Aoife Raleigh: You Don't Know Your Own Strength
Introduction
I first met Aoife Raleigh when she booked me for a gig at a beer event in Ireland. I can’t remember which event it was now, but I remember her. She was on stilts that day while also keeping an eye on everything happening around her.
Aoife is a circus artist and producer, and one half of StrongWomen Science. It’s a fitting title. Not just because of what she can do physically, but because of the way she thinks, works, and shows up.
A few years later I was training at the Dublin Circus Project space in Broombridge, where Aoife was heavily involved. It was a long way from the south side of Dublin, but worth the trek. The space was affordable, you could book in to train whatever you were working on, and if you had something to teach you could use it for that too. It felt like a proper home for the circus community in Dublin.
It turns out we also trained at the same school, the Beijing International Arts School, with Aoife going a little after me. Our experiences there may well have been quite different, and it was really interesting to hear hers.
Her latest project, Circilár, is building a training pathway for circus artists here in Ireland, and that’s where much of our conversation goes.
Early Days
Jess: I’d love to start at the beginning. What were you like as a child? Were you always climbing, performing, making things, being curious, or trying to figure out how things worked? And when you look back now, does your childhood make sense of the work you do today?
Aoife:
Yes and no! Yes, because I was a climber from the time I could walk. My parents had to tie me into the cot because I always found a way to climb out if I woke up in it. I quickly progressed to climbing trees from the time I was three, and this was my favourite pastime for a lot of my younger years. I did some drama classes for a few years and I loved it, but I had to stop when I went to secondary school. I was very sporty, I played Gaelic football, hockey, basketball, did some cross-country running and a lot of cycling. A lot of it was to get out of class, but I actually won a few All-Ireland medals for cycling.
No, because I always wanted to do gymnastics. I grew up in the countryside, so luckily there was one local group, but my cartwheels were bad. My landings would always shake the suspended wooden floor, raise the dust and set everyone off coughing - I was not encouraged to continue attending. I also thought that art was not for me, I wasn’t good at drawing and I liked maths and science so I kind of thought it was one or the other.
One of my mum's most-used phrases was, “You don't know your own strength.” When I was younger, this was a bad thing, as I was always breaking things or being clumsy. But through circus, I finally managed to master the cartwheel and learn to use my strength effectively!
Jess: So how did circus first come into your life? Was it something you found intentionally, or did it arrive in a more unexpected way?
Aoife:
Oh, it snuck its way in! I moved to Belfast to study when I was 21. I didn’t know anyone in the city, but one day I heard drumming at the top of my street. I play the bodhrán, so I was curious. This is how I discovered the Streetwise Samba Band, and I started going to their practice sessions once a week. Before Samba practice, there was a circus club in the same space, and a lot of people would go to one and then the other, so I joined in a few times. I learnt a bit of unicycle, poi and stilt walking.
I then started going to adult circus classes at the Belfast Community Circus School, and the amazing Gail O’Brien was teaching hula hoop, the classes were so fun, but also really challenging. I wanted to be able to control the hoop with precision and control like Gail, I was a long way off, but as I improved I found something I hadn’t experienced before, the feeling of flow with an object, and I was hooked!
My first-ever hoop performance in some shopping centre 2015
Training, Discipline and Finding Her Skills
Jess: I know that you trained at Beijing International Arts School for a few months. We have that little China/circus connection in common. What brought you there, and what was that experience like for you?
Aoife:
I was looking around for training opportunities. I think I was already 30 at that time. I didn’t go to circus school, but I knew I wanted to make a good stab at making this my career, and I needed to get better, a lot better! I also wanted to push myself to see what my body could do, and I couldn’t find anything accessible and affordable closer to home. My friend Gracie Marshall had been to the Beijing school and mentioned Beijing as a possibility, so I applied and they accepted me.
I went to study hula hoop, handstands and flexibility, and I had a mixed experience. Some of the teachers were good and did their best to teach a clumsy 30-year-old, but others thought I was a lost cause and didn’t even bother trying to help me.
The teaching methods they use there are designed for younger bodies. Most Chinese kids enter that school when they are five years old, and they use the exact same technique to teach a 30-year-old as a five-year-old. Some of it works, but it definitely was not the most effective way for me to get flexible.
I did improve a lot with hula hoop and handstands, I still couldn’t hold one when I got back, but I was closer! I think the main thing I took from my time there was learning how to analyse and structure my own training sessions. I started documenting my training sessions, setting goals and breaking tricks down into parts. This has really helped me to be more effective in my training ever since.
