High-flyer Phoebe Carlson, from the National Institute of Circus Arts (NICA), is one of the star performers in Rouge et Blanc, the final-year circus showcase for students, kicking off on July 1.
An aerialist performer from Windsor, Ms Carlson loves any opportunity to be in the air, get thrown around and ultimately perform upside down.
“It was up to us as an individual which apparatus or which specialty we wanted to do for the Rouge et Blanc showcase,” the 22-year-old said.
“Most people pick one thing. I picked the ropes, because I’m confident on them.”
The official term of Ms Carlson’s apparatus is ‘corde lisse’, an act or circus skill that involves acrobatics on a vertically hanging rope.
“I haven’t performed ropes at a NICA show before, but have performed on them this year at the Adelaide Fringe Festival and the Melbourne Fringe Festival,” she said.
Ms Carlson started doing community circus when she was 15. After finishing high school she came to Melbourne and completed a one-year Certificate IV course at NICA in Circus Arts.
She then went on to complete the three-year degree, a Bachelor of Circus Arts.
Although an aerialist at heart, she loves a challenge and has also been trained in Hula Hoops and Bottle Walking, where she lines up empty champagne bottles and walks along the top of them.
This year, the custom built National Circus Centre will host the show, which has been split into two distinct cabaret-style performances – one called Rouge and the other Blanc. Ms Carlson will perform her ropes act in Rouge.
Each show will be performed four times throughout the eight-show season.
The mix of circus skills in the showcase includes a range of aerial acts, contortion, the German wheel, hand balancing, head balancing, head trapeze, juggling, the tightwire and plenty more.
NICA’s Head of Performance, Megan Jones is directing the talented cast and show, which will be hosted Aurora Kurth, an experienced entertainer, raconteur and comic.
When Ms Carlson wraps up her studies at the end of the year, she plans to continue to work in the circus field.
“I will keep performing gigs, teaching circus classes and hopefully break into a company that performs overseas,” Ms Carlson said.
“We have a company here at NICA, which six of us have formed, called Madhouse Circus, so we will continue to work together in the future.”
Rouge et Blanc will run between July 1-5 at NICA National Circus Centre in Prahran. Details: www.nica.com.au
