By NICOLE VALICEK
IT WAS all about “play” when an aerialist from the Women’s Circus stepped on board one of the Sea Shepherd’s main vessels.
Last Thursday, an aerialist from the Women’s Circus, based in Footscray, took up an offer to demonstrate some circus art to crew members from the Sea Shepherd crews that could be used onboard, all in the name of fun.
Executive producer of the Women’s Circus Sasha Earle said “it was all about play” when they accepted the invitation to tour the Steve Irwin after performing for the crew at Seaworks in Williamstown in June.
“Eleanor Beveridge, who is one of the trainers, showed Ben Baldwin (manger of the Steve Irwin) how to do inversions with crew looking on as a way of saying thanks for inviting us on board,” Ms Earle said.
“It was about playing.”
Ms Earle said the performance the crew watched in June at the maritime precinct was a pop-up circus experience called ‘What Do I want’.
From the performance, the crews were intrigued by the way the ladies climbed their way up the ropes.
“(The crew said) we need to know how to climb ropes in the way you guys do.”
And although Ms Earle said the crew couldn’t pick up the skill of the circus performers in one day, it was a “fun training exercise” and a sample if they did decide to do their own training course.
Sea Shepherd Australia welcomed home its 110-strong international crew and three ships, the Steve Irwin, Sam Simon and Bob Barker on 20 March.
They arrived into Williamstown after a historic campaign defending whales in the Southern ocean.
