Hello, Bases & Flyers!

***Access password for the full calendar + insider deals: acro123.

Currently in China eating my soul out and seeing family I haven’t seen in forever — including one relative who helped raise me as a kid and who I hadn’t seen in over 20 years, which was honestly very sweet and nostalgia-inducing.

This week, we’re back with the May Related Festivals Edition: the side quests of the acro world. Circus, flow arts, handstands, conscious gatherings, dance festivals, and the random movement rabbit holes acro people somehow always end up falling into.

So expect in today’s issue:

  • 🗓️ All Events Coming Up Soon (May 20 – June 15)

  • ✈️ Plan Ahead: Related Movement Festivals through July

  • 🧳 My Favorite Travel Tools

Cat Xu

🔥 Exclusive Insider Deals 🔥

📍Acroatia | Croatia | July 17 – August 7
🎟️ Code: INSIDERS15 for 15€ off

📍Mediterranean Acro Convention | Malta | October 7 – 11
🎟️ Code: MACINSIDERS for 5% off

🕒 COMING UP SOON: May 19 - June 15, 2026

(For the spontaneous among us — these all start in the next month.)

🌏 ASIA

🌎 NORTH & CENTRAL AMERICA

🌎 SOUTH AMERICA

🌍 EUROPE

Symbol Guide

🧘 = Retreat | 🎪 = Festival | 🏋️ = Intensive | 💫 = Event
🎓 = Teacher Training | ⭐ = Popular | 😿 = Sold Out

🌐 Together with AcroGrip

AcroGrip is one of the few grip aids actually made for circus and acro people, not climbers repurposing chalk for us later. It was developed with professional performers who needed grip that lasts through long trainings without coating costumes, partners, or apparatuses in white dust.

People swear by it for humid festivals, sweaty jams, and dynamic partner work because it stays grippy for 45+ minutes and doesn’t get weirdly sticky.

Also…if you were already thinking about buying grip for summer festival season anyway:

🏷 Code: ACROINSIDERS10 for 10% off

Want your event featured here with a longer blurb? Sign up here.

✈️ PLAN AHEAD: Related Movement Fests/Events Through June

🤸 Handstands Training & Yoga

May 22–25 — The Big Retreat Festival | Pembrokeshire, UK
June 9–15 — Thai Massage Sangha Festival | Granada, Spain
June 11–14 — Bend Yoga Festival | Bend, OR, USA
June 26–July 5 — Masters of Calm Festival | Lithuania
June 28–July 3 — Colibri Spirit Festival | Corfu, Greece
July 11–18 — Yoga Mela | Divinya, Sweden
July 15–19 — Handstand Intensive Slovenia | Škofja Loka, Slovenia
July 16–19 — Handstand Revolution Summer Intensive | Brunnenhaus, Germany
July 18–19 — Handstand Mini Fiesta Valencia | Valencia, Spain

🎪 Aerial / Circus & Flow Arts

May 22–25 — WildFire Retreat | Ashford, NC, USA
May 28–31 — PoleCon | Washington D.C., USA
June 4–7 — FireDrums Festival | Wilseyville, CA, USA
June 12–14 — Flow Fest Seattle | Seattle, WA, USA
June 17–21 — PlayThink Festival | Edmonton, Canada
June 26–28 — Boulder Juggling Festival | Boulder, CO, USA
July 1–5 — Pole & Aerial Sports European Championship | Budapest, Hungary
July 3–6 — Any Patch Of Grass | Darrington, WA, USA
July 7–12 — Firefly Gathering | Green Mountain, NC, USA
July 27–Aug 2 — IJA Festival | Fort Wayne, IN, USA

🎶 Music & Conscious Gatherings

May 20–24 — Lightning in a Bottle | Buena Vista Lake, CA, USA
June 4–7 — Cosmic Kinection | Astral Valley Art Park, MO, USA
June 4–7 — SoulPlay | Cobb, CA, USA
June 5–7 — Oneness Fest | Ottawa, Canada
June 5–7 — We Love Green Festival | Paris, France
June 17–22 — Waking Life | Crato, Portugal
June 24–28 — Fusion Festival | Germany
July 1–31 — Secret Dreams Festival | Thornville, OH, USA
July 2–6 — Desert Hearts Festival | Playa Ponderosa, AZ, USA
July 2–5 — High Sierra Music Festival | Quincy, CA, USA
July 10–12 — Awakenings Festival | Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands
July 10–13 — Bass Coast | Merritt, Canada
July 10–12 — Oregon Country Fair | Veneta, OR, USA
July 14–20 — Starwood Festival | Pomeroy, OH, USA
July 17–19 — Northern Nights | Cooks Valley Campground, CA, USA
July 21–26 — Big Dub Festival | Artemas, PA, USA
July 24–Aug 4 — Ozora Festival | Dádpuszta, Hungary
July 24–27 — Shambhala Music Festival | Salmo, Canada
July 30–Aug 2 — Green Gathering | Piercefield Park, UK
July 30–Aug 2 — Wilderness Festival | Cornbury Park, UK

Want to submit an event for our next edition? Fill out this form.

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🧳 TRAVEL ESSENTIALS — What I Actually Use

I get asked a lot what I pack, book, and use on the road. Here’s the shortlist all tested over years going around the globe.

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Next week: The full global map on everything happening across the acro world the next couple months.

Until then, warm up before you try the weird stuff!
— Cat Xu
Connect with me? @acroinsiders

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