We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Laura Dunn a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Laura, thanks for joining us today. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?
The defining decision moment of my professional career was when I was in India, dancing in Bollywood movies, they offered to make me a star, and asked me to stay out there for another year after my 6 month contract finished. It was there I saw an advert for a showgirl job touring the United States with a Hispanic circus which I applied for and got. When I joined the circus I had my eyes open to a completely new world and suddenly dancing on the floor became uninteresting compared to what magic was happening in that tent. I also have a fear of heights and my defining moment came the 2nd year I joined the circus, the 2nd year, I came back as a circus artist in my then boyfriends (now husband) family troupe, they were performing the Russian swing and a one of a kind, passed down act called The Turbillion. His then partner on the act dislocated her shoulder the first weekend we opened and I learnt the act in her place. It was an act that involved being about 45 feet in the air, climbing on a trapeze ladder to get there and sitting on a steel bar whilst my husband drives a motorcycle on a circle platform and I do tricks being driven around from a hand and foot loop and doing a neck spin, it’s so crazy thinking back to it, that I actually did it and now it’s just part of my normal life. It was terrifying, exhilarating and absolutely insane but I did it, getting past my fear of heights barrier.
Laura, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Laura Dunn, I am owner of Rise and Fly Fitness Studio. I am a aerial acrobat, circus performer and aerial instructor. I teach bungee fitness, aerial silks, hoop and aerial yoga to kids and adults in my adopted home town of Greenville texas and sulphur springs tx. I began my career as a dancer and was traveling around the world, I was in India at the time, dancing in Bollywood movies when I saw a casting for a dance troupe for a circus in the USA and thought that would be fun. I never had a clue that I would never leave, meet my husband and raise my family over here! I am most proud of my personal development, overcoming a major fear of heights and watching my students grow, it is incredible to watch them learn and grow
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Back in 2015, I had to make a decision, if I wanted to return to the USA and dive into to the circus industry or go on my way back to what I did, dance. I decided to follow my heart and went to work with my now husbands family troupe on the Russian Swing. It was terrifying but exciting. I have battled with a fear of heights for most of my life and I always wanted to overcome it and have a limitless life and not be held back by anything. In the first weekend of our new tour, my husbands work partner dislocated her shoulder on another act they did and she had to have surgery, I stepped in after a few weeks of training and it was extremely challenging to over come my fear of heights. To describe the act so you can visualize, it was at least 40 feet in the air and I had to climb up a trapeze ladder and pull myself up onto a circular track suspended in the air. The track has a motorcycle attached to a ladder and a metal bar on the other end which I sat on doing tricks such as hanging from my foot, splits and spinning from my neck. It was an incredible experience but require a lot of mental and physical strength as well as the support from my husband and the family troupe, it was a pivotal moment to my life
Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?
I think to be a circus performer/aerial acrobat/dancer you need to be determined and have a strong work ethic. It requires a lot of practice and rehearsal. It requires a never ending search for perfection to be the best version of yourself. It requires conditioning, strength training and constant stretching. Every tour I worked on I was inspired by my fellow performers and learned from them to be better and trained with them to learn new skills. I believe we never stop learning in every aspect of our lives.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.riseandflyfitnessstudio.com
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