In addition to being a professional circus artist who performs aerial silks and bottle walking, Alizé is a licensed social worker, and a PhD candidate. Alizé, threads together her academic background with her circus training, to create captivating performances that invite us into a world of radical imagination. Her performances effortlessly teleports us across time, bridging the past and present, to confront systemic oppression, while illuminating pathways towards a freedom-centered future.  Alizé is extremely passionate about teaching in both academia and circus. She is constantly refining her pedagogy in order to craft fun, creative, and challenging classes with her students. She also leverages social work background to advocate for the inclusion and the well-being of BIPOC circus artists within the greater circus community.  Alizé started training at Aloft Circus Arts as a recreational student when she moved to Chicago in 2018. She has also been part of several Aloft intensive training programs including Prep School (2021), Jolt (2022) and the Full-Time Professional Program (2022-2024). She began teaching aerial silks classes and youth summer camps at Aloft in 2023. princesszazina@gmail.com

Britt is a performer, choreographer, and educator that has been in Chicago since 2012. They earned their MFA in Devised Performance from Arthaus Berlin and Columbia College Chicago, and they have trained in clown, silks, tightwire, and most recently partner acrobatics. They frequently collaborate with Theater Unspeakable, The Artistic Home, Physical Theater Festival, and Whisper Theatre, where they serve as co-Artistic Director. They teach comedy and movement at The Second City, Columbia College Chicago, and DePaul University, as well as perform clown and partner acro with their real-life partner, Richie Schiraldi. briprianderson23@gmail.com

Camille Swift is a Chicago-based circus artist, specializing in static trapeze, dance trapeze, and aerial sling, with extensive training in traditional arts (ballet, piano, oil painting) and a few less conventional ones (breakdancing, Japanese swordsmanship). Her passion is creating acts that are highly skilled yet imaginative, expressive and visually striking. She speaks fluent French and has traveled to Paris and Montreal to train and develop her acts. Camille is also a visual artist, focusing in figurative oil painting, book arts, and collage. She has performed in AirOtic with Les Farfadais, CREACTIVE by Cirque du Soleil at Club Med Opio-en-Provence as well as performed multiple times at the Seattle Moisture Festival and various shows and cabarets across the Midwest. When not performing or creating, she works as a professional aerial coach, training her students in dynamic form and technique, helping them develop a professional standard of creative and acrobatic movement, and the more general but still critical skill of body maintenance to keep a professional aerialist in peak form. camille.swift@gmail.com www.swiftcircus.com

Carmen is a multidisciplinary, multilingual circus artist who began her circus journey in Argentina.  It started with a circus basics course and then trapeze and quickly snowballed to handstands, dance and clowning.  She graduated from the Aloft full-time training year and continued to teach and train at Aloft after. On Feb 4, she will perform a multidisciplinary circus show "Taking Flight" that she co-created with Laura.  She loves teaching trapeze, lyra, silks, clowning, and handstands!    Carmen's movement exploration lead her to get a certification to teach Pilates.  She has delved into Bartenieff Fundamentals recently.  This year she is pursuing leadership training with InterPlay where she will facilitate movement and storytelling workshops. carmenjkingsley@yahoo.com

Chloe Zabicki is an aerialist who specializes in trapeze, lyra, and silks. Her exploration of space and movement is joyful. Chloe began her artistic career by studying ballet and ballroom dancing as a child, and throughout high school and college. She was a member of Smith College’s synchronized swim team where she performed and choreographed routines. Chloe began training circus in Chicago with a focus on static trapeze, single point trapeze, and pogo jumping. She has worked with a variety of coaches who have helped her to develop her technique and aesthetic.​ chloez@gmail.com www.chloezabicki.com

Christine is a trampwall dancer, aerialist, vocalist, beginner handbalancer, and MC. She has been performing in Chicago for 7 years. She is the Founder/Director/Producer of CCCircus, and her original trampoline show, Unspoken, debuted at Aloft in 2022. A generalist at heart, she is always looking for new disciplines and ideas to explore. christine.n.conroy@gmail.com

Daisy Coleman is honored to be a teacher at Aloft Circus Arts and is completing her final year as a co-youth leader in the Aloft Youth Ensemble. While she specializes in silks, she also trains in trampoline and teeterboard (CCDC); handstands (Aloft); straps (MSA); and dance (Visceral). She has completed summer training intensives: San Diego Circus Center's Master Youth Intensive, NECCA's Performance Boot Camp, and Aloft Circus Arts's Jolt program. Daisy is very excited to be a principal cast member of Way Home.​ margueritebcoleman@gmail.com https://www.cirquededaisy.com/

Dalia is an aerial rope artist based in Chicago, IL, USA. She loves using rope to tell stories of resilience and strength. After almost a lifetime of gymnastics training, Dalia found circus in Cleveland, OH in 2014 and quickly became captivated. She moved to Chicago in 2020 and began coaching rope at Aloft in 2022.

