Erika Lui

Currently residing in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, Erika Lui (they/she) is a multidisciplinary circus and movement artist, teacher, and neuroscientist. An avid life-long learner, explorer, and storyteller, Erika is passionate about building community, building resiliency, and bringing scientific curiosity and philosophy to life throughout their artistic endeavours. Their degree in neuroscience fuels their desire to understand the psychology of place, movement, and memory, particularly as it relates to their own journey of healing through self exploration, movement creation, and relating to the artistic process. 

Movement has always been a source of curiosity and captivation for Erika, from early memories of scaling park trees and neighborhood fences to later honing their skill as a competitive gymnast, cheerleader, and parkour enthusiast as a teen and young adult. Having discovered aerial arts only while completing their science degree in Waterloo, ON, they quickly decided to shift focus to pursuing circus full-time. They cultivated the bulk of their circus training in Chicago, IL, learning aerial arts at Aloft Circus Arts, and studying all things dynamic under Jon Snyder and Charlene Numrych of the Chicago Centre for Dynamic Circus (CCDC). There they specialized in wall trampoline, dynamic duo trapeze, and group and partner acrobatics, while also dabbling in dance acrobatics, teeterboard, Chinese pole, Russian cradle and swinging trapeze. This dynamic and diverse background of movement training is what sets them apart as a performer, bringing both technical precision and creative expression to every act. Whether executing dynamic drops or weaving intricate shapes mid-air, Erika’s performances are a seamless fusion of power and grace.

Erika has worked in collaboration with a number of other circus and interdisciplinary artists to bring various movement projects to life. Recent notable works include being cast as an artistic collaborator and performer for The Chaos Project by Hercinia Arts Collective [Part I - Childhood (2023), Part II - Corporate Chaos (2024) & Part III - Revolution (2024)], a collectively created contemporary circus piece exploring chaos and order on trapeze, rope and aerial harness suspension. In 2024, they debuted their first independent aerial creation project, with grant supported by Pat the Dog Theatre Microgrants and the City of Kitchener, in collaboration with a group of interdisciplinary artists from The Creek Collective – artists who creates work in response to, and alongside, Schneider's Creek in the Grand River Watershed. In the summer of 2024, they performed an aerial fabric dance piece titled Refractions, devised from music created to represent the likeness of the waters by inter-arts composer Deborah Carruthers, over a spoken word poetic essay that related the history and our relationship to this sacred watershed by environmental essayist Geoff Martin.

They are available for hire throughout Canada as an aerial and acrobatic performer and instructor, and can be found for weekly classes or private instruction at Grand River Rocks Kitchener Climbing Gym. Circus performance and teaching CVs and references are available upon request, along with workshop and contract details.