Performer airborne again
Cowaramup-raised aerial performer Elke Uhd is back on dry land, but head over heels once again with a string of performances lined up for February’s Perth Fringe World.
Uhd spent months during the COVID-19 pandemic stranded overseas while working as a performer for a cruise line.
“Luckily, we had zero cases of COVID on board and all passengers were disembarked,” Uhd told the Times. “However, I ended up being stranded on the cruise ship for three months.
“Like the rest of our industry, in this time I also lost every single gig I had lined up for the next year.”
Show Me The 90s, which debuts at the Northbridge Spiegeltent on February 2, will be Uhd’s first performance since returning home. The fun and lively show promises a quirky, nostalgia-filled look back at the 1990s through fast and physical performances.
Uhd performs as an aerialist and Cyr a wheel expert in the show, which is directed by renowned Berlin-based circus artist Marie Bitaroczky.
Uhd said her love affair with the circus started as a youngster in Margaret River attending annual Lunar Circus visits.
“I was about eight,” she said.
“Every summer when Lunar came to town, I’d spend three weeks learning everything I could. I always knew I wanted to be onstage. I could never have imagined doing anything else and luckily my parents were always supportive, and running away to the circus was something they didn’t bat their eyelashes at, only encouraged.”
She qualified for the Circus School in Melbourne before her Year 12 exams and left to pursue her dreams six weeks later.
“When it came to graduating high school, I realised those summers at the Lunar Circus down in Karridale were the best part of my year,” she said
The West Australian cast of Show Me The 90s will offer thrills and spills as well as references to cultural touchstones such as tamagotchis, Nokia technology, butterfly clips and Video Ezy stores. Visit fringeworld.com.au for tickets, which start from $40.
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