Christine ‘Chrissy’ Ibrahim is a woman on the rise. Starting out as a classically trained singer, she gained a contemporary music degree, which led to roles in a range of venues showcasing up-and-coming performers. From there, she was exposed to the wonders of the aerial arts, taking to the skies with an aerial vocalist act which brought her to the famed Dracula’s cabaret venue in Melbourne and Queensland and fetish show Torture Garden in Japan. Next she caught the attention of director Elena Kirschbaum when a spot in the Rouge ensemble became available. Four years’ later, the hit show is making its way to Glenelg to spice up the beachside suburb’s Winter Arts Festival.

Although the festival will be a first for Ibrahim, she is excited to explore Adelaide outside Fringe season, hoping to see a more local, community audience. She finds Adelaide crowds in general to be kind and supportive: ‘They’re very used to circus, they’re quite an educated audience.’

To Ibrahim, Rouge is ‘classy smut created by a woman’: a sex-positive show aimed at de-vilifying hypersexuality and delivering a feminist message through new-age circus for adults. It combines traditional acts like acrobatics, fire performers and aerialists with contemporary burlesque, dance and song. ‘Rouge brings the wonder of circus to adults in a way that’s more palatable to them,’ says Ibrahim. ‘Circus usually has a clown and more traditional costumes and is appropriate for all ages. Rouge has more of an edge and a clearer meaning, with a lot of acts with a feminist or inclusive message.’ The women are powerful and the men, quite literally, lift them up. ‘It’s being put forward in a kind way. I think audiences like that.’

Rouge, Glenelg Winter Arts Festival, Colley Reserve, Glenelg, Kaurna Country, Friday 5–Sunday 14 July, times vary.