Hayley Larson (she/her) is a multidisciplinary circus performer specializing in duo aerial, as well as Cyr wheel, aerial silks and handstands. With a degree in Dance from Oberlin College, Hayley uses her background as a dancer to bring a crisp, complex style to her choreography that underscores her commanding stage  presence. She is a member of Aloft's company show Brave Space (2018 - present) with recent credits at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Montréal Complètement Cirque in 2023. As a coach, Hayley strives to create self-sufficient, intelligent movers with a focus on apparatus theory, healthy movement mechanics, and creativity. When not flying through the air herself, she can be found on top of a mountain somewhere or snuggling a cat on the couch. ​hayley.c.larson@gmail.com hayleydynamo.com

Julia is a multidisciplinary performance artist, with a certification in Circus Arts specializing in trapeze and juggling. She holds a BFA in Musical Theater from The University of the Arts and has extensive training as an actor, vocalist, and movement artist. As a coach, Julia facilitates a positive learning environment to facilitate  exploration, so circus arts can be enjoyable and accessible to all ages and bodies, regardless of experience or strength. She enjoys educating her students in the anatomy of aerial arts and basic mobility functions so they can achieve their movement goals both in and out of class. Outside of Aloft, Julia proudly works with Bubbles Academy as an arts-integrated early childhood educator. Like most neurodivergent folks, Julia leads many lives outside of teaching; you can find her spinning fire at the lake, riding her bike, performing in local burlesque clubs, fringe festivals, and creating her own original shows.  ​www.juliadegruchy.com

Kat Geber is a multidisciplinary circus artist specializing in dance trapeze and aerial silks. Fascinated by the versatility of circus arts, Kat loves collaborating with others in a variety of disciplines including movement-based technology, dance, and musical composition. katharine.geber@gmail.com katgebercircus.com

Kristi wears many hats at Aloft. She is on the management team as the Director of the Youth Program, the Founder/Director of the Aloft Youth Ensemble @aloftyouthensemble, and the Manager of the Professional Training Programs. She is also a coach, performer and a photographer (@kristialyssaphotos). Kristi is a highly in-demand lyra instructor (affectionately called “the lyra army leader” by her students.) She is known for building community amongst her students and fostering environments where close friendships and group bonding thrive. She is currently directing and producing a full length contemporary circus show (co-produced by Aloft) entitled “Way Home” premiering July 19th-21st at Aloft Circus Arts (more info - @reminiscentcircus or reminiscentcircus.com)  aloftkids@gmail.com

Laila Ruangpan (b. Bangkok, Thailand) is an American based multi-disciplinary artist. An early love of music and foundational studies in piano resulted in a B.A. in Piano Performance, and an M.A. in Arts Management from Columbia College, Chicago. She teaches private piano lessons at her home studio, in Plainfield, IL. She additionally has a broad interest and training in dance - from traditional ballet, jazz, tap, through the social dance spectrum of Lindy Hop, Charleston, ballroom, and Latin. Laila’s journey in aerial arts began in 2015, she now dedicates herself to silks and sling. She currently coaches fabric at Aloft Circus Arts, and Frankfort Circus Center. Her style highlights dramatic expression melded with athleticism. She loves to explore eccentric movement punctuated by stillness and her unique style and choreographic flair manifests in confident live performances. With a strong passion for learning, sharing her knowledge, and fitness, Laila also practices Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, is a barre instructor at Barre3, and a piano teacher at her own piano studio. Additionally, she is a keyboard player for a metal rock band, Seventh Symphonic. Laila can also be spotted on stage performing with The Galaxie Chicago, and in various random creative performance endeavors.

Lucas Greeff (ze/he/they) is a choreographer, circus artist, and dancer whose work focuses on expanding the scope of queer & neurodivergent performance, engaging inherent energies, and challenging physical extremity through movement experiment. Luke's past choreographic works include (Z)im, Missile Kid, Bo(ix)y(e) Division, Carnal Inferno, Spectrum, and Trapping Butterflies. Former dancer for St. Petersburg Ballet Company, Fletcher Dance Project, and Joel Hall Dancers; Luke’s ongoing artistic affiliations include Yes Ma’am Circus, Reminiscent Circus, Lucid Banter Project, Synapse Arts, Kenwood School of Ballet, Aloft Circus Arts, Khecari, and Thwack Dance. Recipient of the 2023 Twisted Windows LGBTQIA+ Artist Award presented by the Chicago Circus & Performing Arts Festival and 2024 Ragdale Artist in Residence; Luke is the co-founder and director of Such Creatures and leads movement practices tailored for queer and neurodivergent movers. Lucas.s.greeff@gmail.com

