My Story
My circus journey began at age 10 after I saw Cirque Du Soleil’s Ovo, and fell in love. Mom saw the look on my face when I saw a woman swinging around in the air by only using her foot, and knew I wanted to try circus. She ended up finding a Groupon to a local aerial studio in Dallas and I fell even more in love after my first aerial silks class. I performed for Dallas Cirque Theatre until 2019. It’s where my love for aerials grew until my ambitions were set on a professional career as an aerialist. There’s a TEDX Talk my studio was a part of if you’d like to see what I was up to at 15.
From this point on, I was aware I had a lot of foundational work to do when I started applying to circus schools in Canada. I auditioned for circus schools from 2018-2020. Each time my application was denied I knew it wasn’t because I was a terrible artist, but I had no experience in dance or tumbling… and if I’m being really honest, my acting could’ve used a lot of work. So each year I worked hard on improving those areas. I even moved to Atlanta to work with a coach who really brought me out of my shell. Michael, I’ll never be able to thank you enough. By my third year auditioning for Ecolé de Cirque de Quebec, I was accepted into the school’s program with aerial straps as my chosen discipline.
Life had other plans for me when covid-19 changed the world in 2020. Due to the new regulations, the school had to minimize their 2020 fall class and my program was canceled for that year. I was devastated to say the least. So much so, I decided that I would give up my plans of becoming an aerialist and give up aerial straps.
I went back to school to pursue a degree in Kinesiology. The first year was great, I started making friends and was a teacher’s assistant for my school’s aerial silk classes. Despite having amazing friends and teachers around me, I truly didn't feel like I was on the right path. It was my life and I was laughing, but I wasn’t happy. I ended up dropping out of school in the middle of my semester in 2021. My grandfather, who I loved very dearly, passed away the summer before and the grief was too much to handle on my own. I felt like I needed to move back home to Texas and be with my family. So there I was no career, no school degree, and no idea what I wanted to do in life. I felt like a complete failure in everything I tried to do.
To my surprise, life didn't end at age 22. In fact, as if the universe decided it was time, opportunities started to come my way. I was hired at Dallas Circus Center to be an instructor and felt like I had a new purpose. I was accepted into ENC’s teacher training program and have had the opportunity to learn from the circus school in a different way. There were gig opportunities for me to perform professionally in Dallas. I even began to train aerial straps again after 2 years of not touching the apparatus. I felt like I was allowing myself to heal. Next, my coworkers and I decided it would be cool to go on a train-cation in Las Vegas. Here’s where I met my current coach David Gray. In one lesson I went from struggling to hold a backflag, to actually being able to breathe comfortably in the position. It was this tiny moment, this one-hour class, that completely altered my future.
I had that class in July of 2022, and in October of 2022, I moved to Las Vegas. I moved here to train aerial straps, and I am overjoyed with the amount of progress I have made since being here. This year I caught my first big break, and I was hired to work and perform at the Omnia in Caesar’s Palace. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have such amazing friends and family supporting me on my journey. I consider aerial straps to be my main discipline, but I do many aerial apparatuses because there is nothing I love more than being high up in the air! I have experience performing on Aerial Silks, Aerial Straps, Aerial Hoop (Lyra), Harness, Halo Harness, Spanish Web, Umbrella, Sphere, Spanset, Hammock, and Duo Static Trapeze.
After not knowing what I wanted or how to get there for many years, I can confidently say that performing as an aerialist is an art I want to dedicate the rest of my life to. I will never give up on myself again. If you’ve made it this far reading my story, thank you. If I could offer you any advice, I would tell you to never give up on your dreams either. Life has a funny way of working things out, and everything is going to be okay.
