The Gender Split
11 November 2013
One of the first things people say when I tell them I study Circus is ‘Oh my, you must be really flexible!’ and I have to smile politely. I am not flexible. I was never flexible as a child, and so I’m not one of those people who have to regain their lost flexibility, I am having to achieve it for the first ever time, and I am finding it an immense struggle. Some people take quickly to flexibility, and there are people in my year who have made astonishing progress already, but sadly I’m not one of them, despite flexibility training taking up almost all of my practice time hours.
As well as being very disheartening, it is also very apparent how much expectation there is on me to be flexible because I’m a woman. Some people on meeting me often assume that I’m highly acrobatic and flexible because I’m petite, which is odd to me, but sadly seems to tie in with the view from some in the industry that female circus artists need to be a certain way. In many ways, circus is a very free genre, and one where gender has always been a transmutable quality, but it does seem that there is still something of a gendered performance expectation that men need to be strong and women need to be bendy.
I want my flexibility to increase, not so I can fit a stereotype, but so I can better perform the moves and techniques that I want to do. I am trying to stay positive and to see improvements, but right now it feels like something of an uphill battle.
About Vendetta
Vendetta is a Scottish aerialist curently studying at The National Centre for Circus Arts in London. This site is where she shares her experiences on training in one of the worlds top circus schools.
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