September 12, 2025

Ep. 4:Aisling Ní Cheallaigh - Finding Strength On and Off the Hoop

Introduction

I first met Aisling back in 2017 when I booked some private lessons with her to learn aerial hoop. She was already a well-known name in Ireland’s circus scene, and I remember being completely struck by her strength and the way she moved with such effortless grace.

Since then, Aisling has gone on to become one of Ireland’s most celebrated aerial hoop artists, developing a style that is instantly recognisable and deeply inspiring. Her path has taken her from pole into hoop, through years of intense training, the highs of creating and performing, and the challenges of facing hip surgeries that could have ended her career.

Now, she’s entering a whole new chapter — preparing to become a mother while continuing to carve out her place in the circus world. In this conversation, Aisling opens up about her beginnings, her artistry, the obstacles she’s overcome, and what excites her about the future.

Interview

(First time on a hoop at the Irish Aerial Dance Festival 2012)(First time on a hoop at the Irish Aerial Dance Festival 2012)

Backstory & Early Days

Jess: Can you take us back to the very beginning — how did circus come into your life and how did you end up on the hoop?

Aisling: Circus came into my life thanks to my very first pole dance teacher Riikka Pentinsaari. She was also an aerialist and had attended the Irish Aerial Dance Festival’s inaugural year in Donegal in 2011. When booking opened for the following year she prompted me to sign up for it, so I did! I was so nervous when I arrived at the festival and seriously contemplated just hiding in my room and never coming out. But I’m so glad I didn’t because that week at the IADF turned out to be the most life-changing week of my life. My plan for the future had been to start a masters — I had just graduated with a degree in medieval history and wanted to continue narrowing my field of study into medieval medicine. But this one week spent at the IADF completely changed that. Within six months I was spending every available hour outside of my café job training aerial and was working with a group of fellow amateurs on creating our first show! Masters completely forgotten about, I spent my days in a gym on Richmond Road with three other fanatics combing YouTube for aerial tutorials. Hoop wasn’t actually my main discipline when I first started, it was tied with silks for about the first year. But by the time I attended my second IADF and got to learn from the indomitable Rachel Strickland again, I was all in on hoop. My dream was to be a combination of Rachel and Lindsey Butcher in the air when I grew up (I’m not sure how close I got but I have managed to copy Lindsey’s hair 😅).

(Photo from 2011 back in my pole days)

Jess: Since you started with pole before hoop, would you say that was the gateway into circus for you — and where you first built so much of your strength?

Aisling: Doing pole before hoop was definitely a huge help and part of why I fell in love with aerial so fast. Thanks to a year of conditioning on pole I could climb and invert, which is the first and hardest hurdle to starting aerial. I still have a huge love for pole and am constantly in awe of pole dancers like Lisette Kroll, but I don’t practise anymore.

Jess: How are you so strong — like seriously, abs of steel! I remember seeing you in Taking Flight doing what felt like endless long-arm inversions, and that was just your warm-up. You once told me you used to do ab work at the end of your bed, and it stuck with me because it showed that so much core strength can actually be built at home. I also got into the Unicycle Abs workout on YouTube — the one with the Cirque du Soleil artists that so many circus people swear by. Do you think simple things like 10 minutes of abs a day, even at home, can really transform someone as an aerialist? And is that something you’ve done yourself, or do you prefer to make up your own ab routine?

Aisling: Yes definitely! Training your body for aerial is something that takes tens of thousands of hours, but it doesn’t have to be done in one big chunk — every minute counts, even if you only have one to spare. So if you have 10 minutes for an ab workout or 5 minutes for some shoulder prehab, it will all help your aerial training (and in your life in general!). Cross-training is also hugely beneficial — if you don’t have access to an aerial space you can still work on your conditioning with weightlifting, handstand training or dance. If you want to completely transform your body however, it does take more dedicated time. I was really lucky to get to train for 6 weeks in École du Cirque du Québec in the Summer of 2014 where we had a two-hour conditioning class each day. The body that went in was definitely not the same one that came out, and I kept a lot of the conditioning habits I learnt there for years afterwards. However I have been delighted to find over the years that I don’t have to condition at the same intensity to maintain the strength that I have gained — 10 minutes a day is enough to keep me safe on the hoop.

