Name:
Emily Rose Greenwood, AKA Emily Rose Circus.
Age:
Seasoned performer and still kickass!
Favourite discipline:
My preference for skills varies over time! It started off as solo trapeze and acrobalance, then corde lisse (rope), then aerial hoop and silks working professionally for many years, then doubles trapeze and doubles hoop and now I’m back into solo trapeze and silks! I love Chinese pole but it takes soooo long to rig! I also perform fire dancing, stilts, circus theatre and clowning.
Years active at Greentop:
2003-2020. I started out in 2003 as a student on the Circus In Performance course, and from 2004 to 2019 I was active as a multi-skilled performer through Greentop’s talent agency. Between 2004 and 2020 I tutored aerial, clowning, stilts and handheld skills. Between 2009 and 2016 I was an aerial tutor on the Circus In Performance course, and between 2009 and 2020 I worked as one of our in-house riggers!
Favourite discipline:
My preference for skills varies over time! It started off as solo trapeze and acrobalance, then corde lisse (rope), then aerial hoop and silks working professionally for many years, then doubles trapeze and doubles hoop and now I’m back into solo trapeze and silks! I love Chinese pole but it takes soooo long to rig! I also perform fire dancing, stilts, circus theatre and clowning.
Where I am/what I’m doing now:
I’m mainly teaching adults’ intermediate trapeze and hoop. Sometimes I’m teaching young people’s silks/trapeze/hoop/handheld skills. I’ve not performed this year due to the pandemic, but I’m not hanging up my Lycra just yet!
Favourite joke:
How do you kill a circus performer? Go straight for the juggler!
The impact Greentop has made on my life:
I loved coming to Greentop in the early days as a student. Although I’d worked in circus two years before this, it gave me the tools and confidence to be a good performer and teacher. I met lifelong friends and colleagues through this. I even ended up meeting my life partner here, with whom I now have twin boys aged 9 and a home in Sheffield. Sheffield is a fantastic city and base to travel from.
My circus story:
Currently, teaching and training at Greentop keeps me sane and when all else during this crazy Covid year is uncertain, I feel supported by the staff, my colleagues, the volunteers, and teaching my students is the best! My fondest memories and biggest achievements of my circus career include performing at Glastonbury and Edinburgh festivals with performers I’d met on the Circus in Performance Course, and travelling to Shenzhen in China for a gig booked through Greentop with designer label Louis Vuitton. My aspirations for the future are to train in high-level trapeze, and get more experience in teaching those skills with students on a lunge belt so they can try some scary yet exciting moves! I’m planning to invest in my own aerial rig to train/teach on at home, and take around to festivals to teach/run shows.
Performing aerial for me is uncertain as I’d need the money, time and support, and for the foreseeable future those opportunities are rare due to my other commitments. When I retire from circus I may work as an aromatherapist and/or nutritionist, as I’ve done a lot of research into those therapies and would like to do more professional training. However, as I said… I’m not hanging up my Lycra just yet!!!