The penultimate Dancer’s Diary is from the highest point of our UK tour, Edinburgh! We asked Maude to dish all the gossip on Cirque Éloize’s time in Scotland.

Maude Arseneault
Happy and playful, Maude has always been a natural performer. Her gymnastics coaches suggested that she audition for the National Circus School in Montréal, and there she found her true passion! Circus opened a whole new world for Maude, a world where anything is possible. Maude’s creative outlet is the Chinese pole, and she especially loves the creative possibilities of Chinese pole duets. Today, she specializes in that particular discipline with her partner, Mikaël Bruyère-Labbé. At the same time, Maude enjoys expanding her horizons in different acrobatic disciplines such as powertrack and double point aerial hoop, and by working with other circus artists. A natural leader, Maude also knows how to step aside and let others take the lead. She is a self starter who is always full of new ideas, highly organized and committed to excellence in her work. Maude has a thirst for adventure and believes that there is always something to learn from other people. Originally from Québec, Maude’s strength is acrobatics, but her true gift lies in her self awareness and her zest for life.
“I was already in love with the city of Edinburgh since I visited the city 2 years ago, on my first trip away from home. I knew Scotland had a lot to offer.
Some of us had the chance to spend the two first days near the beautiful village of Dunkeld, where we enjoyed the amazing bipolar Scottish weather! We also didn’t miss the chance to eat their delicious salmon. On our way back, we couldn’t help ourselves not to stop in a whisky distillery to buy some souvenirs..!
On the night we came back, we knew we had to experience some of the history-ghost tour. We decided to make it a group activity and enjoyed hearing about the interesting and sometimes violent stories the guide had to share. It allowed us to get to know the city a bit more.
A lot of members from the troupe had the chance to have some friends or family coming over. It felt good after many months away from home to be sourrounded by family spirit.
We are now heading to Cardiff (eating some Easter chocolate in the bus) and are really excited to meet Kilian, the new member of Cirkopolis family who is now 2 weeks old! (Some more good reasons to knit).
Enjoying the warm Spring weather already.
Maude =)