CK:  Greetings, Ms Mizzen!
AM:  Greetings!

CK:  I've watched a few of your aerial chair performances to get me prepared for what I might see at Red Bennies.  Is this the act you perform?
AM: This is one of the acts I perform at Red Bennies.  I also perform a couple of different hand-balance acts and a tisu act. These are each of my own creation and each one has a really different flavour.
CK:  The chair act is very unique, how did it come about?
AM:  Yes it sure is.  The chair is my own design and my partner Didj built it for me.  From that point it was just a lot of playing and trial and error to get it to where it is today.

CK:  It's mesmerising to watch but also nerve racking! Do you still get nervous before a show?
AM:  Of course, I will be dead the day I don’t get nervous before any performance I do!  Although of all the different acts I do, my chair act would have to be the least nerve wracking…

CK:  How do you shake those nerves?
AM: Ahh you don’t shake them per say, I think you just learn how to breathe through them and use them to your advantage.

CK:  What kind of training have you completed to be where you are at now, as a performer?
AM:  I think the best ‘training’ I have ever had has been learnt whilst performing.  No course, book or website can teach you that.

CK:  You graduated with Honours from the National Theatre Ballet, and have worked as a contemporary dancer both across Australia and overseas!  Share with us a highlight?
AM:  There are too many!

CK: Was it easy to transition from dancer into circus-style performances?
AM:  Yeah it was, well for me it was.  I reckon circus can be an extension of dance, some of the most exhilarating works I’ve seen cross disciplines, from theatre to circus to dance and back again.

CK: You've become quite the regular at Red Bennies these days!  What's your favourite thing about the venue?
AM: Fave thing about the venue, well probably just that, the venue itself.  Who can say no to a small proscenium arch theaterette, whereby the audience can mingle and drink at there own discretion?
And of course a huge plus for Bennies is its aerial rig, being one of only two cabaret venues in Melbourne with a working rig.  Melbourne could do with more venues like Bennies.

Alex Mizzen will perform as part of the South Side Show at Red Bennies Saturday 11th September