Jess: You also move so gracefully — like a little ballet aerial artist. Did you have a background in dance or gymnastics as a kid, or did that movement quality come later through circus?

Aisling: I have no dance or gymnastics background (something I would definitely change if I could go back in time!). I credit my movement quality to all the amazing dancers I’ve had the privilege of working with over the years who’ve shared so much of their movement with me. Particularly Chantal McCormick (of Fidget Feet), Lee Clayden, Kat Cooley, Sianna Bruce, Rachel Strickland, and Lindsey Butcher.

(Taken at Le Monastére by Jean-François Savaria)

Training & Daily Life

Jess: What does a day in the life of Aisling look like?

Aisling: Oh that’s a good question because it really changes depending on what’s going on in my life and what kind of work I’m doing. When I’m in creation or rehearsals my days are usually 10am–6pm and I’m usually exhausted by the end of the day. When I’m on tour there’s usually more down time as we’re not expected at the venue until 2–3 hours before the show. For an evening show that’s usually around 5pm and for a kids’ show that can be as early as 7am! When I’m not working or touring I love to spend time playing on my hoop and training. I used to do that for 3–4 hours a day, 6–7 days a week. During Covid Jenny and I went mad and did 6–8 hours per day, 7 days a week because we were lucky enough to have access to an aerial space. I think I really burnt myself out during this period and it’s also when my hip pain got a lot worse. In the last two years my training has changed a lot. At first it was an adaptation to the chronic pain I was experiencing in my hips, which meant I was training maybe 2 or 3 times a week at most. Last year I had surgery on both hips and so have spent most of the year in recovery. This has meant I think I’ve spent only about 30–40 hours in the entire past 12 months actually training aerial. Is that terrifying? Yes. Am I panicking? Yes. Is it strangely nice to no longer obsess about training 24/7? Also yes.(The training space in Carrick on Shannon (pictured with Paul Thompson)

Jess: How do you structure your training to stay this strong and flexible? Is it something you do every day, or more when you can fit it in?

Aisling: I feel like I am the worst person to take training advice from. I used to be a lot more disciplined when it came to training, it had structure and I particularly enjoyed conditioning. Now however I mostly just noodle around on my hoop and throw some handstands.

Jess: Do you follow any kind of nutrition or recovery routine, or do you just go with how your body feels?

Aisling: Because I’m not pushing my body every day I don’t have a recovery routine, but I do try to eat as varied a diet as possible. I love to cook and so most of my meals are homemade. I was vegan for a while (for environmental reasons) but I found that restricting what I could eat was affecting my relationship with food. I therefore brought meat and dairy back into my diet, but I still don’t cook with meat — I only eat it if I’m out for food somewhere or if someone is cooking me dinner.

(Taken at WAKE by Ruth Medjber)

Signature Style

Jess: You’ve developed such a signature style on the hoop — like, even if it’s a simple sequence, people know straight away, that’s an Aisling sequence. That’s so rare in circus, because we usually learn tricks from other people and just repeat the drills. Did you have to really study and work on developing your own style, or did it just come naturally?

Aisling: I feel so lucky that I was able to learn from so many people at the beginning of my career, which exposed me to a huge variety of styles. When I first started aerial after the first Irish Aerial Dance Festival there were no recreational circus schools operating in the Republic of Ireland. Our main training space was actually in Carrick-on-Shannon where Shane Holohan (founder of Taking Flight) ran a gymnastics gym and was expanding to aerial. A bunch of us would spend weekends training there and Shane would organise workshops whenever we could grab passing artists like Fidget Feet or Tumble Circus. In the interim I would train in Dublin with friends in different spaces around the city that we would get our hands on, like Raw Gym, Delight Studios and the old Filmbase building.

When I started working for Fidget Feet, Chantal helped me to write my first Arts Council application, which was a travel and training award for €1,000. I was successful and used it to travel to Montreal, the home of Cirque du Soleil and so many amazing artists. I spent two weeks there getting private lessons and came home brimming with new ideas and inspiration. I did this several more times over the following years, traveling between contracts to learn and then coming home to train and let the ideas percolate through for another year. I think this meant that instead of being moulded to any one style, I became exposed to many different movement patterns and bodies. Training alone most of the year also meant that I tended to follow my body’s own natural patterns instead of trying to copy someone else’s.

