By Luke Voogt
Jess Connell’s tree-climbing obsession as a child growing up in Albury-Wodonga led her to join the circus aged 14.
“My father suggested I join it, with all my energy and bizarre child-like behaviour climbing up trees,” said the 26-year-old, now living in Queensland.
The hula hoop specialist spent four years in the city’s Flying Fruit Fly Circus before joining Brisbane’s Circa Contemporary Circus, which comes to Geelong next weekend.
“My family lives in Ballarat so they’re coming to see the show, which is fantastic,” she said.
“I have a sister that lives (in Geelong) studying health science.”
Connell will perform alongside “six other very talented artists” in Circa’s new act Peepshow, which plays at Geelong Performing Arts Centre from 11 to 14 April.
The tantalising title had no sexual connotations, Connell explained, but rather the show would be “revealing in other ways”.
Circa’s “family” of performers were always questioning and challenging each other artistically, she said.
“We love each other, we hang out together and fight a lot – but we also have a beautiful level of professionalism- we love what we do.”
Connell encouraged adventurous young locals to think about joining a circus.
“Dancing, gymnastics and even martial arts are great platforms to move into the world of circus,” she said.
Geelong is the second stop on Circa’s last tour of Australia, before the circus heads to England and Germany for six months.
“We hope lots of people come to the show and enjoy it before we go overseas for a really long time,“ Connell said.
