Meet the acrobat making aerial skills accessible

Adele Cliffe recently ran workshops and performances at Gladstone Pottery Museum

The director of a community circus skills provider aims to break down the financial and physical barriers to take part in her sessions.

Adele Cliffe from Kinetic Heights CIC has run free workshops with specialised equipment throughout the summer.

Her team of instructors have disabilities and neurodivergence and understand the importance of accessibility.

“We all came together as a collective to start something where we could give back to the community and work with those marginalised groups,” she explained.

“There wasn't something like that for us when we were younger,” she explained.

Ms Cliffe said she just "fell in love" with circus skills

As a child, Ms Cliffe said she struggled to engage in PE sessions after being involved in a car crash.

“I really struggle with keeping focus on things and I had to find something to help me build my muscles back up,” she remembered.

“I found circus completely on a whim and I just fell in love with it because it felt like doing exercise but it was fun.”

Ms Cliffe enjoyed the activity so much that she was a self-employed instructor for six years before co-founding Kinetic Heights.

“It really does help with mobility, physical, mental and social well-being,” she said.

Seven year old Stanley said it was "amazing and a really good feeling" to give circus skills a try

Whether out in the community or at their base at All Saints Community Hall in Hanley, the team have accessible variations of equipment to suit all participants.

All her instructors are also trained in circus training therapy, helpful when teaching neurodivergent children.

“We have non-verbal children feeling comfortable in the space to be able to be the most chirpy, cheeky child in the class.”

“Honestly, it's the dream I've worked towards it for so long,” she beamed.

Thanks to the One Stoke Grant Project, supported by the Staffordshire Community Foundation, the non-profit organisation are able to offer free workshops until January 2026.