Heather Holliday says when she swallowed a sword for the first time she wanted to shout "I did it!" but she couldn't.
"You want to explain but you can't because there's something wedged down your throat."
Heather, who's also a fire-breather, has brought her talents to the Auckland Art Festival as part of Limbo, a sexy circus show that combines acrobatics, illusion and burlesque.
She started out as a teenager, practicing in her bathroom. "It was a very secret thing. I felt like my parents would think I was crazy. They often thought I was crazy at that age, so it was one of those things that was a secret until I could do it."
Olivia Round, of the blog oliviaroundtown, filed this report.