I am a circus artist. I have a long history in dance, sports, and circus arts. I spent my youth studying and training in classical ballet, jazz, and gymnastics and competed as a cross-country runner. I remember the urgency and realness of racing as something very exciting, scary, difficult, and rewarding. I consistently broke speed records and was recruited by Le Triastre (now Rouge et Or), a competitive track and field club at the University Laval in Quebec, where I am from. My specialization was a demi-fond (middle-distance) course, but I also excelled in sprint, high jump, and long jump. I ran faster, jumped higher and further, won medal after medal, and qualified for the Nationals. When the dream of competing in the Olympics was just a few races away, I seriously injured my right ankle. The injury prevented me from participating in the National competition that year.
To rehabilitate, I started to dance at École de danse de Québec and never went back running for medals. Through my teachers Lucie Boissinnot, Michelle Cormier, and Johanne Dor I was introduced to Graham and Limon techniques. Simultaneously, I studied human sciences in the dance program art and studies in collaboration with CEGEP Ste-Foy. Following these years dedicated to exploring my dancing body, I traveled out of Quebec into the Metropole to audition for a spot at the Montreal National Circus School ENC. I was attracted to circus arts from a young age, coming from a city that had seen the spectacular growth of Cirque du Soleil. Circus arts allowed my dance and gymnastics training to manifest through acrobatics and explore the body's possibilities to move differently. I enrolled as a circus artist. Flipping, twisting, flying, stretching, balancing, and juggling occupied the first year at the school. In the second year, I wanted to practice Chinese pole, but women were not allowed to specialize in it then. However, I was invited by Viktor Fomine, a renowned aerial trainer, to specialize in swinging rope (cloud swing), which also required upper-body strength and agility in the air.
After my first professional contract in Sweden with the swing rope and a near-fatal fall from 9 meters, I returned to the pole, supported by the visionary circus director Tilde Björfors. With the pole, I worked with the pioneering Swedish circus company Cirkus Cirkör, touring the world as a female Chinese pole solo act. While Cirkus Cirkör’s motto was sky's the limit, I eventually realized that the sky was not the limit but that my body was. After seven years of touring, I stopped being a circus performer and became the head of the circus preparatory program run by Cirkus Cirkör in Sweden. I eventually returned to Canada as a talent scout for the Cirque du Soleil and finally returned to Sweden in 2009 to work at the Stockholm University of the Arts SKH. From 2009 to 2019, I led the bachelor program in circus at SKH as an assistant professor of circus while simultaneously conducting a series of multilayered artistic research projects within circus and choreography. In Gynoïdes Project, I addressed the agency and representation of women in circus arts by exploring feminist strategies in circus performance. In Sound of Circus, I explored the relationships between sound and motion by integrating interactive technologies. In Hidden Circus, I developed sensing practices as modes of composition. This research evolved into my doctoral artistic research project, Circus as Practices of Hope: A Philosophy of Circus.
