Full-time student, part-time aerialist

Miami senior Nikki McGlosson seems to be at ease anywhere: from the printmaking studio in Hiestand Hall where she spends most of her time, to dozens of feet in the air on a ribbon attached to the ceiling.

McGlosson is a hired performer with the Cincinnati Circus Company, a commission circus that performs mainly at private parties, county fairs and charity fundraising events. For McGlosson, it's much like any other part-time job. She trains with the other performers on Tuesday evenings, teaches an aerial class on Wednesdays and spends her free weekends traveling with the circus for gigs, typically in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.

She had a fascination with the circus from a young age, joking, as many kids do, about running away to join it. Unlike most kids, though, she carried that dream into adulthood.

"I just decided, you know what? Why not? And I got online and looked for classes in my area and found the circus company," McGlossen said.

At first, she just wanted a taste of the high life. But, she became enthralled by it.

"I fell in love immediately," McGlosson said.

She trained for six months until last spring, when she left to study abroad in Osaka, Japan. There, she found the Ikura Circus and continued her training with them.

Though she started her journey in the circus with an aerial act -- in which performers pose, flip and drop from silk ribbons suspended from the ceiling -- McGlosson now dabbles in an assortment of acts, including lyra (an aerial hoop), rope darts and juggling cubes. She's also skilled in face-painting and balloon artistry, which she taught herself through YouTube.

Currently she's training to eat fire.

"Right now, we're trying to do a thing called 'Dragon's Breath' where you let the fuel burn off inside of your mouth and close it a little, like an 'o' so that you can take it out and the wick will still be on fire."

Her job duties let her try her hand at nearly anything her heart desires.

Her duties range from what McGlosson refers to as "wallpaper gigs," where she climbs up the aerial silks and performs tricks and poses for up to five hours as the party mills about below her, to more interactive events.

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She's done aerial bartending, where drinks are placed around her onstage and she performs tricks in between serving and talking to people.

She's dealt blackjack and big six for casino nights. She's even done archery.

"I never want to see another nerf dart in my life," McGlosson said with a laugh.

But being a part-time aerialist is not without risks. McGlosson has gotten hurt during training and performances.

"[It happens] all the time," she said. "If you wanna be dumb, you have to be tough. I do try to keep it to the point where I won't do anything, like, super dumb. So I'm not gonna light myself on fire and do cartwheels through a crowd or anything."

glynnee@miamioh.edu