Circus & Age

The number of times I have been asked "Are you ever going to grow up?", or words to that effect, I've lost count. People see me hula hoop, poi spin and juggle and wonder why, someone who is rapidly running head long into her 50's, still has a passion for learning circus skills. The answer to the question is "No, and I hope I never do if it means giving up the things I love." I only really took up circus when I was in my mid 30's. I was lucky enough to meet up with an amazing group of poi spinners that firstly welcomed me with open arms, didn't seem to care what age I was and were really keen to teach me everything they knew about poi, juggling, staff and much more. Up until that point I could juggle a very basic 3 ball cascade and had been a gymnast as a child. I will be ever grateful to those people for setting me on the road to learning more skills. 

The strange thing is, that I have never felt more warmly welcomed by a group of people before, than I have from the circus community, yet circus itself is very much seen as a young persons game. The reason I am writing this post is I saw this video, made by Vicki Amedume, that looks at older performers in circus and dance. It questions the reasons why so many amazing performers are no longer being seen on stage, even though they are perfectly able to perform, are strong, flexible and able to produce work to stun and amaze a crowd. Lindsey Butcher and Ann Dickie, of Upswing, show in this video what we are missing by judging who we do and don't want to see on stage purely by age

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What Happens in the Winter - dance and aerial performance by Upswing
from Alastair Nisbet on Vimeo.
I am now off in search of a video of the actual performance. I want to see it in full. If I find it I will post it.