitsu, plate spinning, and high-chair balancing with Sichuan Opera face-changing. The Han Show in Wuhan has contortion explicitly on the bill, Wed–Fri 19:30 and weekends at 15:00 and 19:30. Chimelong International Circus in Guangzhou runs daily at 19:30. A new production, Yangtze River, premieres May 1 at the Chongqing International Circus City — 60 mirror panels, 16 wire-flying machines, around 100 performers, with the Fairy Scattering Flowers act elevated five metres above the stage.
Wuqiao Acrobatics World in Hebei has its Jianghu·Xiu resident run continuing through May and June at 14:30 and 19:30, with 柔术 and flipping-board contortion. House of Dancing Water at City of Dreams Macau runs Wed–Sun (closed May 11–19 for maintenance), with aerial-heavy work that includes flexibility-style content.
In Mongolia, five Mongolian artists hold named Cirque du Soleil contortion roles in this window alone — but in-country, the most accessible nightly show is at Tumen Ekh National Song & Dance Ensemble in Ulaanbaatar: a one-hour cultural show featuring solo female uran nugaralt nightly at 18:00 from May 1 onward. The tourist circuit shows at Moon Song, Khuur Magnai (Children's Palace), and Land of the Sky also run nightly. The World Circus in Mongolia 2026 lands at the new Darkhan United Arena on May 16–17 — the first-ever Darkhan dates, with 280 artists from 12 countries. And the Danshig Naadam Religious Festival falls on June 27–28 at Khui Doloon Khudag, blending Buddhist rituals, Khuree Tsam mask dance, the three manly sports, and dedicated contortion performances.
In South Korea, the highest-confidence East Asian contortion show is at Everland in Yongin, where Wings of Memory (날개의 기억) opened April 1 in partnership with Cirque Éloize as a permanent residency. It runs twice daily, around 40 minutes, throughout May and June at the indoor Grand Stage. Press materials explicitly name contortion alongside aerial pole, Russian swing, Icarian games, fire performance, trickline, and trapeze. 24 cast members.
Japan's three traditional touring circuses are all running. Kinoshita Circus at Lalaport Iwata, Shizuoka, runs through June 8. Pop Circus at Morera Gifu through June 28. Happy Dream Circus at JR Yoshikawa-Minami in Saitama through June 8, and World Dream Circus at Aeon Mall Ogaki through July 21. Tokyo's only contortion-specialty studio, Contortion Studio Nugara in Shinjuku (director Ayumi "Moco" Osanai), has no ticketed public show this window, but independent Tokyo performer Marika (@marika_antares) is taking freelance bookings.
Phare, The Cambodian Circus in Siem Reap continues nightly at 20:00 year-round, rotating across roughly seven productions. Three of them feature named contortionists prominently: Pin Phunam (14+ years with Phare, Battambang-born, performs Khmer Metal's opening with elbow stand and feet-bow-and-arrow act), Nov Sreyleak (12+ years, in Eclipse with hand-to-hand, hand balance, and contortion), and Phat Sreyleak and Chuob Kanha in rotating roles. If you're in the region, this is the one to plan around. @pharecambodiancircus.
Vietnam's Lune Production runs three resident shows daily or most nights with explicit contortion content: À Ổ Show at the Saigon Opera House in HCMC, Teh Dar at Lune Center in Hoi An, and rotations of The Mist and Palao at the Hanoi Opera House.
Rambo Circus runs April 24 – May 3 at St. John's Auditorium in Bengaluru, with contortion explicitly billed. Most Indian circuses reduce activity for monsoon June.
La Perle by Dragone at Al Habtoor City Theatre in Dubai runs Tue–Sat throughout May and June with a 65-strong international cast and contortion named in the cast description. Cirque du Liban's Pluma wraps in Jeddah through May 2; their Fontana show at Hyatt Plaza in Doha runs April 30 – May 31 — aquatic theatre with musical fountain, flexibility acts in the program. And Cirque du Soleil's Corteo plays Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi from June 12–21, with Duo Adagio incorporating contortion elements.
Africa's situation is what we've described before: Ethiopia is the continent's most prolific contortion exporter but has fewer named domestic productions confirmed for this window — partly because Ethiopia's general election falls June 1 with active conflicts disrupting tours. Fekat Circus in Addis Ababa runs its monthly show on the last weekend of each month: roughly May 30–31 and June 27–28, with lineups posted to Facebook days ahead. In South Africa, Lunga Buthelezi (@zingara_royalcountess) — also performing as the Royal Countess Zingara — is the confirmed contortion solo in La Dolce Royal at the Spiegeltent in Century City, Cape Town, through May 17 (Tue–Sun, 20:00).
In Latin America, Brazil has the standout independent booking: Natasha Jascalevich (@natashajascalevich) performs Faminta — solo theatre, dance, and contemporary circus using contortion and aerial — at Sala Multiuso do Sesc Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro, June 1–23, Thu–Sun at 19:00. Circo Tihany Spectacular's AbraKdabra opens its Brazilian leg in Chapecó on June 5 (running through July 8) with an international cast that includes Mongolian contortionists.
In Argentina, Circo Rodas continues year-round in Villa Madero, Buenos Aires (41 artists), and in Cuba, Compañía Havana at the Carpa Trompoloco in Miramar, Havana, runs nightly under the Circo Nacional de Cuba banner.
Cirque du Soleil's KOOZA is the Southern Hemisphere headline, at the Big Top, Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne, May 20 – June 28+. The Mongolian Contortion Trio anchors the show: Ninjin Altankhuyag (@nini_ninjin), Sunderiya Jargalsaikhan (@sunderiya234, whose bio specifies Kooza Contortionist), and Sender Enkhtur (@sender.enkhtur).
Also in Melbourne, Bernie Dieter's Club Kabarett at the Meat Market runs through May 24 with Ethiopian-Australian contortionist Soliana Erse (@soliana_er) in the cast. Vivid Sydney 2026 runs May 22 – June 13, with French aerial production Cristal Palace making its Australian premiere on the Opera House Forecourt June 6–9 (free, outdoor, 70 minutes). And the Adelaide Cabaret Festival runs June 4–21 with Best Bits (Circus and Physical Theatre) on June 5–7. Gravity & Other Myths bring LOUDER to the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall June 25–28 with The Metropolitan Orchestra.
For cruise residencies, the most notable contortion programming this window: Cirque du Soleil at Sea's VARÉLIA on the MSC Bellissima features the Chameleon contortion act, and EXENTRICKS on the MSC Grandiosa has a dedicated contortion act on a 2-metre central lift. Princess Cruises' Sun Princess and Star Princess feature explicit Cirque Éloize contortion in Blue / Come Fly Away / Artbeat. And Arisa Meguro (@arisacontortion) is contracted on P&O's Iona through May.
If you only have time for one trip, the highest-confidence destinations for May and June 2026 are:
Spotted a performance we missed? Get in touch — Contortion Space is built on shared knowledge.
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