Perfomer's antenna is taken at the beginning (9)

I believe the answer is:

aerialist

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'perfomer's' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.

'antenna is taken at the beginning' is the wordplay.
'antenna' becomes 'aerial' (synonyms).
'at the beginning' suggests taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'taken' is 't'.
'aerial'+'is'+'t'='AERIALIST'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for aerialist that I've seen before include "trapeze artist" , "Highly-regarded performer" , "skier" , "Trapeze acrobat" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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