Ep. 7: Jenny Tufts | Home, Heart, and the Spiral
(Approx. 10-12 minute read · Perfect for your next tea break ☕)
Intro
Bubble Bum Banter has always been about honest, grounded conversations with artists who live their art. It’s not about being perfect or polished; it’s about honesty, experience, and sharing the journey as it really is. What I love about this series is that it’s raw and real, stories that give a genuine glimpse into the creative lives of circus artists.
I first met Jenny Tufts through the Irish circus community, and even before that, I’d seen her incredible work online. She’s one of those artists who immediately stands out,not because she’s trying to, but because her movement and her presence have this quiet confidence and individuality that’s impossible to miss. I’ve always admired how she’s carved her own path, both in the air and on the ground, and how she brings such a thoughtful, down-to-earth energy to everything she does.
Jenny’s story really represents what Bubble Bum Banter is about, the mix of creative drive, discipline, and honesty it takes to live a life in circus. It’s not about chasing perfection but about finding balance, trusting the process, and learning to tune in to yourself along the way.
This one’s raw, real, and beautifully human.
Early Days & Background
Jess: Where did you grow up, and was circus always something you imagined doing, or was it something you stumbled upon later in life?
Jenny: I grew up in Vermont (rural northeast US, between Montreal and NYC), and despite my state being home to both NECCA and Circus Smirkus, I didn’t meaningfully connect with circus until my twenties. I saw La Nouba by Cirque du Soleil as a kid and enjoyed it, but the people on stage might as well have been aliens. No part of me looked at them and thought, “I could do that!” Then, in 2015, while working in Madrid as an English tutor, I saw Cuisine & Confessions by The 7 Fingers and left feeling electrified. Those were real people, just like me, telling real stories and also doing these incredible skills. I had nursed a recreational enthusiasm for flying trapeze and hula hoops throughout my college years, but after that show, I knew I’d never be satisfied without trying to have a career on stage.
Jess: Did you have a dream as a child of what you wanted to become, and was there a moment when that path shifted toward circus?
Jenny: I originally wanted to be a racehorse jockey, even dressed up as one for Halloween one year, so I guess a spark of desire for an unusual, physically challenging, high-adrenaline career was there from the beginning. But growing up in the US, which has an abominable record on arts funding and social welfare, I didn’t see a career in the arts as a real possibility. I was a pretty serious and academically driven teenager and went to university in New York to study politics, but blessedly found that I wasn’t exceptionally talented outside of my small pond, which gave me permission to put other things, like my hunger for travel and hula hooping at raves, ahead of my discarded political ambitions.
I’d say I got serious about circus in 2016, at age 25, when a job as an au pair in Australia freed me from rent and grocery responsibilities so I could spend every spare dollar and hour training with Melbourne’s phenomenal circus community. Massive credit also goes to the most supportive partner on the planet, who I began dating that year, and to Rachel Strickland, whose mentorship program The Audacity Project helped me in 2018 to bridge the gap between amateur and professional without the institutional support of a circus school.
(Hobbyist hooping at a beer garden in Brooklyn, 2015)
From Germany to Ireland
Jess: I remember chatting before, and you mentioned living in Germany for a while. What brought you over to Ireland, and what do you love most about the Irish circus community?
Jenny: At the start of 2020, I was planning to move back to the US and open an aerial studio because I thought being 28 and never having worked a real gig meant it was too late for me to have a performing career (lol). But in February 2020, I got an email out of the blue offering me a contract as a hula hooper on The 7 Fingers’ Duel Reality, and immediately burst into tears over my dinner. The thought of my first contract being with the company that first made me want to pursue circus was equal parts terrifying and exhilarating. It completely changed the trajectory of my future plans. Then, of course, COVID came along and wiped out that contract, but the belief in my performance career stuck. I ended up in lockdown with hoop legend (and now my life partner) Aisling Ní Cheallaigh, who didn’t have to work very hard to sell us on Ireland as our next home. I moved knowing there was a job waiting for me with Fidget Feet, who gave me the softest landing.
