Nemo Mass
Nemo Mass is a Brussels-based American Circus artist from Chicago IL. Ever since he was young, Nemo knew he was destined for the circus. He began training for competitive gymnastics at 3 years old, and at age 11 entered CircEsteem, Chicago’s renowned youth circus. At only 16 years old Nemo began his professional circus education as one of the youngest members ever to attend the Aloft professional training program in Chicago, where he immersed himself in contemporary circus. A year later he began touring with Circus Smirkus, America’s preeminent youth circus company. In 2020 Nemo continued his higher education in Europe, first at Codarts University for the Arts in Rotterdam, NL and then at l'école superière des arts du cirque in Brussels, Belgium, where he finished his Bachelor’s. Nemo graduated from ésac in 2024 specializing in corde lisse.
Nemo has toured with a number of companies across North America and Europe representing a variety of styles from American traditional to nouveau cirque, and American and European contemporary. He has performed a wide range of disciplines from corde lisse, straps, hand to hand, Chinese pole, juggling, and banquine, as well as playing live music for many circus shows.
After devoting over a decade to the mastery of the corde lisse, Nemo has developed his own unique style that incorporates the many facets of his artistic interests and blends material from aerials with juggling, acrobatics, whip cracking, and dance into his distinctive approach to circus.
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Gallery
Projects
Fishing in the Desert
In Creation
Based on a shorter piece of the same name, Fishing in the Desert is a one performer show exploring the capacities of rope as material and as character on scene. To do so, the piece blends technique from whip cracking and acrobatics with traditional aerial rope repertoire.
Fishing in the Desert interrogates the nature of self in relation to personified objects as characters on scene, and dives into the physiological and psychological consequences of this framing. The artist recognizes that the apparatus has desires, capabilities, and needs of its own...but what happens when one is not in agreement with the choices of their inanimate partner? Through the tension of this partnership the piece grapples with nature of impermanence, the futility of art, and the fear of being forgotten.
Triple 8
In Creation
Triple 8 is a rope collective created to push the limits of partner rope research. Founded by Nemo Mass, Daniel Lovera, and Ouria Tran, three graduates of l'école superière des arts du cirque in Brussels, the collective combines a passion for theatrical circus with their fascination for technical virtuosity.
Triple 8's premiere project, Help Me or Knot is a theatrical exploration of corde lisse and collective movement. The cast blurs the boundaries of self, splitting one persona into three distinct sub characters. By embodying three conflicting facets of one complete person, the cast asks how we negotiate amongst competing aspects of ourselves to navigate life as an integrated whole.