Nathan Boyle

Nathan Boyle has been a natural performer his whole life. After terrorising his parents at a young age with handstands and cartwheels, his parents saw his passion for performing and acrobatics and enrolled him in gymnastics. His passion for acrobatics took him to sports acrobatics where he represented and won titles for New South Wales at many national championships.

After accepting his position at The National Institute of Circus Arts, (NICA) Nathan specialised in cloudswing, adagio, bungee trapeze and teeterboard. A memorable moment for Nathan whilst at NICA was performing at an International Circus Festival (CIRCA festival) in Auch, France in 2009.

Nathan joined Circa as a full time ensemble member in 2011 and has since entertained audiences nationally and internationally. Some highlights for Nathan so far has been creating and world premiering ‘S’ at Brisbane Festival and travelling around Australia on the National Roadworks Tour in 2012. He is excited for all the new adventures still to come.

Jessica Connell

Jessica Connell completed a Diploma in circus arts at the National Institute of Circus Arts (NICA) in Melbourne. Formerly a member of the Flying Fruit Fly Circus specializing in hula-hoops and aerials, Jessica spent five years performing around Australia in a variety of productions. She also contributed to A4’s first production, Downpour in 2009.

In 2011 Jessica joined Circa where she was part of an eight-month season of Wunderkammer at the Chamäleon Theatre in Berlin. She then performed a three-month Australian regional tour of the Helpmann Award-winning show CIRCA. Jessica says one of her highlights was world premiering S by Circa at the Brisbane Festival in September 2012, which was her first new creation with the company. Jessica is excited to continue touring with the company and is looking forward to 2013.

Robbie Curtis

Robbie Curtis started off his circus career in the Flying Fruit Fly Circus. During his high school years he also performed with Opera Australia as a dancer, juggler and acrobat. After completing high school he moved to New Zealand to train in contemporary and classical dance at the New Zealand School of Dance in Wellington. After graduating, Robbie spent a year with Footnote Dance Company in Wellington, dancing in Shaun Parker’s production Happy as Larry in Australia and the UK.

Robbie has worked with Legs on the Wall in Beautiful Noise for Brisbane Festival, Voyage at the Birmingham Cultural Olympiad, and the opening of the Sydney Festival. He has also worked with the Australian Ballet in their 50th Anniversary season Infinity in Gideon Obarzanek’s work There’s Definitely a Prince Involved. Robbie has also collaborated and performed work by Anton, Alice Lee Holland, and Circus Monoxide.

He has performed with Circa on short contracts in Singapore, Sweden, France, Belgium, and regional Queensland and is very excited to have joined Circa as a full time ensemble member in 2013.

Jarred Dewey

Jarred grew up as a member of ‘Cirkidz’, an Adelaide based youth circus with whom he trained, performed and toured with for over five years.

He was a founding member of the circus/physical theatre company ‘The Rambutan Circus Collective’ which was awarded Best Circus/Theatre Show by Emerging Ensemble in the 2007 Adelaide Fringe for its season of Menagerie.

In 2010, Jarred graduated from the National Institute of Circus Arts (NICA) where he specialized in contortion, handstands and swinging trapeze.

Jarred joined Circa as an ensemble member in September 2011 and looks forward to touring with Circa throughout 2013.

Casey Douglas

Casey Douglas was born in Perth, Western Australia. Right from the start, he was a hyperactive child playing all the sports possible, leading him to ten years as a competitive gymnast. After completing his degree at the National Institute of Circus Arts (NICA) he received a grant for a training project in France where he completed further studies with seven handstand professors from around the European Federation of Professional Circus Schools (FEDEC). On returning to Melbourne, Casey ran Hardy Street Productions, a Circus Training and Arts Centre before becoming a founding member of ThisSideUp Acrobatics. For ThisSideUp Casey performed in France, London, Edinburgh Fringe, Watch This Space and Galway International Art Festivals. ThisSideUp was also commissioned by the Sydney Festival to create Smoke and Mirror, which won Best New Australian Work, Best Cabaret Performer & Best New Score in the prestigious Helpmann Awards.

Casey joined the Circa ensemble in 2012 and is looking forward to the new challenges Circa will bring his way, both for his mind and his body.

Freyja Edney

Freyja Edney fell in love with the circus at the age of three and has been training, performing, dreaming and playing ever since. Beginning in Melbourne with Circus Oz at age seven, she then spent seven years at The Flying Fruit Fly Circus, graduating in 2007.
Freyja first joined Circa in 2008, becoming a full-time ensemble member in late 2009. Her highlights with Circa include performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, opening the Montréal Complètement Cirque Festival, and two seasons at the incredible Circa Festival in Auch, France.
Freyja spends her spare time studying nutrition, cooking, knitting, doing yoga and going swimming.

Darcy Grant

Darcy Grant joined the Flying Fruit Fly Circus at age 13, graduating when he was 18. At 19 he joined Rock’n’Roll Circus now known as Circa. Darcy specializes in floor based acrobatics and pointless party tricks from a performance perspective but his talents also extend to training and directing having led a Circa team on a tour of Regional Queensland.

