2026 TCAF: Not Falling

★ Float or fall? Gravity can’t catch you!
★ To explore the secret base of body and gravity with children
★ Giant pillows + magic playground of flying nets = super soothing pillow fight

tout petit is a Belgian theatre company that has been producing contemporary dance performances for children for years with concerns about the perceptual relations between body, space, and imagination. Continuing their core creative concepts, Not falling starts from a simple idea close to our daily lives – don’t fall.

In a style that combines art and game, Not falling attracts audiences of all ages. The repeated falling and getting up as well as making another attempt after failing turn into not only a rhythm but a practice in life. The audience are invited to join the actors to retrieve our bodies’ first memories – pillow fight, secret base, and the longing for flying in that afternoon. On the stage, three dancers launch a series of experiments on defying gravity. They support, push, hold up, and sometimes trip each other; their bodies tilt to an incredible angle and on the verge of losing their balance, they miraculously steady themselves in a second. 

Flying, floating, and falling - this is a game of body and gravity. The stage has been turned into a giant playground above which birds fly across, kids flip in the air, paper planes slowly glide past… Projected images mix with the dancers’ performance while reality and dreams seep through each other. While floating, the audience experience how their bodies are hung and fall before jumping up again as dance, music, installation, light, and shadow are woven into a journey of multiple senses.

tout petit is specialized in leading children to understand art directly with their bodies. After the performance of Not falling finishes, the stage is open to the audience, allowing them to experience the fun of jumping, flipping, and floating in person. That is a period of precious free time, in which we fly together between the soft mats and nets as we learn about gravity and ourselves again. In the end, you will realize that falling is never a failure but a process of showing you how to start again.

tout petit

Co-founded by dancers and choreographers Ciska Vanhoyland and Lies Cuyvers in 2012-2013, tout petit focuses on producing contemporary dance works for toddlers and children. As they believe that young audiences should be treated as seriously as other age groups, their works have remained highly artistic and experimental and keep breaking the traditional norm of children’s theatre that tends to be preachy or simplify the narrative. The company particularly emphasizes the subtle conversation between dance, music, and stage and through their clear and daring aesthetic choices, they create viewing experiences filled with perception and imagination. For years, tout petit has been active in Flanders in Belgium and other European countries. Each year, they tour around the world and give more than a hundred performances, continuing to explore the possibilities for contemporary children’s dance on the international stage.