With a background in both research and cabaret performance, I have a diverse blend of academic and creative expertise. Currently I am working as Research Fellow in international activist art practice at the University of Brighton, School of Art and Media. Alongside this I am a cabaret circus performer (contortion and aerial circus) and flexibility instructor. The last 3 years I have been teaching across the Visual Culture programme in the Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries (CCI) at the University of Portsmouth, primarily working with students in Fashion and Textiles and Photography. I have an MDes in Textile Design and Business Studies from the University of Brighton and a PhD in Philosophy, specialising in Circus Studies from the University of Portsmouth. My practice-based PhD research, funded by the EU Interreg 5A France (Channel) England PONToon project (CCI, UoP), explored a group of 18-35 year old women’s experiences of learning aerial circus skills integrated with training in digital media technologies within a social circus context. My thesis and accompanying practice research event, a performance seminar, vocal aerial silks performance and multi-media installation, explored gender, performance and self-perception through the lens of aerial circus. My thesis adds to the understanding of female experience of aerial circus within a social circus context taking into consideration media and online culture in late modernity. As a circus performer and instructor this research emerged from my long-term practice. I continue to be interested in authoethnographic and ethnographic research, community-based research and the value of in-depth interviews.
