Amara Shorts

Amara Shorts is a professional aerialist, acrobat, and fulltime

showgirl based in Boston, Massachusetts. With 7 years of circus training and 10 years spent on

runways and pageant stages, Amara is the proud creative director and co-founder of the New England

Black Circus. She has completed the professional preparatory program at the Esh School of Circus Arts in Somerville, Massachusetts, with training in Aerial Silks, Aerial Chains, Lyra, trapeze, and ground acrobatics. Amara is a frequently featured soloist on the ground and in the air at New England’s most

prominent drag shows, pride festivals, cabarets, and brunches. She produces independent circus and productions through her bimonthly cabaret, Circus Twerkus. Amara is a lead youth circus instructor with the Vegetable Circus and former camp head coach of Circus Smirkus in Brattleboro, Vermont.

 

Amara came to circus arts through pageantry, learning aerial silks for the Miss Rhode Island program, a preliminary to Miss America. She has competed nationally twice at Miss World America, the United States Preliminary to Miss World, placing in the top 5 for interview in 2016 and winning the category of

Beauty With a Purpose. Amara is proud to have broken barriers as the first openly gay contestant at Miss World America, at a time when queerness was considered taboo within mainstream pageantry. She feels that her local LGBTQ community particularly embraced her with opportunities during her reign as Miss Rhode Island World, which included hosting countless charity events such as Rhode Island Pride Honors, cohosting a charity fashion show with Shangela, serving as chair of the Queer Alliance at Brown University and accepting countless opportunities to host and perform on behalf of LGBTQ+ causes within queer community spaces.

 

Amara approaches the title of Miss Gay America Femme as a professional queer performance with a solid background in pageantry. Her schedule is flexible for travel and last-minute gigs and opportunities, and she has developed a network of queer performers all over the United States who would be interested in supporting the growing title of Miss Gay America Femme. Having started her own circus which grew into a troupe with full-time performance opportunities, Amara would be thrilled to apply those same skills as a titleholder to the growing MGA Femme.