I have a flexible lower back, a good pike, terrible middle straddle and no upper back flex — and my style really reflects this. More than my assets, it’s my limitations that I think has really driven my signature style.

Jess: As a hula hooper, I’ve always struggled with finding that uniqueness — what makes me different to other hoopers. For someone who wants to stand out a little and develop their own style, what advice would you give?

Aisling: I always feel like such a fraud giving advice but I would say the best thing you can do is to ask yourself, “what if?”. What if instead of doing it this way I reversed the sequence? What if I took the principles this artist is using to do this amazing move and tried it with my body’s limitations? For example, I can’t sit on my own head but the transition the artist used had this really cool accidental shape in the middle of it — can I recreate that without the sitting-on-the-head bit?

Most of these “what ifs” will end up being dead ends, but some will be absolute gold. My favourite “what if” so far was given to me by a friend and fellow aerialist Emmen Jude Donnelley. He asked, “What if you could do a roll up somewhere on the hoop like you would on a rope?”. This itched at my brain for literally a year until I discovered the roll up on the top of the bar that I’ve used in every act ever since.

(Performing The Lost Bride)

Challenges & Recovery

Jess: You’ve had two hip surgeries in the past year — how come you needed that? Did you injure yourself through aerial?

Aisling: I’ve written a good bit about my hips on my Patreon so I am going to borrow some of what I wrote there to explain what the problem was and why I needed surgery. My hips have been an issue for almost as long as I have been doing aerial and in that time I’ve seen multiple physios, osteopaths, chiropractors, massage therapists and acupuncturists. Although most were able to give me some relief the pain was steadily getting worse.

My motivation to train plummeted and when I did make it to the studio I cried a lot. I fantasised about quitting aerial altogether. I was frustrated, exhausted and angry. Bit by bit I watched all the things I loved to do, so much of the choreography I had created, become impossible. On one particularly bad day I threw my phone at the wall screaming in grief and anger, collapsing to the floor in tears of shame. Why was I not handling this better? What was wrong with me?

The pain manifested as a constant dull ache around my pelvis with the surrounding muscles feeling tense and overworked. I often felt like my pelvis was made of glass and that any impact would just shatter it. Certain movements caused a clicking or “catching” sensation and sometimes a sharp stabbing pain. On particularly bad days I would get femoral nerve pinch, which is like sciatic pain but down the front of the leg rather than the back.

In 2021 I decided to ask my GP for an MRI. The push for this came from Ana Prada, a dancer and aerialist I worked with earlier that year. She’s the founder of Vayu Yoga, a practice that focuses on psoas release and somatic breath work. While adjusting me in class she noticed the way the head of my femur interacted with the socket of my hip and recommended a scan. Ana is a person for whom western medicine is the absolute last course of action and so I knew she would not suggest this lightly. That was really the push I needed and so a few months later I got an appointment for an MRI.

The results came back with a suspected tear in both the left and right labrum, the cartilage inside of the hip joint. I had never heard of the labrum in the hip — as an aerialist I had only ever heard of the labrum in the shoulder. After some frantic googling I learnt that the hip labrum is a ring of strong, flexible cartilage that rims the outer edge of the hip socket. Besides cushioning the hip joint, it acts like a rubber seal or gasket to help hold the ball at the top of the thighbone securely within the hip socket. Labral tears are often the result of repetitive use from high-impact sports or a one-time trauma. For this reason it is often called “Kicker’s Hip” or “Dancer’s Hip” for its propensity to happen to footballers and ballet dancers. This kind of tear is caused by repeated micro-traumas over the course of years and I am pretty sure that my tears were caused in this way rather than a one-time trauma.

I spent the following two years trying every treatment available — more physio, steroid injections, PRP injections — but nothing worked. And so on August 24th 2025 I got surgery on my left hip followed by my right hip on the 14th of December. The surgery was called an arthroscopy, which entails an arthroscope (a small video camera) being inserted into the hip to examine the joint through three incisions about a quarter inch in size. The surgeon can then repair or remove any damaged tissue, such as a torn labrum or loose cartilage, and shave down the bone if needed to prevent further damage.

{Taken at Le Monastére by Caroline Thibualt}

Jess: How did recovery affect you — did it feel like starting all over again, or were you able to bounce back quicker than you thought?