Side note: I got that 7 Fingers contract offer not because I applied or had a polished act video, but because a few months earlier I had taken a private lesson from one of my favorite hula hoopers who worked for the Fingers, and she, unknown to me, recommended me for the job. I didn’t have quite the skill level they needed, but she put me forward on the basis that I was a hard worker with the right potential. Get in the room with people, it’s magic.
(Show at Bliss Circus India,The same week I was offered my first contract 2020 /photo credits - Eimi Thoren)
Jess: Germany has such a big cabaret and variety scene, it feels like there’s always something happening. Do you feel like Ireland is still finding its rhythm in that sense, or do you think we’re catching up? Do we need more spaces and opportunities like that here, or do you see positive growth already happening within the Irish circus scene?
Jenny: It’s often said that you need great skill or great connections to get work. You don’t need both, but when I moved to Germany I had neither. I found Berlin very isolating, though I’m sure I would feel differently now that I have a much stronger international network of circus industry friends. As it was, I spent a great deal of time training hard and alone, so while I got pretty technically competent in the Berlin years, they were also the saddest of my life. (Shout out to my aerial students though, several of whom I still chat to regularly. You were a true highlight of that time.)
By contrast, every interaction I had with the Irish circus scene was like a warm bath for the soul. I think what Ireland still lacks in volume or scale of circus work, it more than compensates for in the strength of its community. I’ve been so enthusiastically helped by so many people here and love how encouraging the community is toward artists getting creative work onto stage, regardless of their level of technical skill. Given how young the industry is here and how much it’s grown in just the past ten years, I’m dead excited to see how it develops and privileged to be a part of it.
Training & Daily Life
Jess: What does a typical training day look like for you? Do you prefer working in a studio environment or training at home, and how do you balance that?
Jenny: Of course, as a freelancer, no day is typical. I’m currently working on a solo show, which means my absolute every waking hour is spent between technical training, improvising to create new material, sending logistics emails, and panicking at an incoherent Word doc titled “script.” But when I’m not on a specific project, I’ve been really enjoying weightlifting several times a week. I’ve been following a program called Perform Athlete, designed for acrobats, for about a year now, and after nearly a decade of being entirely self-directed in my training, it’s a delight to be told what to do. It’s filling a lot of gaps that my many years of self-led training neglected. I think a lot about something I believe Lindsey Butcher once said: “In your 20s your body takes care of you, but in your 30s you take care of your body.” I still love my time on aerial apparatuses but don’t need it every day or even every week anymore.
(Aussie Hoop Convention 2020) photo credits - Chris Bennet
Nutrition & Fuel
Jess: Nutrition is such a huge part of training and recovery. I’ve noticed a lot of circus artists focus on meal prep — it’s almost essential when you’re spending hours in the studio and don’t want to stop because you’re starving halfway through.
Lately, I’ve been bulk cooking and freezing meals — I actually bought a big chest freezer, so whenever we have a busy day we can just grab one, heat it up, and go. It seems like a common thing in the circus world, planning ahead so you can properly fuel instead of reaching for quick sugary snacks that only give short-term energy.
How do you approach nutrition and fueling your body around training?
Jenny: Every day I thank my lucky stars that I live with someone who loves to cook elaborate, healthy meals (love you, Asho!), so when I’m not away on tour, that takes a load of mental stress about nutrition off my plate. Like many young girls, I went through years of tracking food and counting calories and now regret the sheer number of hours I wasted obsessing over food and not, I dunno, enjoying life or learning a new skill. These days, I firmly believe that for me, any benefit of tracking macros or detailed food optimization could never be worth the emotional energy. Fortunately, I enjoy a variety of healthy foods, so I more or less eat whatever my body wants. I do have a USB-C rechargeable Ninja blender, which I adore and which helps me get in my protein powder and creatine (I think all other fitness supplements are probably bullshit, but these two have been genuinely helpful). I always make sure to have snacks in my bag whenever I’m training or touring — hummus and fancy crackers is my favorite pre-show snack. Or a really nice chocolate croissant.
The Spiral
Jess: I think I first came across you on Instagram performing on that incredible spiral aerial apparatus. I’m not sure of the exact name for it, but can you talk a bit about this? Where did you find it, and how long have you been working with it?
