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Aerial act sisters in first homecoming circus show

Shaun Whitmore/BBC A head and shoulders image of two women standing side by side, wearing blue and silver sparkly circus performance outfits Shaun Whitmore/BBC
Tilly (left) and Kizzy are "a dream come true", the Hippdrome Circus director said

Two sisters who have toured the UK for a decade with their "breathtaking" aerial act are performing on their doorstep for the first time.

Kizzy and Tilly Packham have wowed audiences at circuses, pantomimes and events with their synchronised display on the static trapeze and aerial silks.

This Christmas, the Gemini Sisters can be seen at the Hippdrome Circus in Great Yarmouth - just a stone's throw from where they grew up in Gorleston, Norfolk.

"I love it, it's so nice being so close to home and having friends and family come to watch us perform," said Tilly, 27.

Shaun Whitmore/BBC Woman in red circus performer leotard with silver sequins, sitting on a trapeze with her arms outstretched to each sideShaun Whitmore/BBC
Kizzy trained her older sister in the garden shed

Kizzy, 26, said she loved returning to "where it all started", having danced at the Hippodrome as a child.

"I used to be one of the little dancers in the ring, then I saw one of the girls doing what I do and thought 'I need to do that', and that's where it began."

She had been in an aerial act from her early teens when she encouraged Tilly to ditch her A-levels and defy gravity with her.

"We did a bit of a practice in our shed in the garden and I loved it; it was all I could think about," recalled Tilly.

Her sister added: "We had two weeks, I trained her from having no dance or gymnastics, and I got her down in the splits.

"We made a routine and didn't look back."

'Something quite magical'

Ten years on, the pair enjoy the "buzz" of performing with each other.

"The fact we get to do it together is something quite magical for me and it's created this bond between us which I think is really special," said Tilly.

Kizzy agreed.

"We're sisters, so of course we have our spats, but as soon as we step in the ring we give each other a smile and just get on with it," she said.

"We always say 'I love you' just before we go on, like a bit of a superstition that we've made over the years."

Shaun Whitmore/BBC A woman performs the splits while another woman kneels down and holds the woman's ankle. Both are wearing black hoodies over circus performance outfitsShaun Whitmore/BBC
The pair are used to touring and living in caravans with a circus 'family'

Hippodrome circus director and ringmaster Jack Jay said the Gemini Sisters were a "dream come true".

"To have one of the most amazing aerial acts I've ever seen, and for them to be not only from the UK, but also from right here, is incredible," he added.

"This act is breathtaking, it's beautiful and they make it look far too easy."

He said the act's finale of Kizzy's gravity-defying skywalk was "mind-bending".

"She is completely upside down, held by nothing but the top of her feet, walking across the roof of the Hippodrome - it's pure circus," he added.

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