A Little About Me

I first fell in love with circus when I would go every year to Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Baileys Circus (ZL) with my cousins. Ringling was often in town during Passover, and we would all go together because, as Jewish Day School kids, we were all on break. I will always remember the laughs, fun, and spectacle of it all, and experiencing it with my family. I will also remember being able to spot all the other Jewish families by the paper bag full of Kosher for Passover food — god forbid we don’t eat for two hours!

Since then my involvement with both circus and Judaism has grown. I attended Jewish Day School from preschool through high school; I was deeply involved in USY; I Took a gap year in Israel through the Conservative Movement; I studied at Hebrew U for a semester; I then went on to study with noted Biblicist Evrette Fox at Clark University, where I completed my BA.

I have since completed my Master’s degree in Film and Media Studies at Columbia University where my thesis focused on the new field of Circus Studies and its intersection with film theory. I have presented on Circus Studies at national and international academic conferences and have a forthcoming publication on the subject of my thesis. I have performed and coached on the professional level spanning three continents. One professional highlight was co-founding the Kasikonde youth circus in Kampala, Uganda: a program that served at risk youth in Kampala and trained them to work as professional circus performers and coaches. This program, though now closed, saw exciting successes -- all of the original cohort who stayed with the program now work as circus professionals. My circus specialties are in juggling, double trapeze, and flying trapeze. For the last two years I have been a recipient of the GO! Emerging Artist Commissioning Grant, a program funded by Jerome Foundation, and the Streb Lab for Action Mechanics. I find joy in letting my theorization of circus direct my practice, and my knowledge of circus practice corroborate my theories of circus.