Blog

Grounded with Kalina Suter

Hi, I’m Kalina. A dance trapeze artist based in Edinburgh, Scotland (currently doing a 3-month aerial residency in Puerto Escondido, Mexico). I think a lot about what my relationship to my apparatus is. I see my trapeze as a living breathing entity with a personality. Yes, it’s just a steel bar with two ropes, but it’s […]

Grounded with Alfa Marks

Who you are/how you identify? Any specific learning from the year we’ve just had? Or not! I am Alfa Marks, a short 32-year-old, opinionated, black female. I use to identify as a performer – an aerialist. It was more than what I did, it was who I was, where I lived and where in the […]

Grounded with Claire Crook

Hi, I’m Claire Crook, I often (but not always) perform under the stage name Madam Mango. I am originally from North Wales, and have been performing now for 20 years (gulp). I identify as female. Currently living in Kinloss, Moray in the North East of Scotland, I moved in September in what seemed like a […]

Grounded with Jenny Tufts

my inefficient but scenic route into the aerial world. Hello aerial aficionados! I’m Jenny. I identify as a woman, a weirdo, a recovering perfectionist, an aerial hoop specialist, a chronic dabbler, a creator, an athlete, a lover of books, a socialist, a master dog snuggler, and a perpetual foreigner. This is the story of my […]

Grounded with Aisling Ni Cheallaigh

The Path. Throughout my career I had a terrible feeling that I was starting too late, because I hadn’t gone to circus school, had no dance background, was not born into a circus family. I believed whole-heartedly in the myth of a straightforward path to the top of the art form and was constantly worried […]

On inclusivity… or being afraid we’ll get it wrong.

…or on not being inclusive cos’ we’re afraid that we don’t know enough or that we’ll cause offence. I came across a video the other day on facebook called ‘Remarkable’. It was by Dr Kelsie Acton, who is a neurodivergent dancer, researcher and inclusive practice advisor for Battersea Arts Centre. In it she references a quote […]

Grounded with Lindsey Butcher

Inspired by Understory – a collection of insights from a diverse group of artists in the dance world – I felt it would be useful to curate a series of articles, musings and videos from professional aerialists at all stages of
their careers on how we go about navigating these new times. Looking at our diverse pathways into the aerial arts and the breadth of practice out there, these contributions will be released every Wednesday. I’m Lindsey Butcher…