GUEST ARTISTS

Emily Chilvers is a well renowned corde specialist and aerial coach hailing from Australia.

Emily has performed around the world with Cirque du Soleil, Les Sept Doigts, Palazzo, etc. and has studied in exercise science and biomechanics, developing an expertise in coaching both fundamental and advanced aerial technique, as well as a passion for helping artists to explore and develop their own unique capacities and movement language in the air. 

PJ is a multidisciplinary aerialist that has spent most of her performance and training life on corde lisse. She holds an MS in kinesiology, has 20+ years experience of teaching movement, and currently coaches rope and handstands.

Her performance life has taken her all over the world, performing in many types of contracts from traveling tent circuses to large international festivals. She currently coaches and resides in Bellingham, WA USA.

PJ ESPECIALLY loves all things rolling and has spent years mastering them for not only herself, but for pedagogy and sharing.

Nick (he/they) is an award-winning Asian American circus artist known for his dynamic style combined with crowd engagement and moments of emotive stillness. In 2017, Nick ran away from the world of clinical dietetics to join the circus, specializing in aerial rope, silks, straps, and cyr wheel.

His circus career has brought him to 6 continents with Dolly Parton, Acrobatic Conundrum, Celebrity Cruises, the Roald Dahl Story Company, Shoestring Circus, and he fulfilled his dream of joining Cirque du Soleil's South American tour of Messi10 in 2023-24.

Nick’s teaching experience includes learning from dozens of world renowned circus professionals, instructor workshops from Born to Fly and NECCA, and teaching at circus schools Aloft, NECCA, NICA (Australia), and dozens of studios across North and South America.

Much of Nick’s personal work is inspired by themes of race and emotional trauma, but also hope. He brings to the stage his unique experiences to inspire others to think more critically of life around them and how they can change for the better.

Now at the height of his career, he has become the role model and inspiration that he wished for when he was younger: confident and proud of who they are and spreading love and smiles with their passion. Now, Nick is very happy living his dreams of traveling, performing, and exploring the world. Let him bring you on an adventure.

Cody Hayman found the circus in Olympia, WA in 2009, where he was a founding member of Airbound Underground and an instructor at SANCA. Though he started as a rope artist, Cody has picked up many other circus disciplines in the years since, including trapeze, hair hanging, and clowning.

He has always had a passion for community-based circus performance, producing countless shows in Olympia and New Orleans, as well as performing and teaching all over the country for events like Sh’Bang, Atlanta Aerial Arts Festival, InFringe Fest New Orleans, and others.

He has hosted NECCA’s rope meeting since 2023, and is the head rope and fabric coach for NECCA’s ProTrack program. Cody’s approach to teaching mirrors his approach to performing: always with a sense of curiosity, enthusiasm, and a dash of flamboyance.

Dana is an aerial rope artist with a rich vocabulary in sequences and creative pathways.

Inspired by semiotics and sensuality, their teaching encourages participants to explore personal expression and unconventional pathways to create their own unique movement language and connect deeper to their practise, cultivating both technical skills and authentic embodied movement.

Clara is a circus artist, performer and teacher originally from Germany.  Coming from a background of handstands and contortion, she started specialising in Aerial Rope 7 years ago and later studied Circus and Performance Art in Tilburg, the Netherlands.

In her practise on the rope, she enjoys exploring the detail of movement and rope manipulation, experimenting with the unusual contrast of the relentlessness and rawness of the ropes nature in opposition to the fragility and delicate vulnerability of a human body on the rope.
 

While performing in cabarets, events or festivals with solo acts, she is also part of a circus collective in which she is currently developing and performing two duo rope shows. However, her love for circus expands beyond performing; with 8 years of experience in teaching circus, she loves sharing her knowledge and approaches with fellow enthusiasts.

In her teaching methods, she puts a strong focus on individual progress, supporting her students to find out their personal pathways and methods to achieve their goals.

Constance Echo Palmer is a multi-disciplinary circus artist, with over 20 years of professional stage experience from circus tents to theatres to international festival stages, and as much time teaching movement arts. Rope is her greatest love in the air and she has spent more than a decade researching aerial rope; both in movement and in history.

Constance is known for her work on the Rope Manuals; as an editor on Vol. 1 and contributing author and model on Vol. 2 as well as for building rope teacher training programs for various companies and studios and publishing online rope courses available for students and teachers a like.

Constance continues to support various rope programs through online mentorship and continuing education for teachers. Her interests on the rope range from dynamic technique to the deep topology of knot theory.

Taylor (they/them) is an Australian artist who began their aerial journey at NICA after performing and teaching Fan Manipulation in China, Russia and Europe.

They started practicing rope with a love/hate relationship, but quickly fell fully in love with it when they discovered their natural affinity for dynamic skills and freedom in flight.