Darcy particularly enjoyed the 2008 season of by the light of the stars that are no longer… presented at La Tohu, Canada and is excited to see what the 2011 tour brings his way.

Scott Grove

Scott Grove has been performing professionally as an acrobat since he was 15 years old. He has toured all over Australia and Asia doing shows at schools, theatres, clubs and corporate events. Over the years he has also worked with various companies including the English National Ballet, the 2000 Sydney Olympics Opening Ceremony, Flying Trapeze Australia and the Tom Tom Crew. Off stage he spends most of his time surfing, playing music and eating large quantities of food.

Scott joined Circa’s ensemble in February 2010. His highlights thus far are the Circa Festival at Auch, France and the fantastic audiences at the Dublin Theatre Festival in 2010.

Rowan Heydon- White

Rowan Heydon-White started flying around on a trapeze at an early age. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Physical Theatre, she decided she wanted to actively delve further into circus and so moved to New Zealand to also complete a Diploma in Circus Arts.

Over the years she has performed widely around both Australia
and overseas for various events ranging from corporate & private functions, to festivals and many contemporary circus productions. Her highlights so far include touring with Circus Oz, Legs on the Wall, Awkward Productions and Catcher.

Rowan joined Circa in 2013 and is looking forward to the challenge of working closely with a new ensemble.

Bridie Hooper

Bridie Hooper has immersed herself in imaginary worlds since she was young but at the age of 11 she tumbled into Spaghetti Circus, where her imagination became entirely unleashed. She was taught to bend, fly and dream, and at 16, Bridie ventured south to the banks of the Murray River to join the Flying Fruit Fly Circus and embark on a national tour. In 2008 Bridie bid Australian soils ‘adieu’ to complete her studies at the Montreal National Circus School. In 2010 she performed in the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony and represented the Montreal Circus School at Festival CIRCA in France. Bridie performed in the Montreal Completement Cirque Festival in 2010/2011 and in 2012 she toured Quebec with Vague de Cirque, performed in GOP Variété Dummy and for L’Arsenal de la Musique in Italy.

Bridie joined Circa in 2013 and can’t wait to perform with the inspiring ensemble, be it under Poinciana Trees or in red velvet clad foreign theatres.

Todd Kilby

Todd Kilby from the New South Wales coastal city of Newcastle was born into the life of surfing and all things beach.
He is a black belt in Taekwondo and has both trained and performed with “Circus Avalon” and “Hands Free Physical Theatre” with whom he won a CONDA (City of Newcastle Drama Award) for stunt choreography.

He joined the National Institute of Circus Arts (NICA) in 2008 and whilst there worked with the Tangentyre Council in Alice Springs teaching in the local Indigenous Youth Circus Arts Centre. While specializing in Chinese Pole and Hoop Diving he has also been trained in Teeterboard, Adagio, Tumbling and Knockabout.
Todd is a multifaceted performer with a uniquely Australian style combining circus, dance, martial arts and drama. Todd has a passion and love of performing and entertaining audiences through exploration and raw human energy.

For Todd, Circa is an elephant of awesome in the Savanna of Circus.

Melissa Knowles

Melissa Knowles is a generalist performer with a focus on group acrobatics, aerial slings, duo trapeze, and juggling. She fell in love with circus in 2006 after seeing and then working with Dream Science Circus in Bellingham, WA (USA).

In 2009 she completed her professional training program at the New England Center for Circus Arts in Brattleboro, Vermont and, shortly after, was hired to teach classes at the school.

She has been performing with various companies in an around Vermont and across the States before she joined the Circa ensemble in 2013.

Emma McGovern

Emma McGovern’s passion for the physical art forms have led her on a journey through dance, physical theatre, circus and martial arts. Studying dance at the Conservatorium of Arts in Lismore in 1999 then merging into the world of circus, she has been working professionally for the last 8 years both in Australia and overseas with a variety of companies.

Emma became a Circa ensemble member in September 2009 having previously toured with the Company. She has many highlights including the Barbican in the UK, the Circus Festival at Auch, 46 Circus Acts in 45 Minutes at the New Victory Theatre, New York and performing in the world premiere of Wunderkammer in her home town of Brisbane as part of the Brisbane Festival 2010.

Rudi Mineur

Rudi Mineur was born in 1967 and started acrobatics in 1990. He began performing in 1992 and has continued to do so ever since. His passions include stairs, clouds, walking diagonally across roads and his family.

Alice Muntz

Alice Muntz joined the Flying Fruit Fly Circus, when she was eight years old. During her ten years at Fruit Flies she performed in a number of productions and was involved in workshops, teaching and a technical traineeship at the neighbouring theatre company, Hot House.

Having these experiences took Alice all around the country leaving her hooked.

Alice graduated in 2010, specializing in aerials and diabolo. Alice joined Circa at the age of 18 and hopes to continue performing, learning and growing with Circa in the future.