Jenny: To the best of my knowledge, aerial spiral was invented around 2011 by Seattle-based artist Tanya Bruno. The next year, Tanya came to Ireland and gave Irish company Fidget Feet permission to recreate her spiral, so when I came to Ireland in 2020 and started working for Fidget Feet, I had the enormous privilege of playing on theirs. In 2022, a casting agent for Disneyland Paris found one of my spiral videos online and offered me a contract as a spiral specialist in Disney’s Lion King show, and during those six months is where my relationship with spiral really developed. Even now that I own my own spiral, I don’t get to train on it more than a couple of times per year when I have access to a suitable space. At Disney there was a practice spiral permanently rigged in our warmup room, so I created my first act there in between shows. A few of my videos from that time went mega-viral, which was… interesting. I don’t usually answer DMs about spirals anymore because I just get too many, but I’ve written about them extensively on my Patreon.
Jess: I’ve seen you perform on some really unusual shapes, those spiral, squiggly, sculptural pieces that seem to dance on their own. When they spin, the tiniest shift or movement looks so trippy and hypnotic, it’s just so visually beautiful and eye-catching. There’s such a grace to it. When it moves in a circle, it almost feels like the shape itself is changing.
It’s amazing to see people exploring beyond the traditional circular hoop or trapeze into something more contemporary. And I don’t mean that in a way that takes from traditional circus, I absolutely love traditional circus. I think everyone brings their own magic to it. Like learning any skill, it’s all about repetition after repetition, drilling and refining until you find your own way through it. That kind of discipline and commitment is so inspiring in itself.
When it comes to your own work beyond the spiral, are any of the other apparatus pieces your own creations or collaborations? How did they come about, and what does that process look like from the first idea to bringing it to life?
I always find it fascinating to hear what goes on behind the scenes. Sorry, I rambled a bit haha, I just love hearing about this side of the work, and I think others will too.
Jenny: I commissioned the “Infineight” (my hoop and spiral hybrid, which kind of looks like a Möbius strip) in 2020 in response to some crippling insecurities I was having around aerial hoop. Because so many people practice hoop I was terrified of stepping on toes, accidentally using movement that someone else had “claimed,” and getting called out for it. It felt like nothing on hoop was safe anymore. Using unique apparatuses completely freed me from that fear, and in the process further developed how I like to move around steel structures. Now, when I come back to hoop, it’s just another steel shape. I no longer have those insecurities because, while other people’s ideas have absolutely influenced my work, I’ve also added plenty of ideas to the communal stew and the exchange feels balanced. Someday, perhaps when I no longer feel a draw toward touring, I’d like to learn how to weld so I can create my own new structures.
(my own spiral 2024) Photo Credits - Olga Kuzmenko
Jess: You’ve really built such a strong identity as an artist. I remember first seeing you perform with the spiral and that striking blue hair, it just really stuck with me. I’m not overly on Instagram and try to keep a healthy relationship with it, but from what I have seen, that image of you has really stayed in my mind. Of course, there’s so much more to who you are and what you do. How did you find that sense of identity and passion in your work? Did it come naturally over time, or did you have to try different things before it all came together?
Jenny: I love spiral and am so grateful for the opportunities it’s given me, but these days I’m always so much more tickled to be offered a hoop gig. When people want spiral, they want the apparatus, but when people want hoop, I know it’s actually my skill or style they want, which feels nice. I think my personal identity isn’t too wrapped up in Instagram aesthetics. Especially since going viral, I’ve kept a healthy distance from my account. I almost never post selfies or talk to camera, I just post my art and move along, and so far that continues to feel like a safe and fun way to stay involved with my international community without constantly performing “The Self.” On a personal level, I identify less as a blue-haired spiral dancer and more as a leftist, a connoisseur of puns, a gym bro, a bookworm, and a dad (dad being an energy, not a gender).
Jess: What advice would you give to artists who are still searching for that uniqueness, their own voice? It’s easy to get caught up doing what everyone else is doing, but your work feels so authentic and effortless, like you’re not trying to be anyone else. I just think you’re such a cool person haha, like effortlessly cool and so humble with it. How can others find that same sense of individuality without forcing it?