Aisling: I found recovery actually easier than dealing with the pain I had before the surgery. Recovery has an end to it — I was working towards a time when I should be pain free rather than groping around in the dark for answers like I was before. I was able to come back to the hoop earlier than I thought I would, which was wonderful, but there were also things that took longer. I am still struggling to sit cross-legged and my internal rotation needs a lot more work. However I am now 99% pain free, which is absolutely amazing. I know surgery is not for everyone but I am so happy I did it.

Jess: I’ve also been advised to have surgery myself — the NUSS procedure, for pectus excavatum, where the ribcage sinks in. I know it would help me in the long run, but the idea of that huge recovery puts me off because I don’t want to lose all my gains or time training. Did you ever feel that same fear before your surgeries, and what gave you the courage to go through with it?

Aisling: Knowing that there was an end in sight is what gave me the courage to go through with the surgery — and the fact that I was in daily pain. I was willing to give up my aerial career if it meant the pain would go away. To be able to come out of this pain free and still able to be in my hoop is an absolute dream.

Support & Community

Jess: Over the years, you’ve helped me so much with my Arts Council applications — and I know I’m not the only one. You’ve always been so generous with advice and encouragement for other artists in Ireland. Did you have someone like that in your own journey, who supported you in the same way?

Aisling: I have had so many amazing people in my life that have helped and supported me over the years. First and foremost is Chantal McCormick who helped me write my first Arts Council application and countless others over the years. She has blazed the way for the circus community here in Ireland and it’s thanks to her example that I think people are so generous to one another here. It’s too easy to give into the idea that we are all in competition with one another for grants but that’s not true — the more people that make strong applications the more reason the Arts Council has to make the pot bigger the following year (and they have so much since I started back in 2012). We should pool and share our resources whenever we can and never miss an opportunity to pull someone up behind us.

Jess: I remember you once telling me that you applied five or six times before finally having an application accepted. Where did you find the motivation to keep going after all those rejections? Did you ever feel like giving up?

Aisling: Yes absolutely, it’s so demoralising to pour your heart and soul into applications and get nothing back. In fact this year I made two large Arts Council applications and three residency applications and I got a rejection for each one. But what stops me from giving up is that funding decisions are not personal — they are often just the right project at the right time. I’ve been lucky enough to sit on two panels for Arts Council funding which means I’ve been part of assessing applications and making funding decisions. I’ve seen how they work and I understand what the Arts Council are looking for in an application. But more than that I’ve seen how so many decisions are based on who is on the panel and what their definition of circus or a good project is. The panel changes for each award so you can never guess what their decision is going to be. I’ve made applications I thought were perfect and been rejected, and all you can do is pick yourself up and try again.

Jess: For me, I’ve applied four times now for the Circus Bursary and haven’t been accepted yet. There have definitely been moments where I’ve thought about giving up. Right now, I’m just taking a break while my baby is small, but I know I’ll revisit it when the time is right — and I hold onto something you once told me: just keep at them, keep going, if they know you’re that committed, eventually they’ll have to accept one. That advice really stuck with me. Do you still stand by that for other artists applying now?

Aisling: I definitely think trying multiple times is worth it — but not just because they will begin to know your name, but because the more you write these applications the better you will get at them. I would also urge people to ask anyone they know who has been funded if they can read their successful application. Chantal did this for me and it’s how I learnt what goes into a good application.

Jess: And now that you’ve gone on to receive support and have applications accepted by the Irish Arts Council, what kind of projects did that allow you to work on? Was there one in particular that you’re most proud of or that felt really special to you?

Aisling: I got my first solo project award last year which was really exciting — to create a full theatre version of my short piece The Lost Bride. I am currently really excited about this project and can’t wait to get into creation!

Jess: Do you have any advice for other circus artists in Ireland who are putting themselves forward for funding or applications?

Aisling: As I said above, ask anyone you know who’s received funding if they would share their application with you, and ask them to proofread yours once you’re finished with it. To get the most out of their advice try to get this to them a good bit before the deadline. I’ve often been asked to proofread very close to the deadline which is tricky because in some cases the application needed a big re-write but you can’t tell the artist because you know they just don’t have the time and will only panic. My second piece of advice would be to choose mentors who have a track record at getting things done and who are preferably known to the Arts Council. When assessing an application the Arts Council want to know three basic things: What are you doing? How will you do it? Who will you work with to ensure this project actually happens? The “who will you work with” is basically asking, “how do we know you will do what you say?” For example, if I am working with Chantal the Arts Council know that she would never allow me to not complete or fully deliver a project. This gives them confidence that the proposed activity will actually happen. And my third piece of advice would be to not stop applying.

