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This chapter sets the historical context by referring to the precursor of three of the most resilient and long-lived contemporary French circuses, Cirque Plume, Archaos and Cirque Baroque. It provides a brief history of these three circuses including descriptions of specific elements in their performances that are indicative of their work. The new circus evolved chaotically during the 1970s and 1980s with the key features to its impending identity still uncertain and fragmentary. The musical element was developed like a backdrop onto which gestures and movements, objects and shadows were grafted. Set pieces gradually leave room for innovative compositions that enrich and restore the ‘recycling’ spirit that is so often evident in street arts. The circus artists are naturally impelled toward multiskilled performance, either in a collective creation or in response to the context of the performance onstage or in the ring. The frequent presence of a specific context or story produces situations that require characters be taken into consideration.