About Zoe
I was born in Portland, Oregon, USA, a city known for being funky, open-minded, and full of cyclists.
My youth was a montage of experiences: I rode horses and spent my weekends and summers working at the barn. By the time I was 12 I could lift a haybale (around 60 pounds) and had stopped growing at the grand height of 5 feet. I swam competitively and read as many books as possible. In highschool I sang and performed in my school’s theater shows, made a video documentary about the funkiest military surplus store in the town, and studied as hard as I could in the highest level classes to go to the best University possible.
I never thought I would become a circus artist.
My first year of University I tried everything possible: lucha libre (Mexican wrestling), jujitsu, coxswain on the crew team, National Novel Writing Month. But it was circus that stuck. I was constantly intrigued by how multidisciplinary it was; the need for strength and flexibility and grace.
I started taking aerial trapeze and handbalancing classes in Portland. Little by little my life became more about the circus and less about college. I quit college to do a prep year at the New England Center for Circus Arts, where I focused on aerial straps. I auditioned for the Ecole de Cirque de Quebec, and was accepted as a straps major, handstand minor. I have no regrets, and I never looked back.
The earlier experiences of my life greatly define who I am as a person and as an artist. I enjoy multidisciplinary works, uniting written word or live singing with straps and handstands. I was formed by the little underground art clubs that I bounced at; by the Farmers’ Market where I worked for 10 years, by the evenings traveling by bike and howling at the moon. I appreciate the absurd, adore the multilingual, and am not afraid of spontaneity.
Bits of Me
Favorite Word
Susuruss: Whispering, Murmuring, or Rustling
Favorite Food:
Homemade Gnocchi
Favorite Book:
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Favorite Quote:
“You do not have to be good./ You do not have to walk on your knees/ one hundred miles through the desert, repenting./ You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves." (Wild Geese, by Mary Oliver)
Aerial Straps
Art is inherently personal, political, and intersectional. I believe that art always has a message. My straps act grew from the question 'what do my straps mean to me?' into a need to tell a personal story and a desire to spark conversations and connections with a variety of people. My style combines the feminine and masculine parts of my being, the grace and the force, and the balance between the two.
Aerial Straps Demo
Handstands
I started doing handstands at the University of Puget Sound with Jacki Ward before returning to Portland to train them intensely with Nicolo Kehrwald. I have continued following my passion for handstands ever since with various coaches, notably Justine Menthe, Yury Boyzan, and Caroline Baillon. My handstand act took form after CircaFestival in Auch, France, where I was inspired by the intermingling of physical theater and circus; and the question of when does play and absurdity intersect.
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