Under the Big Top: What Ashtons Circus Taught Us About What We've Built

Chantelle and Justin Ashton with their team posed for a shot with TCDA and our Advanced Aerial performance team.

An Invitation We Didn't Take Lightly

When Ashtons Circus came to Tamworth, we recognised an extraordinary opportunity and immediately reached out. What followed was an invitation to bring our aerial team into the big top for a private exchange session with the Ashtons aerialists, and an opportunity for our aerialists to compare notes with some professional performers.

For obvious reasons, our performance aerial team is selective. These six young women — Bridie, Mia, Ruby, Evie, Halle and Luca — have all earned their place through training, dedication and real performance experience, and for these reasons we can rest assured that they will observe safe practices. They're not students dabbling in aerial work. They're performers. Miss Lily, Miss Jaydah, Kellie and I accompanied them, and we all walked into that big top with a mix of excitement and genuine professional curiosity.

Two Teams, One Craft

What unfolded over the next few hours was one of the most remarkable exchanges I've witnessed in seventeen years of running this studio.

We started by sharing our training methodology, our rigging approach, our philosophy. The Ashtons team were generous in kind, talking openly about their own experiences as touring professional aerialists. Then our team was invited onto the Ashtons silks. To watch our girls move in that space, under professional lighting, in a world-class touring rig, was something I'll carry for a long time.

The Ashtons aerialists were genuinely amazed. Not politely complimentary. Genuinely amazed.

Then the Ashtons team gave us a private demonstration on their favourite apparatus. Trapeze. Aerial pole. Balance and contortion work that reminded every one of us why circus arts command the respect they do. The girls sat there completely absorbed, comparing notes, asking questions, geeking out over technique the way only people who truly love their craft can.

What Chantelle Said

At one point, the girls asked Chantelle what further training they'd need before being ready to join a professional touring company like Ashtons. Her answer stopped the room.

"Just turn 18!"

She went on to explain that the training she saw in our aerialists is high quality and comprehensive , and that they are all performance ready. Coming from someone whose family has been in professional Australian circus since 1851, that's not a throwaway compliment.

The Conversation Behind the Scenes

While our aerialists continued comparing notes, Kellie and I sat down with Justin and Chantelle to talk business, the realities of running a performing arts organisation, the economics of touring, the challenges that come with building something serious in regional Australia. It was one of those conversations that only happens when there's genuine mutual respect in the room.

We talked in broad terms about a project we've been developing — Altura Arts — a framework for aerial arts training and qualification that we believe has the potential to lift the standard and the safety of aerial education across Australia. Justin and Chantelle immediately understood its value. We discussed how formalised qualification frameworks improve insurance outcomes for studios and performers alike. They agreed. And when we asked whether they'd be willing to stay involved as the project develops as subject matter experts and peer reviewers they graciously said yes.

The Competition That Started It All

In the lead-up to the circus's Tamworth run, we'd already been building excitement at TCDA. We ran a competition asking our dancers to send us a photo showing what they'd look like if they ran away to the circus. The winning entry came from one of our tiny tumblers, beaming from inside a lyra against a full circus backdrop. Our second prize went to Eliza, one of our budding aerialists, on her silk. Both images captured something we see every week at TCDA: kids who are absolutely, completely in their element.

We also gave away two double passes to opening night, which Lily, Jaydah, Kellie and I attended alongside our competition winners. Many of our dancers and their families attended across the run. Ashtons and TCDA filled that tent together.

What It All Means

The news coverage that came from our visit focused, rightly, on the Ashtons team sharing their knowledge, and we were glad to be part of that story. But for us, the significance runs deeper.

The validation that Chantelle and Justin offered our aerial program is not something we'll use to rest on. It's something we'll use to build on. Altura Arts is moving forward. The Ashton family, one of the most respected names in Australian performing arts, has agreed to walk that road with us.

We're proud of what our aerialists have achieved. We're even more excited about what comes next.

— Paul Singh, Studio Manager, Tamworth City Dance Academy