Dynamics and release skills have been a big focus of their training, however, their recent exploration has focused on blind-folded choreography which helps attune them to improvisation and a more subconscious performative approach.

They've been teaching at Spinfest (Australia's circus convention) since 2020 and plan to continue sharing their passion and knowledge.

Currently based in Brattleboro, Vermont, Elliot is a 2026 graduate of NECCA ProTrack. They were drawn to the limitless possibilities of aerial rope right from the beginning of their circus journey, and for the past 7 years they have been exploring all of them, be it through chucking themselves into foam pits or devising new tangles on a whim.

They are drawn to the intense sensations and meditative states found through rope, and always aim to share them with audiences and students alike.

Molly Barg is a Philadelphia-based aerialist and coach with 12 years of aerial training. Drawing on a background in Muay Thai, she brings strength, discipline, and a playful sense of challenge to every class. Rope is her primary apparatus, but her practice also includes silks, trapeze, sling, lyra, cyr wheel, and hand balancing. She coaches at Secret Circus in Philadelphia.

Molly’s teaching is rooted in consistency, strong fundamentals, and pathway theory. She helps students understand the mechanics behind skills - rather than simply memorizing sequences - so they can build confidence, adapt movement, and discover greater freedom and creativity in the air.

Her classes are fun, progression-focused, and challenging within each student’s individual ability. Students can expect plenty of reps, thoughtful skill-building, and creative exploration.

Molly’s goal is to give everyone an achievable next step - and, hopefully, break a few brains along the way.

Mercury Bergren is a multidisciplinary artist, acrobat, and androgyne who found themself in circus after a lifetime (well, 20 years) of being too eccentric and and wiggly to be of much use to society though more conventional means.

Since they crashed onto the scene in a rock climbing gym on Lingít Aaní (Juneau, AK) they discovered that there is actually a world of good to be done through movement.

They've been the Circus Access Programs manager at SANCA in Seattle for three years, running all of the programs at the circus school designed for disabled or marginalized groups. From coaching adaptive classes for neurodivergent students, hemiparesis students, and trans students, to providing backend support for coaches for BIPOC circus and Postpartum Circus, their whole goal is to see more diverse stories on our stages and to live in a world where people have more options for moving through it.

To that end, they've had the privilege of traveling internationally to coach adaptive circus and consult with social circus programs in Japan and around the US. When they're not doing all that they can be found playing with a rope toy, sometimes for the audiences of SANCA/Emerald City Trapeze and Acrobatic Conundrum, sometimes in an empty room, and they're pretty happy about it either way. 

Liza is an aerialist and educator with over 20 years of experience performing and teaching internationally. She has a background in dance and gymnastics.

Focused on an interdisciplinary approach to aerial skill training, Liza loves integrating dance technique, acrobatic fundamentals, and movement research with an inquiry-based generative praxis to help performers achieve new levels of creativity, sustainability, and relevance in their work.

Emphasis is on theory and adaptation over skill replication for devising aerial dance. She is currently based in New Orleans, LA.

Anastasia has been a professional aerialist since 2013.  Her movement style is dark and dramatic, a mixture of slow hypnotic movement and fast dynamic sequences. Her emphasis is on fascinating shapes and clean lines all while upholding the illusion of defying gravity.

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She loves storytelling-through elaborate costuming, body language, and music selection. Just like her oil paintings, she likes her aerial acts to visually make a statement.

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In her free time, Anastasia can be found drawing, making costumes, and cuddling with her cats.

Amy's love for corde lisse runs deep and led her to launching Denver Rope Meeting in 2024.

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Her goal as a coach is to activate everyone's sense of play and experimentation, and to validate all rope-meeting-goers that wrappy puzzles and shapes are still completely valid ways to rope.

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She is Rope Meeting's ultimate hype person: bringing newbies under her wing until they fit right at home by the end of the weekend.

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Amy has a powerful belief in community, collaboration, and abundance with all things rope and circus.

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Amy is also a muralist who painted the mural at Boulder Circus Center, corde lisse trapeze builder, and a fine artist at Willow Circus Works.

Sarah discovered the wonderful world of circus 20 years ago, when a good friend made her her first hula-hoop, starting a lovely journey down a rabbit hole of movement arts that has culminated in her aerial career today. 

Sarah adores the stage, bringing dynamic creativity to her performances.  She also has a deep passion for teaching and loves to share with others her aerial knowledge and commitment to physical, mental, and creative growth, inspiring them to lead healthy lives through circus. 

She has shared her unique performance style and her passion for education at circus schools, retreats, and festivals around the country and beyond. 

Sarah is a 2017 graduate of the Frequent Flyers Aerial Dance Professional Training Program, specializing in corde lisse and fabric.  She spends her free time saving lives as an ER nurse, taming wild rivers on a SUP, and introducing her toddler to the awesomeness of life.