Jenny: I feel compelled first of all to let you know that I’m a total dweeb in person. But I do generally like myself these days. I think the key to developing your own movement voice is simply quality time spent with the things you love, you can’t rush it. You’re not going to be original on day one, and anyone expecting you to be is setting you up for a really heartbreaking time. Learn from as many people as you can, in as many areas as you can, and not just across circus disciplines. Take dance classes, acting classes, write slam poetry, read books. The more different sources inform your art, the more “unique” it will appear. I find it enormously relaxing to believe that everything counts. That one-off cyr workshop you took? It still fed into how your body perceives and reacts to physical stimulus, it doesn’t matter that you’ll never put a cyr wheel act on stage. We’re all just DJs, endlessly remixing the same foundations.
Also, follow what your body likes to do, not what you think it should do. I have hilariously short arms and legs compared to my torso, so I will probably never do Sarah Norden’s crossed-arm choreography (she’s one of my favorite aerial hoop artists to watch) or an easy straddle press to handstand, but I’ve always had expressive feet and a really strong backbend, so I naturally lean into those when creating. If you follow what feels good, your creations will always look best on you, because they were built for your own weird little body. Someone else’s choreography is bound to feel laborious, not because you’re unskilled, but because it wasn’t tailored specifically to your strengths and quirks.
Lastly, go see circus. Not much tours to Ireland unfortunately, but our festival programmers work hard to bring international shows to our community. Go out of your way to watch everything. I’ve never once regretted seeing a show, even the rare ones I deeply disliked, because it’s so important as a maker of circus to have a context for your work, to know what’s already being said and how. If you can, go abroad to Ed Fringe or other bigger festivals and just soak it all up.
(I made the paper! Touring my first show a handful of dreams by fidget feet 2021) - Irish Examiner
Looking Ahead
Jess: Looking ahead, how do you see your own future in circus evolving from here?
I ask because I really relate to that question myself. I started circus quite late, I first discovered hula hooping when I was 21 but didn’t start training properly until I was around 26. My family didn’t really understand it at first. They weren’t being negative, just worried because they couldn’t see a future in it. I remember people saying, “You won’t be able to do this when you’re 30 or 35.” Which just sounds crazy to me now because I’m this age. It’s so funny how as we get older, we become so much more open-minded and wise.
But now I’m 35, and honestly, I feel stronger and healthier than ever. It’s made me realize there’s no real limit in circus. There are artists still performing into their 60s and 70s. And even beyond performing, there are so many avenues within this world, teaching, directing, producing, designing, costumes, mentoring, all still part of the same creative world.
Do you think about longevity, or perhaps exploring a new direction, whether that’s still connected to circus or maybe something completely different?
Jenny: I was on a similar track to you, though I’ve stopped referring to my start as “late” now that so many people are beginning their aerial journeys decades later than we did. Still, I’ve worked with a lot of folks who have been doing acrobatics from the cradle, and I’ve come to realize that while not having early dance or gymnastics experience definitely slowed my development in some ways, it also meant my brain and ligaments never suffered the early stress of poorly managed youth programs. Exercise science has come a long way since the 90s, and there’s a good chance I saved myself a lot of damage by having a normal childhood and only getting into this as an adult with all the modern online resources at my fingertips. I hope this means I can keep performing healthily for as long as I find it interesting. I’m deeply inspired by artists like Tina Segner of Tumble Circus, who puts acrobats 30 years her junior to shame during end-of-day conditioning.
But if the day comes when I no longer find myself in love with circus, I could see myself as a fiction writer. An unlikely world to find success, absolutely, but no less likely than a quiet, nerdy kid from Vermont who couldn’t touch her toes having an international circus career, eh?
(poster image for 'NASC' 2022) Photo Credits - Olga Kuzmenko
Velvet or Stripes
Jess: And finally, the Bubble Bum Banter signature question: if you had to choose, velvet or stripes?
Jenny: I have to go with velvet. With blue hair, the look quickly gets chaotic, so I tend toward plain colors over patterns.
