There will also be a premiere at the 2025 Grande Finale. For the first time, two jury panels will judge the artists. This year, the GRANDE FINALE AWARD will be presented as part of the last edition of our festival – in addition to the familiar awards: The last big main prize, awarded by former YOUNG STAGE artists to one of this year’s performances. As usual, the artists can also win engagements in various circus productions and variety theatres at national and international level.
THE EXPERT-JURY 2025
Every year, the festival jury is made up of national and international experts from the fields of circus arts, show production, dance and elite sport. These are the members of the Expert-Jury 2025:
David Dimitri
Artist, circus pioneer, cultural manager
David Dimitri, born in Zurich, is a tightrope walker, cultural manager and pilot. From a young age, he performed in the ring of Circus Knie with his father, Clown Dimitri. In 1977, at the age of 14, he travelled to Budapest to attend the State Circus School. This was followed by dance training at the renowned Juilliard School in New York before his career took him to numerous international stages. He has performed at the Metropolitan Opera, the MGM Las Vegas, on Broadway, at Cirque du Soleil and for several years at the Big Apple Circus.
Dimitri has worked with celebrities such as John Huston, Albert Finney, Helene Fischer and Philippe Petit, as well as conceiving projects for organisations such as Disney, Swisscom, Bayerischer Rundfunk and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. In 1997, he was artistic director of the largest circus museum in the USA. In 2007, he finally founded his own one-man circus, with which he has performed in over 150 cities worldwide. He was also the artistic director of Winterfest Salzburg for three years from 2019. As President of the Fondazione Dimitri, he is committed to its future.
His contribution to the circus world makes him one of the most important representatives of contemporary circus. Away from the big stages, Dimitri occasionally flies above the clouds in a Cessna 105.
Nadja Sieger
Actress, singer, dancer, presenter, dubbing artist, author, director
Nadja Sieger, known as ‘Nadeschkin’, is a passionate stage artist – as evidenced by her multifaceted existence as an actress, singer, dancer, presenter, dubbing artist, author and director. As part of the duo Ursus & Nadeschkin, together with Ursus Wehrli, she has been an integral part of the German-speaking theatre, circus and comedy world for over 37 years.
As an autodidact, she has perfected her skills in over 3000 performances. Her versatility is also reflected in the numerous places she has lived. For example, she has lived in London, New York, Berlin, Melbourne and Sydney, as well as spending a season with the Swiss National Circus Knie. The rest of the time she was and is on tour or at home on the outskirts of her heart and hometown Zurich.
Urs Pilz
Artistic Director @ International Circus Festival, Monte Carlo
After his school years in Schaffhausen and Zurich, he spent time studying in England, Italy and Sweden for further education in the textile and fashion industry. Two important stages in his career in Basel and Munich were as managing director of the Basel branch of the Spengler fashion house and as a member of the management board of Willy Bogner in Munich.
Urs Pilz’s family has been associated with the Knie family for four generations. The circus has therefore always played an important role. His professional activities in Munich led to a friendly relationship and co-operation with Circus Krone. From 1975, this led to the first contacts with the Circus Festival in Monte-Carlo and Prince Rainier, the founder of the festival. The first task was to coordinate the jury. Later, responsibility for the selection of artists was added. Since 2005, Urs Pilz has managed the festival in collaboration with Princess Stephanie. At the same time, other circus-related tasks arose, namely the presidency of the European Circus Association, ECA, and that of the World Circus Federation, Fédération Mondiale du Cirque.
Andréanne Quintal
Producer & Artistic Director @ Spicy Circus, Canada, Switzerland
In 2013 Andréanne Quintal founded the show company Spicy Circus. After 20 years of trampoline competition, she is a pioneer in Trampo-Wall. She is breaking barriers and introducing this new circus discipline to the world. Her creations are seen by millions of spectators around the world. She won several awards and medals in circus festivals, such as the prestigious Festival International de Cirque de Monte Carlo. Her years as a performer with Cirque du Soleil and several European circuses allowed her to make the artistic direction for shows around the world.
Over time, the producer in her was taking off. In the last few years, Spicy Circus has organized more than a dozen tours around the world, including with the Circus KNIE in Switzerland, Flic Flac in Germany and Big Apple Circus in the United States.
