Miss La La

Miss Lala was an expert circus acrobat whose star performance featured being hoisted to the roof of the Gaiety Theatre, Manchester and suspended by her teeth. Born in Poland to a black father and white mother, she began touring in 1867 at age 9 and became reputable for her flying trapeze and human cannon act. Lala’s African and European ancestry were regularly exploted to create mystery and reinforce so called ‘exoticism’ in order to increase ticket sales. At the age of 21, she became of the muse of French impressionist Edgar Degas’s painting ‘Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando’. Despite quitting the circus in 1888, her legacy still lives on and the painting of her hangs high today, just like she did, as part of the collection at the National Gallery London.

Voice Acting by Imogen Jacobs Written & Produced by Ellie Andrews