Women in Motion
Firefly Theatre
Annie Duggan didn’t just run away to join the circus. She took the fast train there – without knowing the train’s destination. At a mere twenty-one years of age, Duggan was determined to begin her career as a photojournalist and travel the globe. Everything changed in a sudden twist of fate, when on her very first assignment in Hawaii, a thirty-foot tsunami hit the beach. Duggan lost her camera. It was that defining moment that sent her back to New York on a job hunt to raise funds for a new camera that landed her in The Big Apple Circus; first as a groomer, then as a horse performer, then an acrobatics student. Fast forward to the present, where you can find Annie Duggan performing as an aerial artist for her own company, Firefly Theatre, where she performs using a variety of mediums including the trapeze, hoop and silks.
When Duggan’s counterpart Annie Parkins announced that she was running off to join the circus, her family knew that it was no empty threat. First off, Parkins has a strong background in gymnastics, the ideal foundation for aerial arts and acrobatics. And she did once announce as a child that she planned to find a way to make playing her full time job. Yes, in a way, Parkins was destined for a career under the big top. And now, at just 26 years of age, the young Edmontonian has already studied at the Toronto School of Circus Arts, worked abroad for Disney Tokyo and for the Cirque Sublime. When she returned home to Edmonton a year and a half ago, she joined Duggan in training at the Phoenix Gymnastics Club and has since worked with Firefly Theatre to bring the vision of circus-based theatre to life.
Though their experiences and abilities are varied, Duggan and Parkins share a passion for harmonizing circus and theatre. They accomplish this not just through their dynamic performances, but through the aerial arts program at Firefly Theatre, which gives ordinary non-circus folk a chance to experience the trapeze, aerial silks, and the aerial hoop.
Both women are phenomenally fit. Their work demands it of them. And yet they are extraordinarily humble, maintaining that they are not superhuman, just ordinary people who work hard and believe in themselves. Duggan and Parkins routinely train for hours at a time, working on core strength, flexibility, balance and strength. Because while on the face of it, the circus seems like just a whole lot of crazy fun, with unicycles, acrobatics and juggling, performing is a tremendous amount of work.
Circus isn’t that big in Edmonton – yet. But circus and aerial training are gaining in popularity, thanks not only to big names like the Cirque de Soleil, but also to people like Annie Duggan and Angie Parkins, who bring the wonder and awe of the circus to ordinary people every day. And both women find this task extremely rewarding, because they know first hand, that ordinary people can accomplish extraordinary things. You just have to believe that you are capable of something in order to do it.
What are some of your work’s greatest challenges?
Annie: Circus is one of the most physically challenging things that you can do, bar none. With the growth of our aerial arts program I am now teaching about ten hours each week. Finding balance between teaching and maintaining and building my own strength is a challenge. Teaching itself is also a great challenge. I always want to have answers for everyone, which means that I am always trying new things, reading, and learning.
Angie: Physically? I find the rope act to be the most challenging. I climb up and down a 32 foot vertical rope, spinning, posing, dropping for five straight minutes. It’s the most fun, but also requires the most endurance.
What is the most rewarding part of your job?
Annie: Combining circus with theatre is my passion. I love to see the reaction of the audience when they watch a performance for the first time. They’re usually hooked. I live in a world where I am constantly creating something out of nothing, and prove that absolutely anything is possible.
Angie: I agree. I love performing in front of an audience. It’s the most rewarding part of the job, for sure. When you’re in front of an audience and there’s good energy, you can really pick up on it and it makes you capable of putting on an absolutely incredible performance.
What keeps you motivated?
Annie: Videotaping myself and creating difficult routines to make myself train hard. When I can see what areas I need to work on, it encourages me to challenge myself to improve.
Angie: Performing in front of a large audience motivates me. I love drawing a reaction from the crowd.
What’s next? Where do you go from here?
Annie: To attain our very own circus space. It’s my dream to build a larger circus community in Edmonton and to make aerial arts more mainstream. That, and travel the world. I dare to dream big.
Angie: I want to do circus full time. Circus is relatively new in Alberta, and so it’s hard to make a full time living doing it. All I’ve ever wanted to do is find a job that would let me play full time, and I can do that with Firefly Theatre.