Outro
Reading through Jenny’s answers really gave me a lot to think about. There’s so much honesty in how she speaks and so much depth in her words. I love how she’s found her own way without forcing it. It’s not about having everything figured out, it’s about trusting yourself and growing into it over time.
I couldn’t agree more with what she said about Ireland. We might not have the same amount of shows or opportunities as other places, but what we do have is a really strong, close community that’s always ready to help. And like Jenny said, it’s not always about sending the perfect email or polishing a CV. So much of it comes down to showing up, taking part, and being around people who lift you up.
Even things like taking a private or going to a workshop can feel like a big expense, but I’ve always seen them as an investment in yourself. You never know who you’ll meet or what might come from it. I’ve been reminding myself of that a lot lately, especially with the Hoopla convention this weekend. It’s a full weekend of insanely talented hula hoop artists like Gail O’Brien, Mariana DeSantis, Gracie Marshall and more. Honestly, I was a bit hesitant to go at first because life, work, and kids can make it hard to justify taking that time, but I know from experience that these kinds of weekends always leave me feeling full again. It’s not just about learning new skills, it’s the feeling of being surrounded by people who are on the same path and just get you.
And I’ve been thinking a lot about what Jenny said on working with your body rather than against it. It’s so easy to fall into the “I’ll be happy when…” trap, I’ll be happy when I get my middle split, when I nail that trick, when I land that contract. But happiness doesn’t live at the finish line. For years, I tried to force open shoulders that just weren’t built that way until someone said, why not play to your strengths instead? Now I lean into my flexibility through backbends and shapes that suit my body. We all have different proportions and quirks, long legs, short torsos, tight hips, and that’s what makes each of us so unique to watch.
I also love how Jenny’s approach to fuel and nutrition reminds us to connect back to our own bodies. It’s so easy now to rely on fitness apps and tracking everything, which completely disconnects us from what our bodies already know if we just tune in and listen. It’s something I’ve had to relearn myself, stepping away from tracking and tuning back inwards to what feels right for my body. There’s such freedom in that, in moving and nourishing ourselves from a place of awareness.
Before we wrap this up, something that really opened my eyes was her view on “starting late” in circus. I’ve caught myself saying that so many times, almost as if it’s an apology and something negative. But the truth is, it doesn’t matter when you start. You’re not doing it just for the destination, you’re doing it to enjoy the process itself. Saying “late” makes it sound like you’ve missed something, when really, every step you take is part of it. You’re already doing the thing, and probably with better intention, which can actually be a huge advantage.
For me, performing became the dream in my mid-twenties, the thing I wanted to do every single day. But as the years went on, my path began to shift. I found myself craving a life that felt a bit slower, one where I could still be free-spirited but also grounded, with roots and a family. That doesn’t mean I’ve failed. It just means I’ve adjusted the direction a little to fit where I am and what I need now. So if something feels off or out of balance, it’s okay to stop and ask, what do I really want right now? Maybe it’s touring less, maybe it’s exploring new avenues that support your art in a different way. That’s not failure, it’s awareness. At the end of the day, it’s your life, and only you know what feels right.
And I guess that’s really what Bubble Bum Banter is about for me. It’s something I wish I could have made for my younger self, a kind of guidance book filled with stories from people who have walked the talk and are still learning as they go. Each conversation feels like a reminder to keep learning, to stay curious, and to keep finding your own way, wherever that may lead.
These stories, these voices, they’re all little reminders that we’re not alone in figuring it out. None of us ever really have it all together, we’re just taking it one step at a time, finding our way, and learning to enjoy this life that we’ve chosen.
Massive gratitude to Jenny for taking the time to share her story and reflections with such openness and heart.
Resources & Links
Perform Athlete
A strength and conditioning program designed specifically for acrobats and aerialists. use code JENNY25 for a discount!
Hoopla! The Hula Hoop Convention
A weekend celebration of hula hoop artistry, training, and community, featuring Gail O’Brien, Mariana DeSantis, Gracie Marshall, and more.
Find Jenny Tufts Online
patreon : Jenny Tufts - patreon
Instagram: @jenny_tufts
