1. VERY FEW PEOPLE KNOW THAT I… used to collect frogs. Soft toys, statues and posters. I loved them. My first email address was froginwood.

2. WHEN I’M NOT ON TOUR I… like to spend as much time as possible with my boyfriend. We live near a shopping and café precinct in Melbourne and we regularly go out with friends for food or drinks.

3. WHAT I LOVE MOST ABOUT MY ART IS… that I get to use my body. I have always loved being physical, so being able to make work with it in a creative way is one of the reasons that I love circus.

4. A LIFE LESSON I WOULD LIKE TO SHARE WITH CENTRE COLLEGE STUDENTS IS: That there is always a positive in every situation, it just takes time to find it. I spent three years struggling with chronic fatigue, and as much as it was hard and I couldn’t do the work that I wanted to do, I learnt to do other things.

5. I DEFINE ART AS: Anything that gives the audience or viewer an emotional reaction, good or bad.

6. MY MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT IN SHOW BUSINESS THUS FAR WAS: Directing my first ever production for the Women’s Circus in Melbourne. It was my first solo directing project.

7. THE PERSON WHO MOST INFLUENCED ME IS: There are two people that have influenced me. Anna Shelper was the first coach I worked with after graduating from The Flying Fruit Fly Circus. She taught me different ways of thinking about my training and has been a brilliant mentor and friend. The second is Debra Batton who became my mentor when I was still struggling with my chronic fatigue. She helped me have the confidence to pursue work off the stage when I wasn’t well enough to be on it, and has shown me how to see other ways of making work.

8. IF I COULD BE ON STAGE WITH ANYONE, PAST OR PRESENT, ALIVE OR DECEASED, FICTIONAL OR REAL, IT WOULD BE: The person that comes to mind is Marilyn Monroe. I think that she was an incredible actress and I have found inspiration in a lot of her written work.

10. IF I COULD ENSURE THAT THE AUDIENCE TAKES HOME ONE THING AFTER MY PERFORMANCE, IT WOULD BE: Either thinking about something new, or feeling like they had fun.9. WHILE TOURING, ONE OF MY GUILTY PLEASURES IS: Having been a freelance performer for a long time, being on tour working full-time is pretty amazing. So my guilty pleasure is having dessert when eating out. I haven’t always had the money to do that.

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More about the artist: spenser_PR_HR
Spenser Inwood has been following her passion for circus since the age of 8. She trained at the Flying Fruit Fly Circus, and has performed aerial acts in Australia and across the globe. Spenser has also taught for Women’s Circus, Circus Oz and the Circus Spot, and had her solo directing debut in May 2013 with the show What Do I Want? (Women’s Circus).

More about Circus Oz: 
Get set for the breathtakingly brilliant, the beautiful, and the absurd as Australia’s Circus Oz fills Newlin Hall with its renowned brand of collective physicality and mayhem. Stunt-jumping acrobats defy physics, fearless aerial artists laugh at gravity, slapstick knockabouts descend into chaos, and live onstage musicians rock the house! Founded in 1977 out of a desire to reinvent the dynamism of the traditional circus while displaying a signature Aussie voice, these acrobats, trapeze artists, jugglers, musicians, and comedians have put a fresh face on highly skilled stuntsinfused with a healthy dose of satire and sauciness for audiences across 26 countries on five continents. Each show—like every Circus Oz performance over the past 34 years—is a one-of-a-kind wonder. “With a raw, upbeat energy and lovely spirit” (Sunday Telegraph), this audacious spectacle of fun has performed on Broadway for family audiences for the past three years.

Spenser Inwood will perform with Circus Oz in Newlin Hall at Centre College’s Norton Center for the Arts on Saturday and Sunday, February 15 & 16, 2013. Tickets are available on our website or by calling the box office at 1-877-HIT-SHOW.