Catherine Wait is an independent, multidisciplinary circus and physical theatre artist, who also performs under the stage name, Missy.

Based in Sydney, she works and resides on the land of the Wangal and Gadigal people of the Eora nation.

Originally training as a gymnast and dancer, Catherine discovered circus arts whilst completing a Bachelor of Art Theory at the College of Fine Arts UNSW. With stylistic versatility and a love of performing, Catherine has collaborated in ensemble shows and created solo work; from razzle-dazzle to contemporary circus storytelling. She has provided entertainment at big corporate events, grass roots arts projects and fringe festivals.

Catherine’s particular interest is the meeting point of floor and air using movement and text. Investigating the merging of dance, circus and theatre language whilst aiming for a seamless exploration of a three-dimensional performance plane.

In 2014 Catherine created a one-woman show Love, Loss and Lattes. Having performed the show in the Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide Fringe Festivals,
it received the 2015 Adelaide Fringe Weekly Award High Commendation and won the 2016 Sydney Fringe Best Circus and Physical Theatre Show and the SYNZ Award which toured the show to the New Zealand Fringe Festival in 2017.

Gracing stages across Australia as well as internationally, recent highlights
include Trashed - a contemporary dance/circus collaboration between Winifred Haun & Dancers and Emma Serjeant Performance in Chicago in 2017 and duo lyra with Emma Goh TEDx Sydney Opera House in 2016.

Catherine expanded her skillset further whilst researching, devising and performing with Brown Paper Circus in Please Consider Our Neighbours 2017 and Letters To An Unborn Child 2018.

2019 saw Catherine collaborate, create and perform in two new works; Diagnosis: Gravity and void (the call and response).

Diagnosis: Gravity by playwright Joanna Erskine and Danielle McKinnon from Swoop Physical Theatre drew upon experiences of isolation and silent grief that surrounds miscarriage using scripted text, aerial performance and physical theatre.

void (the call and response) was a solo show conceptualised and performed by Catherine with Alex Mizzen and Marissa Yeo onboard as co-directors. This latest work pushed Catherine out of her comfort zone by stripping away her usual aerial equipment to rely solely on an empty space and one single light as a physical exploration into the imprint of absence.

Between 2011- 2020 Catherine was a resident performer at El’ Circo at Slide.