Some encounters are not announced in haste, they unfold quietly, almost by suggestion. LEME returns to Ílhavo from 3 to 6 December 2026, maintaining a clear commitment to aesthetic and dramaturgical innovation in contemporary circus, while asserting, with even greater conviction, the importance of time. Time to inhabit space and body, to feel before explaining, to speak without urgency, to listen to what has not yet been named. In this edition, we will navigate deeper waters, where creation does not seek merely to surprise, but to leave a trace, generate resonance, and open cracks in thought and emotion.

LEME 2026 reaffirms its commitment to the development of emerging artists’ careers, accompanying processes, risks and moments of maturation, and resisting a logic of fast consumption of artistic creation. It will be a festival with time and with feeling, where each proposal is conceived as a shared, poetic and intense experience, inviting audiences into a closer, more conscious and more engaged relationship with contemporary circus.