teaching

I leave for Atlanta tomorrow to teach at the inaugural Atlanta Aerial Arts Festival! I still have a couple slots left for private lessons in trapeze… Read More »Teaching at the Atlanta Aerial Arts Festival March 31-April 3

Handbalancing at a fund-raiser for NECCA earlier this month (photo by Jeff Lewis)

Lauren and I had an amazing time teaching duo trapeze, solo trapeze, and handstands workshops and giving feedback to brave, inspiring performers at the Southern Fried Circus Fest in Dallas, Texas, earlier this month. Next up, a trip back to Vermont to teach some workshops at my favorite stomping grounds, NECCA! There are so many enticing events on the calendar for their upcoming Circus Workshop Weekend, November 5-8. Lauren and I are both excited to be on the schedule instructing some of our old favorite workshops as well as new offerings, like Everything We Wish We Knew Before Creating An Ensemble Circus Show. And we’re both available to teach private lessons Friday through Sunday. Contact Elsie to schedule private lessons — act creation and development with Lauren, and any kind of trapeze or handbalancing with me.

Here’s a list of the workshops we’re offering at NECCA. Click on the links below for full descriptions and to sign up!

Read More »Teaching at NECCA’s Fall Circus Workshop Weekend, Nov 5-8

Tomorrow I head to Dallas, TX to teach workshops in handstands and solo and duo trapeze at the Southern Fried Circus Fest! Check out the links below for full workshop descriptions, and visit the SFCF Mindbody site to register.

The 9-day festival kicks off with workshops this coming weekend; I’m teaching one each day:

Read More »Workshops at the Southern Fried Circus Fest

After a year of traveling, living abroad, and teaching workshops and private lessons, I’m really exciting to return to teaching regular session classes! This fall I’m teaching six classes a week (two each on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday evenings) at the Philadelphia School of Circus Arts, starting in just a few days. Trapeze, handstands, stretching, acrobatics: basically my favorite things.

Take a look at my schedule after the jump. You can drop in on any class as long as you register 48 hours in advance; go to http://phillycircus.com/adult-class-calendar/ to sign up!

Read More »Fall Classes at PSCA

I fell in love with Canopy in Athens, Georgia when I first visited at the start of 2015, so I’m delighted to be returning there September 19 and 20 to offer workshops and private lessons! Here are the offerings; email melissa@canopystudio.org to register for a workshop or to book a private lesson with me (static trapeze, duo trapeze, handstands/handbalancing, flexibility, partner acrobatics, tumbling, or act development!).

Read More »Workshops at Canopy in Athens, GA, September 19 and 20

Along with performing Tinder & Ash this weekend at NECCA, I’m offering three different handstands workshops as part of Circus Workshop Weekend:

Friday, April 17
1:30pm – 3:30pm Intro to Inversions:
Learn how to take your upside-down self to a world of control! We’ll go over the why and the how of handbalancing basics and give you the tools to get upside down and then right side up safely and smoothly.

4:00pm – 6:00pm Handstand Boot Camp
Build a stronger, more stable handstand with an array of drills and conditioning to take your training to the next level, develop a press handstand, and stay on your hands longer and longer. Come prepared to push hard and have fun, and leave with sample training plans so you can keep progressing on your own. Modifications will be made to challenge all levels of experience.

Sat, April 18
10:00am – 12:00pm Creative Handbalancing
We’ll explore a variety of ways to get into a handstand (pressing, kicking, pushing, jumping, and creative combinations of these) and out of a handstand (rolling, pressing, dropping, etc.), to shake up your handstand practice and give you tools to integrate handstands into ground choreography.

Read More »Handstands workshops at NECCA this weekend

I’m away from Brattleboro for most of the summer and early fall, but I WILL be there near the start of August to teach at NECCA’s summer workshop weekend August 8-11. Workshop weekends at NECCA are a great time for circus artists far and wide to check out our town and circus school, get training that’s hard to come by where they live, work really hard for a few days, and meet other circus folks. I’m teaching two handstand workshops, one for complete beginners who may never have done a handstand (“Inversions for Everyone,” Sunday, August 10, 12:45-2:45pm), and one for those who love handstands but haven’t had the opportunity to learn much about technique till now (“Handstands 201: In, Up, and Out,” Saturday, August 9, 12:45-3:45pm). I’m also offering Intro to Partner Acrobatics 101 (Friday, August 8, 4:15-6:15pm). Visit NECCA’s Summer Workshop Weekend page to browse ALL exciting workshops happening over the long weekend. You can also request private lessons from me or any of the other fantastic coaches if you want to focus on a particular skill, discipline, or apparatus.
Read More »Upcoming Workshops at NECCA!

Join me at the Chicago Contemporary Circus Festival for a handstands master class on Thursday, January 9th, 2014, 12-3pm at the Aloft Loft (2000 W. Fulton Street, Suite F 319, Chicago, IL 60612).

Workshop description: Explore uncommon handstand shapes and images, find fluidity while you’re upside down, create curved lines in contrast with the traditional right angles, and have fun on your hands instead of drilling the same skills over and over. Participants will experiment with shifting and twisting their head, hips, shoulders, and legs in surprising ways, rather than maintaining conventional rigid bodylines. We’ll also cover unexpected, innovative, and varied handstand entrances and exits to incorporate handstands into ground choreography. Through these explorations, participants will find ways for their handstands to embody authentic movement, character, and emotion.
Read More »Innovation in Handbalancing workshop at CCCF