Meet Lindsay Letharia | Aerialist & Circus Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lindsay Letharia and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lindsay, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
In todays world of 80 hour work weeks and blurred work-life boundaries, I think it is essential now more than ever to remind people of the necessity of play and wonder. I love working in circus arts because I so often have conversations with people that tell me how seeing me perform inspired them to try a class or follow their own creative endeavor. Aerial has had such a profound impact on my body, mind, and community. I love empowering others to access that same magic.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’m an aerialist & circus performer that specializes in aerial silks, sling, & lyra, fire dancing, & stilt walking. It all started at an underground warehouse rave in Oakland. It was crowded and chaotic and I was overwhelmed. That is until I saw this ethereal woman dancing with an LED hula hoop. When I could barely move an inch without bumping into a sweaty extremity, she glided effortlessly through the crowd in this glowing orb of goodness and light. I knew then and there that I needed that in my life, so I went home and ordered my first hoop off of Etsy. It all snowballed from there. At the time I lived in Orange County where there wasn’t a big circus community, so I spent countless hours learning hooping from Youtube tutorials at home. Once I moved to Seattle I discovered the circus scene and dove into fire dancing. Eventually I met a few aerialists which made me realize that this isn’t something reserved exclusively for child gymnasts. I asked my dad for a few aerial classes for Christmas in 2018 and promptly devoted all of my time, energy, and money to the art.I had always felt like an artist without a medium, always searching for my niche but nothing felt quite right. Once I found aerial it was like I had to rip myself away from the studio. I don’t think i’ve ever been more certain of anything in my life.

I once spoke with a woman who told me, “I did aerial for a while but eventually I realized that in order to go anywhere with it you have to really want it, and I just don’t.” But boy do I.

The only thing about aerial that is easy is the warm welcome from the community. The practice itself is painful & exhausting, not to mention requires extremely specialized infrastructure and equipment. When doing it professionally you are constantly advocating and fighting for your worth to clients that will almost always lowball you and downplay the literally death defying aspect of it all.

That being said, there’s still no better feeling in the world.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I have had the sheer luck of living 15 minutes from an absolutely world class aerial school, Versatile Arts. The training and opportunities that I have received here have been invaluable to my development as an aerialist. I have also had an incredibly generous mentor, Natale Luma, who has shared her wealth of hard earned knowledge about the industry, booking best practices, costuming, showmanship, technical skill, and so much more. You so often see a lot of gate keeping within the performing arts world, but Natale couldn’t be farther from that. She actively empowers other artists and is truly a pillar of the PNW circus community.

Website: lethariacircus.com

Instagram: instagram.com/_fireopal

Image Credits
James Gerde Gabriella Angotti Jones Michael Poggenburg Niko Leo