“Statu Quo” takes centre stage at the UP Festival of contemporary circus, unfolding across several venues in Brussels. It follows three circus artists on the brink (interpreted by Ilaria Senter, Mikel Ayala and Romain Delavoipière) – performers quite literally suffering for their art, pushing their bodies past reasonable limits, in pursuit of applause, recognition and survival.

The show opens on a strikingly odd image: a medieval-looking gnome-figure rollerblading across the stage, waving a giant white flag. Surrender? Peace offering? A pre-emptive apology? Potential answers only begin to settle as the audience files out, long after the image has lodged itself in the mind.