The all Women’s and Non-Binary Straps Symposium 2025 will build from some of the topics raised in the 2024 symposium and offer a space to discuss, share and learn from each other. You can read the report of the results from the 2024 symposium here and see the results in an interactive diagram here. The event will follow a similar format, with talks, discussions and big open jam straps sessions to share knowledge. As with last year, there will be no formal teaching and no power hierarchy’s, but collaborative sharing amongst the whole group. The speakers of the talks are still being confirmed, but we have reached out to academics studying menstruation in athletes, social bonding from synchronised movement and sports psychiatrists who research mental health in athletes.

The goals of the second symposium are the following:

1. To build from the discussions of the first year and start actioning some of the proposals outlined in 2024. For example, this may involve working on writing a list of gender-inclusive guideline ideas for circus spaces; generating ideas for what a gender inclusive teacher training should include; filming safe spotting interactions; filming alternative straps techniques to create a video dictionary amongst others; thinking of routes through which
2. To discuss some of the topics we didn’t have time to talk about in detail last year (i.e flexibility, the splits and sexism) the new gender-related circus work that has occurred in 2024 such as the publication of the FEDEC Speak Out spotting protocol and the Consent Culture document published as part of the Speak Out Toolbox.
3. To provide space and time for us to all train together, exchange technique tips and skill swap. Additionally, the event is also to offer space for conversations regarding collaborations, artistic projects, teaching opportunities and general circus wisdom and guidance as women and non-binary people in the straps and aerial world.