Alumna Joins MoonDrop Circus

Photo by Maxx Lamb

2012 East alumna Natalie Pierce stands in the practice space of MoonDrop Circus, gazing at the trapeze, aerial silks and metal hoops hanging from the 20 foot ceilings above her. She takes a multi-colored aerial silk in both her hands and wraps it around her leg. She pulls up with her arms and begins to climb up the fabric. She twists, spins, drops and contorts herself on the sheets like a butterfly breaking out of a cocoon.

In that moment, and every moment Pierce performs with Kansas City’s MoonDrop Circus, she becomes her circus persona Naema Moonfly: a self proclaimed “circus freak” who has trained herself in the arts of hula hooping, aerial silks and hoops, juggling and eating fire.

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Before she was Naema Moonfly, Pierce was known for doing what she considered unconventional as a senior in high school. Always having an appreciation for art, she spent most of her days at East in the art department, working on photography, jewelry and fashion garments. Taking yoga classes in her free time was a big part of Pierce finding a passion for contortion and flexibility.

Pierce first became fascinated with the circus while watching a female hula hooper at a John Butler Trio concert halfway through her senior year in 2012. Pierce approached her, and the woman told her about some classes Pierce could take to learn hula hooping and other flow arts, an overarching term for movement-based artforms.

By enrolling in classes, Pierce met a professional flow-artist by the stage name of Luna Breeze. Breeze taught her most of what she first learned about hula hooping. Breeze is the co-founder of MoonDrop, a local circus company that performs all over Kansas City at private events. She can also be regularly seen at a flower-shop-turned-big-top at every First Fridays in the Crossroads District. Through training with Breeze, Pierce became close friends with performers in Kansas City.

“We had nights where we would meet up and just play in the park and hula hoop and juggle and play with fire,” Pierce said. “One of those nights they were talking about these [MoonDrop] performers that were moving away and they thought I would be a good addition. A couple weeks later, they basically called me to meet at the practice space, and I joined.”

Most of the performers in the MoonDrop company had training in dance or gymnastics, but few had professional instruction, so it wasn’t necessary for Pierce to audition.

Pierce had some background in dance, but her drive to succeed overshadowed her lack of experience. Since first performing with MoonDrop in Jan. of 2012, Pierce’s circus abilities have greatly expanded from simply being a hula hooper in the company.

Pierce can hold her body upright in a handstand atop a juggler’s shoulders in the act of acrobalance. She taught herself how to swallow fire off of one of her homemade wire wicks dipped in Coleman camping fuel. Pierce also choreographs her own acts, her favorite being spinning and turning high above the ground in an aerial hoop.

Tara Gray, another performer in the company, is Natalie’s partner in their nine-minute, 45-pose aerial hoop, or lyra, piece. The two spent months researching lyra moves and filming their choreography. Finally, after getting feedback from their MoonDrop counterparts, their act was fine-tuned and ready to be performed in front of an audience.

“Right about the time when you start to get bored with an act, you perform it in front of an audience and you get a newfound passion for it,” Pierce said. “Not that you lost [your passion], but you’ve been practicing for so long, it inspires you more [after performing].”

Although worth it to Pierce, the performances don’t necessarily go off without a hitch. Pierce has injured her hamstring multiple times due to stretching incorrectly, taking almost a year to fully heal. Even though Pierce wears sleeves made of fireproof material, it’s almost inevitable that she will singe her arm hair off during a fire-hoop performance.

She has had to adapt and improvise when equipment doesn’t cooperate during a show. At times, the apparatus that holds a lyra or an aerial silk has been hooked up too low to the ground or incorrectly, meaning Pierce has been in danger of almost hitting her head or falling.

Despite these challenges and dangers, Pierce has fallen in love with a life of being clothed in stage makeup and a leotard, performing under bright lights. Pierce is never nervous before a performance. Instead, she exudes a confident aura when she begins to roll hoops on and off her body, smiling at the applauding crowd.

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 Currently studying health sciences at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Pierce believes studying how the human body works complements her craft as a flow-artist well. Because her craft is about her body, when she gets injured she can diagnose the issue based on her knowledge of  anatomy and physiology.

Someday, she hopes to teach and help others about alternative and holistic medicine and how it can aid in remedying injuries due to flow-art. Her future career pursuits, however, are centered more around performing than practicing medicine.

“I’m not really worried about what job I’m going to get down the road, because I see myself performing full-time later on to support myself,” Pierce said. “Someday I want to go to circus school. That’s a long term goal of mine.”

Pierce’s dream is to travel abroad and be professionally trained at a circus school in Europe. In order to accomplish her long term aspirations, Pierce continues to balance studying, waitressing and practicing with MoonDrop. But when she is suspended from a metal hoop, spinning and hanging twenty feet off of the ground, that is the balance she enjoys the most.