Kacin Menendez is only five feet tall. “On a good day,” she says. “Wearing shoes.”
That said, the senior theatre major is used to looking down (literally) on people, some 15 feet up in the air.
For the past two years, Menendez has been training in circus arts and as her graduation approaches, she is setting up auditions with professional circus shows as well as the National Circus School in Montreal. Although she has done partner acrobatics and some trapeze and cradle works, her specialties in aerial acrobatics are lyra, or aerial hoop, and silk dances.
“I kind of grew up with people asking me: Aren’t you scared?” says Menendez, a former gymnast. “And yeah… sometimes it’s scary, like if I get on a really high rig. But I learned a long time ago in gymnastics that my body knows what it’s doing.”
Menendez trains about five days a week to maintain her flexibility and build the strength necessary for her art. This includes two days with a personal trainer, two days working on acrobatics and one day for even more practice.
“The strength that she has is incredible,” says boyfriend Daniel Mercer, a gymnast and Menendez’s occasional acrobatics partner. “She’s got muscles out of her wazoo.”
As for a fear of heights, Menendez doesn’t seem to have a problem with that. “I haven’t found my limit yet,” she says.
Listen and watch below for a peek into her circus life: