About Lauren

Lauren is an aerialist and acrobat who creates contemporary performance art that showcases strength, flexibility and power, incorporating the beauty and joy of raw human movement. She discovered her love of lifting people from a young age, growing up competing in acrobatic gymnastics, as well as attending regular dance classes. At 17 she began a successful career in trampolining, including competing for Scotland, which was the start of a lifelong addiction to the freedom found in those weightless moments as you fly. Prior to becoming a full time artist, Lauren gained a PhD in chemistry, and she is a strong advocate for the importance of creativity within the sciences, with a desire to merge her two worlds and create work which showcases high-quality circus art and original research.

Lauren’s circus journey began in 2009 working at French Woods Festival of Performing Arts (New York). Since then she has worked extensively in Scotland (Spinal Chord, Aerial Edge, Paper Doll Militia), the UK (Feathers of Daedalus Circus) and internationally (React Studio, The Dust Palace). She is somewhat of a chameleon, having turned her hand to most circus disciplines over the years, proving herself to be a highly versatile artist. She specializes in dynamic techniques and loves exploring the pleasure of movement in the body, describing her favored style as raw, organic and creature-like. Her disciplines of choice are aerial straps, corde lisse, partner acrobatics, duo swinging trapeze and writhing around the floor being a bendy feral goblin creature.

Lauren co-founded Sonder Circus in 2019, whose debut show, Cailleach, combined storytelling and circus to tell the stories of the Cailleach, an ancient Scottish goddess of Celtic mythology. This piece embodied much of the wild woman energy which Lauren injects into her art and her strong connection to the ancestors of her homeland. She loves creating work which showcases the strength and power of women, as well as telling honest stories. Lauren is particularly drawn to wild, raw landscapes and immersing herself in bodies of water (despite being slightly terrified of fish), from which she draws much inspiration for her movement and work.