Maria recently joined the Aloft coaching staff after spending two years with the internationally recognized Phare Ponleu Selpak Association, home of Phare The Cambodian Circus. During their time in Cambodia Maria directed, produced and choreographed a world premiere circus for Phare, toured Cambodia with Circo Inzir of Bologna, Italy, directed a touring show/performed with Spark! Circus in Thailand, and served on the board of Caravan Circus Network based in Brussels, Belgium. As a member of Caravan, Maria had the opportunity to train and travel around Europe, including studying social circus pedagogy in Palermo, Italy and speaking about social circus at the first Circus ++ Conference at Tampere University in Tampere, Finland.  ​ Their skills include clowning, aerial arts, opera, ballet, contemporary dance and reading way too many books at one time. Maria also REALLY loves tacos… that might just be the reason she moved back to the US . Maria is VERY excited to return to Chicago after many years away and join the staff at Aloft!  maria.t.tate@gmail.com “Curvy” Aerialists Support Group

Mary is coming up on her decade-iversary in circus! She and her total lack of upper body strength started back at old Aloft, with its delicious bread smells, and she has slowly (very slowly) but surely worked her way up to wrangler and instructor of circus goblins (aka kids). Her apparatuses are aerial silks, lyra, and duo lyra. She really likes the fiddly, brainy, theory-y stuff in circus and will happily ramble on and ask questions about the whys and wherefores of how various things work (and don't). She also likes act creation, and all of the dramatic flailing and pretend play that goes with it. As someone who started circus in her 30s, trained while pregnant, and is a larger than average aerialist, she is also a firm believer in circus at every size and level of coordination. In her non-aerial life, Mary is an opera singer with 20+ years of professional experience, and a K-5 public school music teacher.  marygovertsen@gmail.com www.marylutzgovertsen.com

Rachel is a circus artist and performer specializing in aerial silks. She grew up in the theatre, performing in various venues around South Florida before falling in love with circus the first time she flew on a Flying Trapeze in 2012. She graduated from Northwestern University in 2019 with a degree in Theatre concentrating in Playwriting, Dance, and Theatre for Young Audiences and from the Professional Circus Training Program at the Actors Gymnasium in 2023 where she specialized in Aerial Silks and Stilt Walking. Now, she teaches all around Chicago and loves sharing her passion for circus with others.

With a background in gymnastics and dance, Sarah currently performs tightwire and single point trapeze and strives to create dynamic & funky circus. ​ Taking her movement inspiration from many genres of music, Sarah tries to combine trapeze, tightwire, and weird shoulder stuff in unique, dynamic ways to show you something you haven't seen before. Everything she does is infused with a light-hearted pessimism and fun.  ​ Her happy place is driving on a sunny day singing loudly. She lives in the van she built, is a mediocre ukulele player, and never late. She is also on the Aloft admin team aka aloftmakeups@gmail.com sarahmtapper@gmail.com sarahtapper.com

Valeria is an Ecuadorian-born, Chicago-based circus, dance, and theatre artist. She uses performing arts as language for storytelling that is universal, experimental, and inclusive, in which spoken words are not a barrier, but another tool in art creation. Valeria began performing as a dancer in 1996 at the Centro Artístico Yesenea Mendoza in Guayaquil, Ecuador, where she focused on jazz and hip hop as part of the “Mini Cuerpo de Baile” (youth ensemble) for seven years. In 2009 she completed the Dance Residency Program with the Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater at Kelvyn Park High School. She graduated from Northwestern University in 2016 as a Theatre major with a BA in Communication, and holds a Certificate in Spanish Diction and Vocalization, Radio Script Writing, and Voiceover from the Tecnológico Espíritu Santo in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Valeria began her circus journey in 2020 at the Actors Gymnasium, and joined their Professional Circus Training Program in 2021, where she focused on silks. In 2022 she joined the Aloft Professional Training Program, where she majored in cloud swing. Valeria has since been a part of the cast of “Way Home,” a full-length contemporary circus show (directed and produced by Kristi Alyssa, and co-produced by Aloft). In 2024 Valeria became the events manager, as well as an instructor for Aloft Circus Arts. When she's not on stage, teaching, or working on commercials and voice-overs, Valeria loves painting, drawing, and learning about interior design. You can also spot her at Visceral Dance Center dancing her heart out. Valeria is proudly represented by Shirley Hamilton Talent Agency. valrosero@gmail.com

Zoë is abundantly proficient in both the creative, performance side of circus arts as well as the technical and management skills of operating in the circus business.  After graduating from Pennsylvania State University, with a degree is Biology, Zoë was fully intent on continuing on Dental School. However, one introductory trapeze classes quickly made her rethink that plan. Zoë began her circus training at Aloft Circus Arts in 2008, predominantly under the instruction of Shayna Swanson. In 2010, Zoë joined the teaching staff at Aloft and quickly became one of the most beloved and trusted instructors. Two years later she was invited to become a senior company member of the Aloft performance ensemble. Simultaneously, she was promoted to studio manager and head rigger at Aloft Circus Arts in Chicago. She has performed at numerous events and in ensemble shows throughout the United States. Most recently she performed, toured, and was the rigging and costume designer for Aloft’s newest immersive circus show, Brave Space. She successfully combines her athleticism, artistic voice, and enterprising business savvy into an excellent representative of the new circus world. zoe@aloftcircusarts.com