Cast member profile: Shaena Brandel

Shaena is an aerialist and circus performer who originally trained at Circomedia in Bristol. She has been performing for 13 years all over the world, from Mumbai to Latvia. This included five years touring with NoFit State Circus performing in the award-winning shows Immortal and Tabu. She has also performed with various other companies, including Giffords Circus, Stereophonic Circus, Swamp Circus and Cirque Bijou. She is co-founder, choreographer and performer in CIRQ-U Aerial and Circus Duo, and Raised Aerial Dance with her sister Tara.

Shaena has featured in three films: Mirrormask, Birds Get Vertigo Too, and Fool’s Gold. She has also appeared as (among other things) a showgirl with Giffords Circus, a fallen angel at the Tate Modern, a tropical bird at Legoland, and a human mirror ball in Egypt. You might have seen her pictured in adverts on the side of an Edinburgh bus, on the front of The Roundhouse in London, all over the London Underground, and also on the front cover of the Observer magazine.

Q and A

Who do you most admire?
My mum, who has never questioned my choice to become a circus artist and who wholeheartedly taught me to follow my dreams. I also admire artists, revolutionaries and my son, Taidgh.

What was your most memorable performance?
Performing with NoFit State in Immortal in Cork (where I was born). The audience were stunned by the show: I don’t think they’d seen anything like it. And my 97-year-old godmother was watching. It was something I never imagined would happen.

What are your specialist performance skills?
Aerial hoop. As well as a traditional aerial hoop, I work on a large aerial hoop (measuring 2m across), which is an original piece of equipment that I created myself.

What are you looking forward to about performing at Eden?
Eden is such a beautiful place, and I’m really excited about the possibility of performing aerial in the Biomes. Aerial is a great complement to stunning architecture and environments. I’m also hoping to learn the botanical names for some plants while I’m there!

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