Jess: You work across hula hoop, foot juggling, acrobatics and strength-based skills, which is such an interesting mix. Were there any artists, teachers or performers who first inspired you to explore hula hoops and foot juggling? Was foot juggling something you developed while training in Beijing, and would you recommend that kind of training route to someone who wanted to properly study it?
Aoife:
I have been hula hooping for over 15 years now, but I only took up foot juggling during Covid. It was a bit of a mad whim that I followed.
I had followed Mauricio Gonzales on Instagram for a while. He was running a professional training programme in Guadalajara, Mexico, called “La Fake”, which during Covid had to move online. He put out a call saying that any international people who would like to join their classes were welcome. I was very excited. I had loads of time on my hands and nobody to train me, so this was perfect! I contacted him and joined the conditioning and flexibility group classes, and also decided to take up foot juggling. My legs have always been strong but kind of lazy, and I wanted to get more conscious of them. I thought foot juggling looked like a fun way to do this. I don’t think I really expected to perform with it.
I did online classes with Mauricio for over a year and then, when the Covid madness was over, I went to Guadalajara to train with him for a month. The online classes were surprisingly effective for getting the basics of the skill. However, I think I reached a plateau and needed to get in-person classes to progress.
Síolta Circus at Derry Carnival of Colours Reimagined for 2020
Finding Her Style
Jess: Your work feels playful and funny, but also really skilled and thoughtful. Was that sense of humour always part of how you performed, or did it develop over time? And how did you begin to find your own style as an artist?
Aoife:
I think I’m still finding my style, but thank you! I’ve always been drawn to using humour. It’s such a great leveller, a universal language that can bring all sorts of people together, and I think that goes hand in hand with street theatre. I’m very attracted to making work for the street because I love creating opportunities for strangers to gather, share an experience, laugh together and create a memory in their town.
Life is a comedy, and I think we all need to laugh at ourselves a little bit more - me most of all! I’m a big fan of satire. I really enjoy when a piece can be hilariously funny but also deliver a cutting message that stays with you after the laughter stops.
I also work a lot with Maria Corcoran, who is a fantastic clown, and when the two of us come together, things get very silly. It’s just our natural way of working. She really helped me learn about comedic timing and how much you can do with a simple physical idea.
Back when I was 26, I was accepted to circus school, but I ruptured my ACL in the audition. So instead of going down the European contemporary circus path, I had surgery and did an acting course while I was on crutches. During that time, I created my first solo act, which was a comedy strongwoman act called Rock Hard Roxy. I was very proud of it. I didn’t have the technical skills to fill an entire act, but I could use humour and character to create something engaging. That was probably my first real venture into figuring out what my own style might be.
The strongwoman thing started off as a kind of joke, but then Dea Birkett of Circus 250 asked me to create a straight strongwoman act, so I went for it. Circus strongwoman isn’t such a common thing, and I’m a big fan of finding a niche! Coming to circus later, I knew I needed to lean into what my body was good at. I was never going to be a contortionist, but I was strong, so I leaned into that, first as a strongwoman and later as a base.
I also really like using everyday objects. They’re familiar and relatable to audiences, so when I was choosing a foot-juggling prop, I was much more interested in tyres than foam cylinders. There’s something about taking an ordinary object and making people see it differently that really appeals to me.
Tyred Feet, my tyre act developed in Mexico at Púca Festival 2023
StrongWomen Science
Jess: StrongWomen Science is such a brilliant idea, and I’d love to hear a little about how it began with Maria Corcoran. Where did the first idea come from, and once you had it, how did you actually bring it to life?
Aoife:
Maria and I did a Clowns Without Borders tour together and we got on really well. Maria is an environmental scientist and I am an electronic engineer. We were both separately thinking about how circus could be used to communicate scientific principles in a fun way. As I said above, I had worked with Dea from Circus 250. I mentioned the idea to her and a few weeks later she got in contact asking me to come to Achill to start making the show!
Maria and I headed to Achill and made the first version of StrongWomen Science in Dea’s living room.
We had a 12-year-old neighbour, Isabel, be our young director, giving us feedback on what worked, what made sense and what didn’t.
Dea arranged for a composer to make the music for the show, for costumes, a logo and set to be designed, and got us our first gigs, including a slot at the Swansea Science Festival. So we performed it for some neighbours, at a local school and then headed off. The show went down really well. Dea was amazing at selling it and so we kept watching what the audience liked and when they laughed, making note and then tweaking the show as we went along always analysing why things worked and learning from each audience.
