Her story begins on February 20, 1993, in Zurich. Anja grows up there, surrounded by family, people, plants, and objects. Among them is a special friend named James Samuel—her bicycle.
Anja’s relationship with the bicycle begins in 2005, within a sports club. Little by little, together with her “friend,” she moves beyond the boundaries of sport to explore new possibilities in other fields. At the same time, she continues practicing music, theatre, winter sports, and scouting.
After completing her music-focused Matura (a distinction-level high school diploma), she goes on to study Sports and Theatre Theory at the University of Bern, followed by teacher training at the Zurich University of Teacher Education. Meanwhile, she develops her theatre practice at the Scuola Teatro Dimitri in Verscio, Switzerland, and discovers circus through a social outreach program at Zip Zap Circus in Cape Town, South Africa.
It is there, on the other side of the world, that she discovers what feels like an obvious path: becoming a circus artist. She follows this path, which leads her in 2015 to the National Centre for Circus Arts (CNAC) in Châlons-en-Champagne.
Anja loves to play, share, and move. In 2016, she steps in for Serge Huercio in the show Roue Libre by the company Les Nouveaux Nez. It is art—and life’s small moments of chance—that make her heart beat, and she looks forward to discovering their rhythm.