Hula Hooper claims book got her blacklisted by circus industry

A circus hula hooper claims she was boycotted by the industry after describing a claim of sexual harassment in her debut novel.

Judith Lanigan claims she was blacklisted from the industry. Picture: Lisa Mills

A circus hula hooper claims she was blacklisted by the industry after writing a book about an international burlesque star’s search for love.

Judith Lanigan has claimed in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal she was victimised and starved of work after her debut novel, A True History of the Hula Hoop, was published in 2009.

The freelance circus performer claims she was persecuted following sexual harassment by a Circus Oz worker three years earlier, which she described in her fictional novel.

A “boycott email” was allegedly sent after the novel hit the shelves, leading Ms Lanigan to suffer mental illness, lose work and even become homeless for a period, the tribunal was told, in evidence VCAT member Kylea Campana described as, at times, inconsistent and confusing.

Ms Lanigan now sought “various forms of relief, including compensation” from Circus Oz and its chairperson Nick Yates for the victimisation she claimed to have endured, the tribunal heard.

Judith Lanigan studied at the Moscow State Circus School.

She claimed she was further victimised through an investigation conducted by mediation company the Zalt Group and its director, Zandy Fell.

“Ms Lanigan says the employee … sent an email to several people in the circus industry asking them not to ‘support this writer by buying the book’ … she says she could not get work … and had a number of work contracts cancelled as a result … in 2010 Ms Lanigan claims she was told Circus Oz would not support or engage with her work because they were complying with the boycott email. She says she (was) rejected a number of times by Circus Oz between 2010 and 2016,” Ms Campana noted.

“In 2017, following the #metoo phenomenon, Ms Lanigan says she described some of her experiences of sexual harassment in the circus industry in a Facebook post. The post resulted in an exchange between Ms Lanigan and an artistic associate who escalated the complaint of sexual harassment to Circus Oz. Ms Lanigan says the Zalt Group … was then engaged to carry out an investigation into the allegation of sexual harassment and the boycott email.”

Ms Lanigan launched VCAT proceedings in mid-2018.

Ms Campana refused Circus Oz’s bid to have the Human Rights case struck out, saying that while it was true there had been “an inordinate, unexplained, delay” by Ms Lanigan in initiating the action, she did not agree the organisation would be denied a fair hearing or that the case proceeding would be against the interests of justice.

Judith Lanigan in action.

Circus Oz had argued at the interlocutory hearing that the matter should be summarily dismissed because of the length of time which had elapsed, and the book did not contain an allegation of sexual harassment.

The former employee refuted Ms Lanigan’s claims he sexually harassed her and that he had circulated an email about her widely, the tribunal heard.

But Ms Campana said it was clear “Ms Lanigan was of the view she had been sexually harassed in 2006 and was making that allegation when she penned the incident in the book”.

Ms Lanigan – who studied at the Moscow State Circus School and describes herself as “a stunt hula hoopist” – is most well known for her hula hoop version of the famous ballet solo, The Dying Swan.

She is also a street artist and author.

A True History of the Hula Hoop is described as “a beguiling novel” about two women born centuries apart but connected by a quest for true love.

One of the main characters is Catherine, “a hula-hooping performance artist … plying her trade on the international burlesque stage”.

“As she nears the middle of her life, admired but impoverished, she begins to question the nature of her vocation and the sacrifices women must make in order to succeed,” a blurb states.

Ms Campana said the seriousness of Ms Lanigan’s allegations required the decision maker at a final hearing to be satisfied, to a comfortable degree, her claims had been made out.

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