Instructors

  • Thai Lam is a professional aerialist who embodies versatility in his performance. He received professional training at the Circus Center in San Francisco and has trained extensively with renowned aerial coaches in multiple disciplines. Thai’s performances focus on smooth lines, clean technique and powerful movements — all the while giving the audience a taste of that Thai spice. He is an experienced and popular Bay Area aerial instructor and has taught at a number of studios and gyms locally.

  • In the winter of 2016 I took an aerial silks class and for the first time, I was able to combine my dance background with my sports background and talk about sparking joy! I'm not a performer, I'm not a contortionist, and there are lots of skills I haven't mastered, but this old lady (I remember when push-button phones were "high-tech") has been welcomed into the aerial/ circus family unconditionally. I wish for you this same experience. Oh, my favorite Cher song? That's easy. "Gypsys, Tramps and Thieves". See you at the studio.

  • Layla Tripod is a San Francisco based circus artist known for all things that spin. She stumbled upon an underground aerial performance in 2017 and became obsessed with circus immediately. Layla started studying dance at a young age, which gives her an extensive knowledge of artistry and an ability to design choreography to captivate the eye. After originally focusing on Tissu, Layla switched her focus to Aerial Hoop which has become her specialty apparatus. Since beginning her circus journey in San Francisco, she has since followed her love of circus arts around the globe, training and performing internationally. As an instructor, Layla utilizes her knowledge of technique, injury prevention and body mechanics to help her students reach their training goals safely and customize curriculum for each individual body.

  • Kylie is a circus artist from southern California. Some of the skills she teaches include aerial, contortion, shuffle dance, flow arts, and acrobatics. Her passion for circus arts stems from it being a fun way to workout, beautiful to watch, and a community to be a part of. She originally started in a youth program, has been training for 12+ years, and teaching for 4 years. She enjoys teaching because it makes her happy to watch students grow as they unlock new things. Something she wants her students to know is she always promotes a positive learning environment, encouraging everybody to try a class regardless of what limitations they think might hold them back.

  • A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Rae discovered the world of Aerial Arts at a late age in Bangkok, Thailand. While working a full-time corporate job, she enrolled herself in an aerial silks class because she saw a segment on a morning talk show about an aerial studio in Bangkok and was intrigued. After the class was finished, she was hooked!

    Rae has traveled a long circus journey since then and has trained all over the world, including in Montreal, Canada with circus coach and choreographer, Choloe Farah. She was certified by North America’s Ecole Nationale de Cirque (ENC) and has also completed teacher training courses with Aerial Physique and at her home studio in Bangkok, Karasvic. 

    A multi-disciplinary artist, Rae has a background in a variety of aerial apparatus, including aerial silks, hammock and lyra, but has a special passion for dance trapeze, aerial straps and loops.


  • Jessica is a multidisciplinary circus artist who combines juicy flexibility with sensual movement to portray the beautiful and bizarre. She began her training at San Francisco's Aerial Artique in 2015 and specializes in tissu, lyra, and contortion. In addition to performing solo at private events, she has also choreographed and performed acts on ensemble hammock and duo dance trapeze in Circus Center productions from 2019 - 2020. If you want to explore your potential, develop your confidence in the air, or play with new ways to move, come take a spin with Jessica!


  • Veronica Blair is an accomplished aerialist, choreographer, and circus researcher. She is the recipient of the 2021 Gerbode Foundation's Choreographers Award, the 2020 American Circus Educators Award for Innovation, and the Community Impact at the inaugural International Circus Awards for her work on the Uncle Junior Project, a multimedia archive spotlighting People of African descent in American circus.

    Under the same project, Veronica curated a live exhibition titled "Entrapment to Entertainment: A Celebration of Black People in American Circus" in 2013. Her impactful work has earned her invitations to speak at the Smithsonian, San Francisco International Arts Festival, and facilitate panel discussions engaging conversations about institutional barriers, individual biases, and abuse prevention in the circus industry as part of the Circus and Changing Realities series in partnership with CircusTalk.com.

  • Thalita is a former Portuguese and literature teacher who started her journey in movement four years ago when she took her first aerial silks class. She's been passionate about it since then. However, it was her introduction to Pilates, specifically mat Pilates, that became the pivotal foundation for the skills she can now perform in the air. Pilates has been her guiding light, transforming her life and improving her overall health and well-being. Because she had a transformative path in her life through Pilates, she wants to share it with anyone looking to enhance their strength and potential by creating a supportive and inclusive environment.

    She understands the challenge of being a complete beginner and loves to motivate people who want to improve their physical well-being.

  • Phoebe Kimm is a San Francisco-based aerialist specializing in lyra. She first discovered aerial at her local climbing gym and quickly became addicted. As a life learner and instructor, Phoebe is passionate about exploring new movement pathways and finding the joy in experimentation.

    She is excited to create a a safe, positive learning environment for students to get in the air.