She now shares her knowledge with the cultural industry through her conferences created with her colleague David Girard «Had I Known | Management for you ROCKSTAR life»
Ian Jenkins
Creative Director of Blue Banana Entertainment @ Europa Park
Ian Jenkins is a two-time world champion in professional pairs skating and a former Olympian. He has worked as Director of Entertainment at Europa Park for 16 years and as Creative Director for Blue Banana Entertainment at Germany’s largest theme park. At Blue Banana Entertainment, Ian has specialised in international business. In addition to numerous shows at Europa-Park, he has recently staged productions in South America, Turkey, London and Austria.
Ian would like to thank the Young Stage festival management for their significant contribution to the circus and performing arts world. The Young Stage Festival Basel has given countless artists a secure and professional career. He is confident that the participants of the festival will, as always, amaze and inspire the audience as well as the producers and casting directors in attendance.
Isabel Joly
Managing Director @ FEDEC (International network for professional circus education)
After studying journalism and communication at the University of Lille, Isabel Joly worked at the European Commission in the culture department. This job, which required an intensive immersion in cultural issues at European level, had a decisive influence on her professional career. She went on to work for the European Parliament and was particularly involved in the organisation of the 1998 World Expo in Lisbon.
In 2002, she joined RESEO (European Network for Opera, Music and Dance Education), which she led as Director until 2016. After 14 fulfilling and exciting years, Isabel moved on to Belgium, where she became part of the Flemish music theatre company Zonzo Compagnie. There, she was primarily responsible for coordinating the BIG BANG Festival, which takes place in ten European cities every year.
Since January 2018, Isabel has been Managing Director of FEDEC (International network for professional circus education). She shares her passion and interest for circus education with the 65 member schools worldwide and continues to tirelessly explore the diversity of the cultural sector.
Nicolas Boivin-Gravel
Artist, Casting-advisor & acrobatic designer @Cirque du Soleil
Nicolas Boivin-Gravel can look back on an impressive career as a former circus artist. He was part of various well-known productions such as Cirque du Soleil, Cirque Éloize, the 7 Fingers and many more. A two-time graduate of the École Nationale de Cirque (ENC), he recently completed a degree in Innovation Management at HEC Montréal.
Nicolas was co-founder and artistic director of the production Throw2Catch before becoming head coach and acrobatic designer at Cirque Éloize. He taught juggling at the ENC for ten years and worked as a creative consultant and director with numerous circus companies.
Since June 2024, Nicolas has been working for Cirque du Soleil as a casting consultant and acrobatic performance designer.
ALUMNI-JURY
The alumni jury consists of artists who have performed on stage with us over the past 15 years and have been honoured for their performances. Together they present the GRANDE FINALE AWARD, the last big prize in the festival’s history. Awarded to one of the performances competing in this year’s competition.
The members of the alumni jury will be announced here over time.
David Melendy
David Melendy is a performer, director and teacher specialising in clowning and physical theatre. He studied at the San Francisco Circus Center before earning his BA and MA in Physical Theatre at the Accademia Teatro Dimitri in Switzerland. He tours internationally as a solo clown or as part of the clown duo Les Diptik with Céline Rey and has worked with circus and variety productions such as Circus Monti, Zirkusspektakel FahrAway and GOP Varieté.
The duo Les Diptik won the Bronze Star at the YOUNG STAGE International Circus Festival in 2014 and was honoured with the Swiss Cabaret Award in 2020. David is also a member of the committee of ProCirque, the Swiss professional association of circus professionals.
Avital Pöschko
Avital was born in England to an Israeli mother and a New Zealand father and has always wanted to explore the world. After leaving school, she decided to pursue her fascination with the physical art of circus. She began her training at Circomedia’s School for Physical Theatre and Circus in Bristol, UK. Later she honed her skills in the disciplines of straps and double swing trapeze under the guidance of renowned trainer Victor Fomine in Montreal, Canada. During this time, she developed her award-winning strap act, with which she won the Silver Star at the YOUNG STAGE International Circus Festival in 2010. Together with her husband Jochen, she has also received numerous awards for her impressive duo performances at renowned festivals.
Avital tours the world with both acts and continues to develop as an artist, mother and show director.
Mario Español
Mario Español is a modern acrobat in pure culture. He is known in the world of acrobats as a multi-talented performer. Born in Switzerland with Filipino roots, he lives in Berlin. Mario is an expert on the Chinese pole and the flying pole. He has received several awards at festivals for his stage skills. Among other things, he won the Young Star Prize at the YOUNG STAGE International Circus Festival 2015 for his solo act. In 2019, together with his duo partner Carlos Zaspel, he also received the Silver Star and various engagement awards for a flying pole act. Since then, Mario has worked on various stages around the world and for renowned companies such as the Canadian 7-Fingers and Cirque du Soleil.
