FOOTLOOSE & FANCY FREE - ‘The Weekly inspired my act!'

The first-foot juggler to come out of New Zealand, Emma Phillips, 32, deftly spins and tosses umbrellas, carpets and 10kg tables using nothing but her toes – a feat that even her trainers told her would be impossible

- Fleur Guthrie

How I live...

“Growing up in Whangarei, I was obsessed with dance and loved performing on stage, but I had never been exposed to acrobatics or circus theatre. Then at 15, I saw the Cirque du Soleil show Quidam. I don’t think I blinked the whole time! It opened my eyes to a whole different world and planted a seed.

At the same time, there was also an article about Cirque du Soleil in the Weekly and at the bottom, it said, “If you want to run away with the circus, email New Zealand’s only circus school in Christchurch.” So, I did – from my mum’s email address because I didn’t have my own – and ended up going down there at 17 to do a Diploma of Circus Arts [which is no longer available] at Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology.

Cirque du Soleil also sparked my next move, to China in 2009. I watched a telethon on TV, which featured the Chinese umbrella juggler from its Dralion show. It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen, but I could never imagine myself being able to do that.

I was invited to apply for the Beijing International Arts School, as one of 15 foreigners among 500 Chinese pupils, majoring in foot juggling and contortion. It was a massive culture shock. I remember standing in Tiananmen Square, thinking the entire population of Auckland could fit in it.