New Chapter – Pregnancy & Motherhood

Jess: Huge congratulations — you’re 15 weeks pregnant! How are you feeling so far?

Aisling: Thank you! We are so delighted and excited!!! I am feeling mentally and spiritually full and happy but physically terrible. I started getting pretty constant nausea at week 6 and it’s only starting to ease now, which has meant no training since early July.

Jess: Has pregnancy changed how you train or how you feel in your body?

Aisling: 100%! The nausea has kept me away from the studio so my only time in the hoop has been when I’m teaching. I’ve had to tell all my students so as to reassure them that I am not randomly burping or gagging at anything they are doing! I generally feel very strange in my body, like I’ve woken up inside a different person each day. It’s not altogether an unpleasant feeling and it’s definitely fascinating. I am constantly in awe of the fact that my body is growing a human from scratch!

Jess: In my first pregnancy I avoided all core work because that’s what I was told to do, and I ended up with really bad back pain. In my second pregnancy I kept up with core, and it completely relieved the aches. Do you think that “no core” advice is a myth? Have you been keeping up with your core strength?

Aisling: From what I’ve researched it’s really important to keep your deep core muscle strength for back and hip stability. However it seems best to try not to work rectus abdominis because this has to be allowed to stretch and split to accommodate the bump. It’s therefore advised to avoid exercises that cause the abdominal muscles to bulge or “coney,” such as full sit-ups, crunches, and double leg lifts. Instead I am focusing on safe alternatives like pelvic tilts, modified planks, bird dogs, and side-lying leg lifts. I’ve no idea if this is the right way to go about it but I can report back after pregnancy!

Jess: Are there any exercises that just don’t feel good right now — things you’ve decided to avoid?

Aisling: Yes, but I am not sure if that is due to pregnancy or due to the lack of training. When I stopped training in July I was only just back to full turning after the second hip surgery, so I’ve had a year of very little training. This coupled with a lot of teaching has meant my shoulders are not the happiest. Just today I tried a long-arm inversion and found that my core did not want to engage as much as it used to and my shoulders did not want to push — and so between the two, I didn’t make it up. I can still get up using a flare but I think my days of 10 static inverts in a row are suspended for now. It will be something I can look forward to getting back to as part of my postpartum recovery journey.

Jess: How do you think your hoop training will look as your pregnancy progresses and your belly starts to grow?

Aisling: I have no idea what my training will look like as pregnancy continues and that’s rather exciting. So much of my work has come from limitation so I’m excited to see if I discover anything new from all these new changes.

Jess: How do you imagine motherhood will look alongside your career — will circus have to take a step back for a while, or do you see yourself getting back to work after some time?

Aisling: As this is my first child I think I can speak with absolutely no authority. I have no idea what motherhood is going to look like and I’ve no idea if I will be able to continue with my career or will need to take a very extended break. I would definitely like to come back to it as soon as it’s possible but I am open to the fact that might take some years.

Jess: Do you think circus in Ireland has enough support for artists, especially women balancing pregnancy or motherhood? Do you feel like we need more help and support in this area?

Aisling: YES! We definitely need more help! The Arts Council argues that childcare is not an access cost and that there are other government bodies available to help with that, but I disagree. Childcare is a huge barrier to working in the arts and the Arts Council should at least accept childcare expenses in the budget of those applying for funding.

Lastly...

Jess: If you had to choose — velvet or stripes?

Aisling: That’s a hard choice, I love both but if pushed I’d say velvet :)

Outro

Talking with Aisling reminded me of why I started Bubble Bum Banter in the first place — to share the stories of artists who inspire us not only with their skills, but with their honesty and resilience. From her early days of training to carving out her signature style, pushing through surgeries, and now preparing for motherhood, Aisling shows us that the circus journey is never a straight line. It’s about adapting, finding strength in unexpected places, and continuing to create even through change.

I’m so grateful to Aisling for sharing her story so openly here. I know so many people in the Irish circus community (and beyond) look up to her, and it’s easy to see why.