Frédérique Hamel

Frédérique Hamel, Midnight Circus, Circus, Chicago

Frédérique Hamel, known to most as Fred, and her brother Christophe, were highly energetic kids growing up in Quebec City. Their mother, a college athletics teacher, heard about a new circus school for children at the Circus School of Quebec and signed them up. Fred started circus at 7 years old and hasn’t stopped yet.

After graduating from the professional program at Circus School of Quebec at 18, Fred’s skills on the trampoline-wall, her unique aerial net act and acrobatic abilities allowed her to see the world from the circus stage. Recently she worked closer to home in Crépuscule Vents et marées, a production by FlipFabrique, a company co-founded by her brother Cristophe.  Keep an eye out in the trailer for 2017 Midnight Circus alumni Adam Strom and Sidney Iking Bateman!

We caught up with Fred while in production for her most recent show Truck Stop by Machine de Cirque. “I am so looking forward to joining the Midnight Circus troop for the 2018 season,” said Fred, “It is circus for all of the right reasons. Helping communities, an intimate ring, one of the most beautiful things you can do with circus.”  

Another reason Fred is excited about coming to Midnight Circus is she knows and has worked with a number of the artists joining her in this season’s tour. “The skill and technique of the artists I’ll be working with at Midnight Circus is very high. It makes me feel that the energy will be very strong. We will challenge each other to bring our best for Chicago.”

Fred has performed around the world from South Africa to Turkey, Oman to Finland and throughout Europe. She has only passed through Chicago briefly two times, once last year to visit her friends in the 2017 Midnight Circus Troop from her gig in Kansas City. “I’ve always wanted to experience the city of Chicago,” Fred enthused. This August Frédérique Hamel will join 18 other world-class acrobats and circus artists and get to see neighborhoods across Chicago from Englewood to Oriole Park experiencing the city one circus at a time.

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