Aerialist • Acrobat • Dancer
Alex Oliva is an American movement artist specializing in aerial arts, acrobatics, and dance. He has performed across the globe from Australia to Italy and has toured extensively across the United States. His performance styles range from contemporary circus and physical theater to corporate gig work, from traditional children’s circus to adult-themed cabarets, and from concert dance to outdoor festivals. Notable companies on his résumé include Disneyland Paris, Bindlestiff Family Cirkus, House of Yes, the Box, Talmi Entertainment (formerly the Moscow Ballet), and Urbanity Underground Dance, to name just a few. He has performed in festivals such as the Salieri Circus Award in Italy, the Western Australian Circus Festival/Karnidale, Moisture Festival in Seattle, and the San Diego Circus Festival.
Alex’s work on stage has earned him several awards. At the third annual Salieri Circus Award in 2023, he was given the Vivilegnago Award from the hosting city of Legnago. At the 2022 San Diego Circus Festival, he won the DaVinci Award for overall act presentation for his Cyr wheel act, the Vanguard Award for creativity for his straps act, and the CircusTalk Spotlight Award for courageous expression, artistic and technical acumen, and audience engagement. Other notable achievements include winning 2nd place in the 2021 Aerialympics National Competition in the All-Star Specialty division for his unique straps act, and winning the Best Choreography Award in the MarDelDance disDance July 2020 Film Festival.
While Alex often performs individual cabaret-style acts, his true artistic interests are in small-cast, ensemble-heavy, multidisciplinary shows that blend aerial arts, acrobatics, and dance together. Notable projects include shows “Helix”, “American Dream: One Clown’s Love Affair With Capitalism”, and “Rouge”, some of which can be found at his Featured Projects page.
Within circus arts, Alex’s primary concentrations are aerial straps and Cyr wheel, but he has also performed numerous times in other disciplines such as aerial pole, silks, hammock, and tumbling. In dance, he is primarily a contemporary dancer with experience in classical ballet.
After beginning movement arts in his youth as a competitive gymnast for several years, Alex transitioned to training in ballet and contemporary dance, which he trained for several more years. However, it was after seeing a Cyr wheel performance that he fell in love with the merger of acrobatic stunts and expressive movement that is much of contemporary circus arts. He received training in Montreal under Victor Fomine in aerial straps and Eric Deschênes, Bobby Cookson, and Angelica Bongiovonni in Cyr wheel.
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Festivals
Cover photo courtesy of Ryan Smith Visuals