The moment I knew: standing on her shoulders, I was impressed she could bear my weight
After training together for years, acrobats Tristan St John and Asha Colless realised their ability to support one another was more than just physical
In 2021 I was at the National Institute of Circus Arts in Melbourne. That’s where I first laid eyes on Asha. She was part of a group of new students joining my cohort. She instantly struck me as someone I wanted to be friends with. At ballet class that afternoon we shared a barre and became fast friends. Over the next couple of years things remained platonic and it wasn’t until our final year that chemistry began to build.
Towards the end of that dark Melbourne winter, Asha asked if I’d work with her on some acrobatics. Every day after school we’d spend an hour or so training as a pair. There was lots of stretching and chatting, trying and failing various tricks and lots of laughs. It wasn’t long before I realised I was seriously enjoying these sessions, and not just in a professional or friendly way. I was falling in love.
As our skills developed, we moved on to trickier tricks. At one session we were trying to figure out as many different ways to climb to shoulders as we could. I’m a fair bit bigger than Asha and I wasn’t in the habit of getting on others’ shoulders. But the session was so joyful and relaxed, I realised it didn’t matter if we got it wrong, we were having just as much fun laughing it off and giving it another go.
In the end we pulled it off. Her ability to bear my weight was so impressive. But I knew at that moment it ran deeper than that – that our ability to support each other wasn’t just physical.
I had never felt as close to anyone as I did to Asha – we were completely on the same wavelength about so many things in and out of the circus. When I brought all this up a few days after that session it quickly became apparent the feeling was mutual.
By springtime we were official, and not long after that Asha signed her contract with Australian circus group Circa. During the last term she went away to do a one-week show with them and I missed her so badly that my already strong ambition to join Circa felt like a non-negotiable.
I was accepted and within weeks of our graduation at the end of 2023 we were there together. But a cruel twist in casting meant we were separated for over six months.
We were reunited mid last year and have been in each other’s pockets since. I find touring life really tough, but doing it with Asha makes it so much better. I know we can rely on each other. She can stand on my shoulders when she needs to, and I can stand on hers too – literally and figuratively. And if we take a tumble, I know we can laugh together and try again.
Tristan and Asha are performing together in , Humans 2.0 at Arts Centre Melbourne from 14 to 24 May