Kathryn O’Keeffe

Kathryn O’Keeffe’s background includes dance, gymnastics and circus. Kathryn trained in Canberra originally and performed with Quantum Leap (now QL2) before going to the Victorian College of the Arts to study dance. Kathryn then worked as an independent dancer/physical theatre and circus artist. From 2008 onwards, Kathryn was a performer with Strange Fruit where she toured nationally and internationally for festivals and events in shows such as Swoon!, The Spheres and The Field.

During 2010 Kathryn was part of the aerial resident company that performed Airbourne – directed by Doug Tremlett and choreographed by Sue Broadway at the World Expo in China where she performed in over 550 shows over six months.

Kathryn first worked with Circa in 2011 where she performed in the world premiere of Nocturne in South Korea. Kathryn became a full time ensemble member with Circa in 2012 where she has since performed in shows including S by Circa, How Like an Angel, CIRCA and Wunderkammer. Kathryn has loved being able to tour around the world and perform in theatre’s, outdoor venues and in thousand-year-old churches.

Paul O’Keeffe

Paul O’Keeffe, aka ‘the human whippet dexterous daredevil, neat freak and mister fixit,’ had his first professional gig at the age of 16 playing one of the lead roles in Skylark Theatre Company’s, Wake Baby. Since then he has toured the world from Kalgoorlie to 42nd Street, New York performing in circus, dance, puppetry, musical and physical theatre.

Off stage, Paul has co-founded extreme circus company, Kronik, set up a professional circus training studio in Melbourne, co-managed Warehouse Circus, ran independent circus troupes, and co-coordinated and implemented a number of circus workshops including one for 10,000 scouts over a 10 day period.

Paul has performed with Circus Oz, Circus Monoxide, Kronik, Cantina by Strut & Fret Production House, The Australian Choreographic Centre, Jigsaw Theatre Company’s adaption of The Lost Thing, Out Of the Blue Studios, Malcom C Cooke & Associates The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe and Legs On The Wall to mention a few…

Paul used to believe in his own immortality, now he just believes he’s a nut. He joined Circa as a full time ensemble member in 2013…. Stay tuned

Brittannie Portelli

Brittannie Portelli has over 10 years experience in elite sport, and so had the perfect foundations to transition into circus. After competing internationally in both aerobic gymnastics and synchronized swimming, she wanted to combine her love for physical movement with her passion for performing. She completed the three-year Bachelor Degree Program at the National Institute of Circus Arts (NICA) in 2010 where she specialised as an aerialist. Shortly after graduating, at the age of 20, she started working with Circa as a full-time ensemble member.

Whilst at Circa, Britt has toured throughout Australia and overseas and has many highlights including an eight-month season of Wunderkammer at the Chamaleon Theater in Berlin, a three-month Australian tour of CIRCA, performing in New York City and being a part of the world premiere of S by Circa in the Brisbane Festival 2012.

Kimberley Rossi

Kimberley Rossi grew up competing in athletics and playing representative AFL. After seeing one of Circa’s show’s, Kimberley joined Circa’s youth performance troupe Circa Zoo. After two years of training and performing Kimberley was given the opportunity to be the very first member of fast track, a program designed for young and aspiring performers within Circa.

In 2011 Kimberley left Circa Zoo and fast track and became a full-time ensemble member. Since then Kimberley has toured numerous shows in various countries. One of her highlights was performing Wunderkammer at the Sydney Opera House. Kimberley is excited about her career with Circa and cannot wait to see what the future brings.

Skip Walker-Milne

Skip Walker-Milne was born in 1991, growing up amongst the beautiful beaches of Victoria.

From four-years of age, Skip learnt to climb trees and soon after started walking on his hands. He started circus in 2008 and graduated from the National Institute of Circus Arts (NICA) in 2012.

Skip is passionate about food, jumping and surfing and is looking forward to working and touring with Circa in 2013.

Lewis West

Lewis West was born on Australia Day 1988 as the youngest of four boys. With a background in gymnastics, trampolining, breakdance and various circus disciplines, Lewis graduated from the National Institute of Circus Artists (NICA) in 2008 with high distinction in both theory and practice. The next day he flew to Brisbane to join Circa’s professional ensemble.

Although Lewis considers himself chiefly an ensemble performer who loves the group acrobatics that Circa performs, his solo work recently earned him a gold medal in the 2013 Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain in Paris.

He is still finding new and more varied things to love about circus.

Duncan West

Duncan West came to circus and subsequently, Circa by a more roundabout route than most. Having spent the last seven years working as a fire fighter full time, Duncan trained and performed around Sydney Australia simply for the love of moving his body and the friendships that are forged when working closely with other acrobats.

Having watched his little brother, Lewis West, perform with Circa for many years, Duncan always marveled at the acrobatics being performed on stage and never really dared to dream of being one of them.

Duncan joined Circa in 2013, and looks forward to all the adventures, excitement and challenges that the year will bring while performing with people he has only ever watched with the greatest respect and awe.