After taking her passion for performing arts around the country, circus artist Bonnie Blewitt has returned to her home town of Albany to develop a solo act.
The 37-year-old trained as a child at Albany community circus studio Southern Edge Arts, and returned to the organisation last month as an artist-in-residence.
Blewitt said the skills she learnt at the regional studio had laid the foundations for a long and varied career in circus, starting with her acceptance to the National Institute of Circus Arts in Melbourne to study a bachelor’s degree, specialising in hula hoops and aerial performance.
She worked around Australia after graduating in 2010, including at the Tasmanian Circus Festival, the Woodford Folk Festival and at Perth Fringe, in duo and ensemble acts.
Blewitt relocated back to Perth in 2012 to continue performing and teach circus through a not-for-profit organisation but she said her start in a small regional town had helped open her mind to the impact of arts on young people.
She applied for Southern Edge Arts’ Artist Development Program at the end of 2024, with the goal to spend a month learning from Annette Carmichael, SEA’s artistic director, and push herself to develop a deeply personal solo aerial act.
“I applied for the residency because I really wanted to push myself creatively and see if I could create a solo piece of work, because I trained in a duo act, and I’ve always really enjoyed ensemble work with other performers that had a lot of stage fright about being on stage alone,” Blewitt said.
The act Blewitt developed was dedicated to her mum Yvonne, who she said first introduced her to circus as a child, and she said the residency with Carmichael’s mentorship was “exactly” what she needed to start bringing her solo act to life.
She said being able to teach classes while on residency, meet the next generation of Albany performers, and “give back” to the organisation and community that started her circus career were highlights of her time back home.
“I think it’s an integral part of community and regional arts organisations to give back when you can,” she said.
“I believe so strongly in the culture of circus and the ability for it to be quite life changing for a lot of people, because it changed my life, and I’ve seen it have so many positive effects on other people.”
For the next generation of young performers, Blewitt said it was important to remember that not everyone’s career in circus would be linear.
“What we’ve seen now in Australian contemporary circus is that there are so many different ways to have a career, and just because you might not get selected for Cirque du Soleil does not mean you cannot or do not deserve a career in circus,” she said.
“That really gives me hope and inspires me when sometimes I look at the world and I feel sad about things that are happening that I’ve got no control over, and then I can direct my feelings back to my art, my creativity, and teaching circus and and building up the confidence of the next generation.
“Circus has given me a reason to hope.”