International hula hoop star Lisa Lottie recently spoke to us about her journey from the streets of London and Brighton to appearances in India, Australia and Canada. She has a wealth of experience garnered from experiences around the globe performing in a variety of venues and events. So, who better to ask about the dos and don’ts of becoming a circus performer?

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If you too are considering running away to the circus it may be prudent to take on board some of the hard-won and valuable advice Lottie dishes out below:

Do:

  • Watch shows as many as you can. If you’re under 26 and you are in the UK you can get into so many shows for FREE. Seriously! Do your research and watch all you can.

  • Practice every day. Don’t be lazy. As a circus artist, you can’t be lazy, it simply doesn’t work. Practice every day, no matter how tired you are. Give yourself a physical rest day but still work mentally on what you know needs the work.

  • Ask people to watch and review your work. Put on some leathers and deal with the criticism. Film yourself, if you think it’s good ask yourself how you can make it better.

  • Spend the money! On good promotional material. On gorgeous costumes. Get some good shots, get a good video, spend money on a website. Don’t skim and try to get things for cheap. If you always go for cheap people will only want to get you for cheap. I am a firm believer of this. If you don’t have any money start out with what you have then improve everything as you go along. It will make you feel so good, I promise.

Don’t:

  • Compare yourself to others, ever. We all get here through different paths of life, that’s what makes it so special, you cannot compare apples to horses, a dancer is not a clown is not a gymnast is not a poet. Work on yourself, put a pair of blinkers on, fuck I don’t care, just work on yourself.

  • Act like a superstar. Circus artists are not superstars and they never will me. We are not in the movies, or in music. Your job is to train and perform to the best of your capabilities, you will often go home to a three star hotel, because you are not a celebrity. Even the biggest circus artists in the world are still not celebrities, so don’t act like one!

  • EVER think that you cannot do something. You are in the wrong business. You can do anything that you want. If you don’t believe it, go back and work on that first.

 

For more information visit Lisa Lottie’s website.

Photo credits: Claudia Crobatia, Tigz Rice Studios.