Muika Dodd is a Year 11 student who outside of school excels in the area of Circo Arts. She is the youngest member of the Christchurch Circus Arts Trust Performance Troupe and has been for the last 4 years.

For the last two years she has had the lead role in the mid year production called Pandemonium. Muika needed a wide range of skills and the capacity to perform all of these skills in every act for an hour long show. These skills include acrobatics, aerials, acting and dance

Want to see for yourself? Shared album - Teila Dodd - Google Photos

Muika also performed for the Circus Berserkus showcase designed for the school holidays in April and will play the part of two different characters in Spooky Circus Shows in October.

I caught up with Muika to find out a bit more about what it takes to be a circo arts performer.

Muika informs me that it requires dedication first and foremost, followed by your ability to hold form. From what I have seen it certainly looks easy but is very physically demanding.

Muika got into circus from around the age of 7. Her mum got involved in it and started teaching circo arts. Muika went along and played around and the rest is history. The unusual part to this story is Muika’s mum didn’t actually want her to get involved in circus performance as she felt she was too young. In the end Muika showed the troupe’s managers what she could do and they happily took her on!

Muika has the specific goal of wanting to achieve greater flexibility and strength and she would like to have a career where she travelled as a circus performer.

The best part of being a circus performer according to Muika is that it is a bit unusual. It’s different! The skills are cool to have too!

What is next for Muika? She will keep up her high levels of training and there are a series of high flier shows coming up for her to focus on. The big shows have all finished up for 2021.

Well done, Muika. What a talent you are!