Up, up and away!

Whoops, almost two years have gone by since I last posted. I blame that on social media because I sort of assume that no one is reading this blog, but I should probably pop in every now and then and make some announcements.

First and foremost, I’m co-hosting an aerial retreat at Casa Chango in Puerto Escondido, Mexico! This past March, I assisted Nico Stocco with his trapeze retreat at the same location, and I had such a good time that I decided to do one of my own for sling in collaboration with Zaira Mariani. Good food, good people, good training and a beautiful location…what more could anyone want?! The early-bird discount ends October 1, so don’t wait too long to sign up!

Secondly, I have two big rounds of workshops coming up this year:

July 24 – 26 at the Arkansas Circus Center (workshops at SLAC on July 22 on my way down, too)
October 16 – 18 at Jaja PDX
And probably Celeste Aerial Arts in Detroit later in October

OK, onward to a quick recap of everything I got up to since June 2024, I guess…

I’m remembering now why there is a sudden lapse in posts. I performed two acts at the Alberta Circus Arts Festival, “La Garache” and “Hecate”:

I was so excited to perform these two acts outside the US, so imagine my disappointment when I fell! It happened near the very end of the sling act. I sprained two fingers grabbing for the fabric as I fell, but I landed on my feet, so I was otherwise fine. It was a big blow, though, on a psychological level. My greatest regret is that I did not hop back up and finish the act because I could have! I was too shell-shocked, however.

Life goes on. In July 2024 I performed with Reminiscent Circus in their production of Way Home. I think it was very good for me to be in an ensemble show, in which I had to perform multiple things (sling, triple trapeze, lyra, dance) because it helped heal my brain from the stress of the prior month’s solo act experience.

In the fall of 2024, I did the American Circus Alliance mentorship program and was mentored by Ramón Vasquez of Circus Vasquez. It was this mentorship that prodded me to create a solo whips act. Until then, I had worked 10 years as an aerialist without a ground act, though I knew it would be highly beneficial to have one.

In October 2024 not only did I debut a new static trapeze act at Aloft Circus Arts’ Sanctuary Cabaret, I also debuted my whips act and performed my “Hecate” sling act at The Sideshow Villains Deviant Cabaret, and this time, it went extremely well.

I wrapped up 2024 with a great trip to La Central de Circ in Barcelona and another static trapeze performance back in Chicago. Phew.

This brings us last year! The first quarter of 2025 I continued working on whips and static trapeze, performing another round at Sanctuary Cabaret. Performing whips was totally new to me and the static trapeze act was chock-full of advanced tricks!

Later that spring I performed whips at Exxxotica with Eve’s Parlor Productions as a rather adult version of Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, haha:

In April and May, I performed a new sling act twice at Sanctuary to “The Great Gig in the Sky” by Pink Floyd:

I think the main big event of last year was coaching at Sora Aerial Arts‘ adult and youth “traincations” in July, followed by driving from Lexington all the way up to Buffalo, NY, to sub in for 10 shows with Flotsam River Circus. What an adventure! I’ll actually be performing whips for their fundraiser show here in Chicago next week. 🙂

There were a few more whips performances in the fall, but I think we’ve finally arrived at 2026, which opened with more whips and my first time ever on duo straps with Squid the Kid:

In February I also debuted a new single-point trapeze act at the Sideshow Villains’ Masquerade Ball. Below is actually a dress rehearsal shot of me in my whips act costume, attending to my dance trapeze prop/headdress (which I made, by the way):

This past spring felt extra busy because, as I already mentioned, I assisted Nico Stocco at his retreat in Mexico in March, followed by teaching and performing (sling) at Trapeze Over Colorado in April, and more teaching and performing (whips and single-point trapeze) at Cirque Indy last month.