Although my research is mainly historical, it is driven by an interest in current aerial, circus and performance practice.
My research has looked at the links between celebrity and marketing strategies as well as examining the largely forgotten celebrities of 1920s and early 1930s, female solo aerialists. Focusing predominantly on Lillian Leitzel and Luisita Leers, my approach to researching aerial history ranges from examining spatial performance practices to female physical culture, using a variety of archival sources and drawing upon my experience as an amateur aerialist.
I am currently working on a project on theatre and visual culture in the long nineteenth century. Through this project I've been exploring the career of Jules Leotard and will be publishing on his performances soon.
Book chapters & Journal articles:
(2021) 'Aerial Performance: Aerial Aesthetics', in Arrighi, G & Davis, J (eds) Cambridge Companion to Circus, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 155-67
(2019) ‘Aerial star: Lillian Leitzel’s celebrity, agency and her performed femininity’ in Gale, M & Dorney, K (eds) Stage Women, 1900-50: Female Theatre Workers and Professional Practice, Manchester: MUP: 216-241(Open Access)
(2018) ‘Marketing Circus through Personalization: Class and the Celebrity Images of John Ringling & Bertram Mills’, New Theatre Quarterly, 34:3, pp203-215.
(2017) 'Aspirational Circus Glamour: rethinking the circus grotesque through female aerialists of the inter-war period', Early Popular Visual Culture 15:3, pp 299-314 (Open Access)