Jess: I watched some clips and it really is mind-blowing. There’s something so clever about seeing things like centre of gravity, balance, momentum and even juggling water explained through circus. How do you and Maria decide which science ideas to bring into the show, and how do you turn them into something children can see, understand and remember?
Aoife:
We generally started with the skills we had, unicycling, juggling, hula hooping, acrobatics, and think about what principles we could demonstrate that are relevant to young audiences.
We did have some fun learning to do some partner poi with buckets of water to demonstrate centripetal force. I remember there was one very confused postman who came across us practicing in bicycle helmets in Ria’s front yard!
We tried to pepper circus skills throughout the show so that it wasn’t broken into acts and talking sections as much as possible, so that the idea was demonstrated many times in different ways. Dea was a great outside eye making sure we steered clear of any jargon and always making sure what we said was easy to understand and relatable.
I think it is the relationship between the two characters which really makes the show memorable, I am the serious uptight one and Maria is the excitable fun one, this dynamic gets the audience on Maria’s side, until she tries to pour custard all over them that is!
StrongWomen Science finale, Cork 2022
StrongWomen Science at Edinburgh Science Festival 2019
Working Across Different Audiences
Jess: Your work moves between children’s shows, family audiences and cabaret-style performance. What do you love about having that mix as an artist?
Aoife:
I really enjoy having diversity in my work. Maybe it’s because I get bored easily, but I just have lots of different ideas. Some are suitable for outdoor stages, some for indoor stages, some are suitable for families and some are not! I like making longer shows where you get to really tell a story, but I also like making acts, which are like little short stories.
Generally, I love performing for families as you get all ages involved. Kids are fantastic, as they will give you so much energy and they just say what they are thinking. From “That’s easy” to “That’s impossible!”, they will let you know what they think.
I also love it because you get the parents, brothers, sisters and grandparents, who think the show isn’t for them, but then end up really enjoying it. We always want to make sure that the shows are entertaining for all the family.
I like making work for indoors as you can predict that you have a level stage with no wind, and so you can include things which you can’t in outdoor shows. I also like to be cheeky and use a little innuendo. Cabarets are a fun place to express that side too.
Circus Beyond the Stage
Jess: As circus artists, I think it can be easy to hide behind the skill or the prop a little bit. Your work feels very present and connected, not just technically strong. You speak, use humour, interact with the audience and really hold the space. How did you build that side of your performance? Was it through theatre training, clowning, acting classes, or simply repetition?
Aoife:
I have done a few clown and physical theatre workshops. Most of these were in my early days performing, and I found them really confusing but also really helpful.
As I mentioned above, I did a part-time acting course in the Gaiety. This was really interesting because we had to learn lines and study texts, and I had not really done this before. It was a different challenge to try to animate words and a character written by someone else.
I also did “Arts Train”, a year-long training in theatre facilitation by Youth Theatre Ireland. We learned to facilitate groups, but we also did a year of workshops in improv, directing, devising and process drama. This was a really fun, hands on course and a deep dive into theatre, it taught me a lot.
However I think I learnt the most through the Strong Women Science show, getting to repeat it so many times, in different places and for different audiences, and seeing what worked and what didn’t. We have performed that show over 300 times in Ireland, the UK and Abu Dhabi.
We were able to work on different parts of the show that were a bit sticky or inconsistent until we had the timing just right. We also had a chance to really put into practice and understand things I learnt in workshops about timing, physical theatre and a clown duo relationship. A lot of things clicked for me during this time.
What's Watt by Symmetry Circus Cork 2023
Building Irish Circus
Jess: I’d love to talk about Circilár, which you founded with your husband Tony Mahon. Congratulations on your first year. I’ve heard so many lovely things about it already. Was part of the motivation behind it wanting to create more training opportunities here in Ireland? I know Irish circus has grown so much, but for a long time it felt like artists often had to look abroad for certain kinds of training. Was that gap something you were hoping to help fill?
Aoife:
Yes, that’s absolutely one of the reasons. I would have loved for there to have been a course like this for me to attend. When I decided to try to make circus my career I didn’t know how to train effectively. I had to try to find different tutors to mentor me or go to their classes sporadically. It wasn’t the most effective way to train, and as I was coming to the sector in my late twenties, I wanted to get better as quickly as I could. All the burden of finding the tutors, finding the space and figuring out what I needed to learn was on me. It was overwhelming.
