Showdown

Jimmy is an aerialist who is originally from Hong Kong. He received his training in Hong Kong and Montreal. Since having relocated to London last spring, Jimmy has been working with National Centre for Circus Arts, and various cabarets in London and in other UK cities before joining the cast of Showdown. Jimmy’s disciplines are aerial straps and aerial pole, in which he also works as a coach.

Rebecca (UK) is an aerialist, director, theatre maker, multi-disciplinary artist, and movement specialist. Training first in Sheffield, then in London, Rebecca has been working as a performer and creative practitioner in theatre and aerial dance since 2018. She has continued her professional development through residencies with Gecko Theatre, as a supported artist at Stockton Arts Centre and as a director at Sheffield Theatres.

Raf is an acrobat/Cyr Wheeler born and raised in the Borough of Hackney in East London. He began his journey as a circus artist at the age of 8, rising through the London Youth Circus programme, to later train at Circus Centers across Europe and the UK until turning professional in post pandemic 2021. Since then, Raf has performed on stages across the world, performing with various UK based companies including Ockhams Razor, Barely Methodical Troupe, Fools Delight and of course Upswing.

Shane is a dancer and acrobat from the UK. He began dancing in primary school which led him to audition for the Centre for Advanced Training (CAT) scheme at Swindon dance when he was 12. After he spent seven years there, he decided to take his training further by taking up gymnastics and free running classes. To him circus was the perfect medium between dance and gymnastics, so he decided to join The National Centre for Circus Arts. He now is specialized in teeterboard.

Jaide Annalise is a London based circus artist specialising in Cyr wheel and Acrobatics. Having trained as an artistic gymnast at an elite level and graduating from the National Centre for Circus arts, Jaide went on to become a resident artist at the Roundhouse where she continued to develop her creative practice. 20 years of training has seen Jaide perform live on stage with Katy B & Mark Ronson, as well as feature in adverts for Xiaomi, Smirnoff & Gymbox — outside of performing, Jaide likes to combine her love for fashion and circus through content creation.

Born in Los Angeles in 1998, Zebulon was immediately thrust into history and art by his parents, a movie director and a painter. He was spending most of his time on movie sets and trained to be an actor. Then he decided to join Contemporary Dance School of Montreal where he met some students of the National Circus School of Montreal and everything fell into place. Zebulon has developed a close relationship with dance, theatre and circus.

Born in Cali, Colombia, Francisco Javier Hurtado is a multi-disciplinary circus performer. He specializes in the circular perch and is a skilled base and hand-to-hand acrobat, too. His circus performances have gained international recognition, notably at Edinburgh Fringe Festival and London Underbelly Festival. Francisco also has a large teaching portfolio dating from 2005 until today. He has taught privately, on community projects, run circus workshops and national schools’ projects in Colombia, Australia, the UK, and France.

Nima Aida Séne (Berlin/U.K.) is an award-winning multimedia artist, trained at Goldsmiths University of London and Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Nima’s work explores belonging and otherness through performance theatre, moving image, creative writing, songwriting and vocalist work. Nima’s work has been presented at Southbank Centre (London) with Brownton Abbey, and supported through residencies and/or co-production/commission by Sophiensaele (Berlin), The Work Room, Tramway and Take Me Somewhere (Glasgow) and National Theatre of Scotland and Frascati (Amsterdam). Their latest work will be shared at Fierce Festival 2024 (Birmingham).