Pregnant and Performing: In Conversation with Beth Williams
Exploring the impact of pregnancy on aerial performing, Emma Schofield spoke to award-winning circus performer Beth Williams about her experience of continuing to train and perform while pregnant.
In a fascinating chat about which explores the impact of pregnancy on aerial performing, Emma Schofield spoke to award-winning circus performer Beth Williams about her experience of continuing to train and perform while pregnant.
Emma Schofield: Thanks so much for taking the time to talk to me today! I wanted to start by asking you about the images you’ve been posting on Instagram of you continuing to perform and train throughout your pregnancy. From my own perspective, I looked at them and thought they were absolutely amazing, but I’m guessing keeping on performing felt natural to you…
Beth Williams: Yeah, so I’ve been in some kind of training since I was three years old, obviously that was early ballet training as a little thing, but I’ve been working my body this way for the past 37 years; it’s what I know. Pre-pandemic, I was working on board a cruise ship between 2013 and 2020, so I was in the US and I worked with 10 pairs a week. That was on top of rehearsals, or training, or me just going to the gym to keep fit. Which is to say, that I think the level of fitness that I was at pre-pregnancy, which is normal for an aerialist, was probably quite extreme and I was able to keeping on doing things which might look impressive for someone who’s not done them before. In reality, I’m only doing a very small section of what I used to do before my pregnancy…
Read the full interview at Wales Arts Review.