Tony went to circus school at Escuela Rogelio Rivel in Barcelona. He is one of the few Irish people who came back. Mostly, people leave and get an education, but they also develop networks in other countries, and it is easier for them to find work there than it is back home. We don’t want to stop anyone going to circus school, one of the strands of our course helps students prepare for circus school auditions, but for people who can’t make the commitment to leave the country to develop their skills, there is a huge gap in the training available on the island.
We have really talented tutors and a lot of experienced artists in the country. There is no need for the next generation to have to make all the same mistakes we did. This course is a way of passing on knowledge about training, but also all the things that go alongside working in the industry, like how to do your taxes, how to apply for funding and how to look after your body, to the next people who are making the leap into circus as a profession. It is a brave thing to do in the world today, and we want to make sure that people can still make this wild, wonderful industry their careers.
Jess: You’re someone I’ve personally looked to for advice around funding applications and bringing ideas forward, because you seem to really understand how to move an idea from “I’d love to do this” into something real. For artists who have an idea but feel overwhelmed by funding, applications or asking for support, what advice would you give them?
Aoife:
I would say, first of all, get the ideas out of your head and onto paper, however they want to come out. It could be bullet points, a spider diagram, scribbled notes, whatever works for you. The important thing is to start getting the messy thoughts into something you can actually look at.
I’ve also learnt that I have to work with my own brain rather than against it. I’m terrible at writing in the evening. I could sit in front of the computer for hours and come up with two sentences of complete nonsense, then wake up the next morning and suddenly everything makes sense. So don’t force yourself to work at a time that doesn’t suit you.
I think it’s also useful to see an application as a tool rather than just a hurdle you have to get over to get funding. Use it to turn the messy idea in your head into something that could actually happen. Even if you don’t get the money, the process should help you understand the idea better and work out what you need to make it happen.
And don’t try to do everything on your own. Think about who could help you and what skills you need around you. The circus and arts community in Ireland is small, and I’ve found people are generally very open to collaborating. You’re creating opportunities for other people too, so don’t be afraid to ask.
Lastly I would say speak honestly. You don’t need to mimic anyone else’s style of writing or language. I used to think I had to use lots of big words and make my idea sound very artsy, but that never got me funded. Particularly now, judging panels appreciate when they can tell that this person hasn’t used AI to generate their answer. The more human you are, the more clearly you explain your idea, get your passion across to the reader and get them excited about it too, then you’re on to a winner.
The Important Stuff
Jess: I noticed that costume seems to play a really strong role in your work. Your outfits are often colourful and full of personality, but they also have to be stretchy, comfortable and able to handle a lot of movement. When you’re creating a show or act, how do you approach what you’re going to wear? Does the costume come in early as part of the idea?
Aoife:
Hmmm, this is interesting. When I made my comedy Strongwoman act, Rock Hard Roxy, the first inspiration was an ’80s swimsuit which I had picked up at a market. I think this was the only time the costume came first. Most of the rest of the time, the costume comes later, after the character has been created and you know what you need the costume to do. We have had some costuming disasters over the years, with costume designers just not understanding what circus performers need. We are demanding!
Jess: And finally, the very important question… velvet or stripes?
Aoife:
Oh, velvet all the way for me, I love it!
Outro
For a long time, getting properly good at circus meant leaving Ireland. I went all the way to Beijing. Lots of performers I know went somewhere else, and plenty more never had the option to go at all.
So it means a lot to me that someone is building that training here. Setting up something like this from scratch can’t be easy, and it deserves our support. I’ve heard nothing but good things about it from other performers.
The level of Irish talent coming through right now is unbelievable. I’d love to hear more people answer “where did you train?” with “here, in Ireland.” We’re proud of so much about this country. Why not our circus too?
Resources & Links
Aoife Raleigh: aoiferaleigh.com and Instagram
Circilár: circilar.com and Instagram
StrongWomen Science: the show page at Circus250
Circus250: circus250.com
Symmetry Circus: What’s Watt at Festival of Fools
Clowns Without Borders Ireland: cwbireland.com
Dublin Circus Project: dublincircusproject.com
Circusful (formerly Belfast Community Circus School): circusful.org
Streetwise Stilt-Walking Samba Band: Streetwise Community Circus
Youth Theatre Ireland: youththeatre.ie
Centre de les Arts del Circ Rogelio Rivel: escolacircrr.com