Circus

Shena specializes in cyr wheel and lasso and occasionally performs in aerial disciplines. After graduating from Montreal’s National Circus School, she toured with Cirque Éloize’s Saloon as both an acrobat and musician. In 2019, she received the Grand Award of the Jury and the Pegasus Variety Award for her cyr wheel act at the Newcomershow, an international variety festival. In 2021, she received the grand award at Le Monastère’s Cabaret du Jugement Dernier.

She is currently on tour with Cirque du Soleil’s LUZIA.

Shena also offers cyr wheel workshops and private lessons, emphasizing clean technique and the importance of creative improvisation. She has enjoyed teaching venues such as the National Centre for Circus Arts in London and the École supérieure des arts du cirque (ESAC) in Brussels. She is stylistically influenced by contemporary dance, which she studied at the University of Minnesota.

Music

Shena plays violin, mandolin, and octave mandolin, and sings.
Classically trained on the violin in her childhood, she now mostly plays in a variety of folk styles. She has extensive knowledge of Irish traditional music and picked up bluegrass and western swing from collaborations with other musicians while on tour. She regularly writes music for both violin and octave mandolin.

Apprenticing with luthier Mike Kennedy at the Mile End Guitar Coop in Montreal in 2018, she crafted a hybrid string instrument dubbed the balalaikalele.

Craft

As a textile artist, Shena creates functional pieces, primarily using recycled textiles. She is inspired by the slow craft movement, which places value on the process and meaning of making things by hand. She holds a degree in fashion and made-to-measure dressmaking from the École des métiers des Faubourgs de Montréal.

From luthiery to knitting and natural dyes, she is in an ongoing process of collecting expertise in various traditional handcrafts.

Shena documents some of her projects in her video series, Craft Saga, which follows her adventures in learning craft-related skills.

Her current research focuses on experimenting with natural dyes on recycled textiles. Her knitting can be found on Ravelry.