In recognition & celebration of 1930’s pioneers of female aviation Nancy Bird-Walton, Amelia Earhart and Lores Bonney.
Concept: Cheryle Moore
Stilt choreography: Wendy Regan
Ground crew creation: Maree Alwert and Kate Clarkson
Design and Costume: Imogen Ross
Original Performers: Carol Creagan, Ella Hogan, Wendy Regan, Kate Clarkson, Maree Alwert
The Aviators were funded with a small grant from Wollongong City Council Cultural Services Department in 2008 as a performance for the Viva la Gong festival. The aesthetic costume design was created for stilt walkers on very tall stilts, by Imogen Ross in consultation with Angela James (when it came to the giant boots). The design replicated the iconic look of those pioneer female aviators while the stilt choreography by Wendy Regan, combined groundwork and balletic, acrobatic forms. The ground crew took on the character of traffic controllers utilising clowning, acting and acro-balance skills.
The theme of flight is a poignant one for a women’s circus, representing breaking out, getting off the ground and soaring above difficulty. The attraction of circus for women is about doing the unimaginable as it must also have been for these first women in aviation history. WOW’s Aviator women went on to perform at many different events locally as well as in Sydney at the Darling Harbour Festival in 2006 and at the Ronald McDonald House Christmas Fundraiser, held at Sydney airport in 2015.
—Wendy Regan