  • Vix Nolan is an aerialist and pole dancer from San Francisco, CA, but got her start at the Sky Box in Brooklyn, NY. Since her first professional aerial gig at Coney Island in 2012, she has performed with shows such as Flux Vertical Theatre, Hubba Hubba Revue, Misfit Cabaret, the Ruckus and Rumpus Revival, Slipper Room NY, Bindlestiff Family Cirkus, and many more across the US. She was an artist-in-residence  at the Michelin reviewed dinner cabaret, Berber in San Francisco as well as a returning troupe member of Cirque de Boheme. In 2023, Vix toured with a small family traditional circus called Circus Royal. She holds several first place medals from Pole Sport Organization, one of the most recognized pole competitions in the U.S. In 2019, she was one of the few aerialists to receive a grant from the Burning Man Organization to perform at their annual festival, and had the honor of bringing her brand of entrancing physicality to the desert stage. 

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    In January 2024, Vix was proud to have spent the month in Karridale, Western Australia for their annual Lunar Circus Festival, where she was teaching and performing for hundreds of circus students and locals alike.


  • Sam Wilder is a contemporary circus artist specializing in Fabric and Pole. They spent three years studying at the New England Center for Circus Arts ProTrack Program and graduated in May of 2022. Driven by their passion to provide a safe, challenging, and fun learning environment for their students and peers, they aspire to help their students work hard and laugh hard. As a trans non-binary performer and instructor, they believe that circus -as a movement and social practice- can bring people together and create positive social change.

  • Michelle (or Shell!) leads a lifestyle grounded in movement.  She/They first discovered dance and aerial arts back in 2017, fell head-over-heels in love with movement, and consequently, dedicated her life to the practice. 

    Michelle now works in fitness full-time, teaching Pilates classes and personal training at various locations in the city.  Formal training and certifications include: Stott Pilates Advanced (Fully-Certified); NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS).  Michelle believes in the transformative power of Pilates as a tool for helping people improve their lives in a sustainable way — it has completely changed her life for the better, and has empowered her to achieve goals using mindful practices.

    Michelle loves training in lyra, silks, dance, martial arts, and singing.  Combined with her interests in weightlifting and outdoor sports, her practice and teaching style draw inspiration from a wide breadth of experience and education about the body.

    Michelle truly loves teaching and encouraging people to explore the wonderful world of movement!

  • James is an aerialist and acrobat from San Francisco. He graduated from SF Circus Center’s pre-professional youth program in 2018, and he holds a bachelor’s degree from Brown University. He has trained in a range of disciplines over the years, and he specializes in aerial rope and partner acrobatics. He has performed at the San Francisco Aerial Arts Festival and in People’s Circus Theatre’s production of The Nightingale.


  • Growing up, Emily dabbled a little in dance and gymnastics, but as soon as she found aerial arts, you couldn’t drag her away from it. She began her aerial journey in her hometown of Fresno, where she started as a student at Fresno Aerial Arts and eventually became a teacher and performer, showcasing her talent all around the Fresno area. 

    In her classes, Emily will be your biggest cheerleader, building you up with confidence to tackle new skills in the air. She’s passionate about finding new ways to help people learn and loves to see her students finally get something that’s been a challenge for them.


  • Anna Kaye was born and raised in the sunflower state, Kansas. A natural performer, she has been entertaining audiences since the tender age of 8. An upbringing with rigorous ballet training which spanned a 12 year period laid the foundation for the discipline, drive, and creative movement of contemporary circus. As a performer, Anna explores the subtleties of human behavior through movement.  A visceral, enigmatic vulnerability crawls out of her gestures, leaving audiences curious for more.  For Anna, life is best captured through the vocabulary of the body. She sees this as a gift. An athlete and a dancer, Anna molds together technical skill, creative dance, and her natural curiosity on the stage. Anna was coached by Yury Bozyan of the National Circus School in Montreal, Canada full time training hand balancing from June 2017-December 2019. Previously she spent 6 years at the San Francisco circus school, 915 Cayuga. She currently lives and teaches hand balancing and flexibility classes in the San Francisco Bay Area.

  • Cassidy found aerial nearly a decade ago, and quickly fell in love. Her circus journey began in South America, and continued in Texas before landing in SF.

    She specializes in mostly vertical apparatuses, including silks, rope and a bit of pole. And she has a special fondness for duo aerial of all sorts.

    She most looks forward to helping students develop their aerial knowledge, strength, and quality of movement in the air!


  • Joey is a visually stunning aerialist known for his strength and graceful movement. On stage a good part of his life by way of performance groups, he has naturally taken to the skies. He performs on a variety of apparatus, specializing on dance trapeze and aerial straps. He has trained at the San Francisco Circus Center as well as Chez Victors’ and L’Acadamie du Monastere in Montreal. He is a resident artist at Berber in SF, codirected “Circus Pop Ups” as well as produces and directs the fundraiser “Spectrum”. Other performance highlights include: Montreal Completement Cirque, medalist at De Leon Cirquefest, Drago’s Odditorium, Cirquantique, Cirque de Boheme and Bow and Arrow Circus.

  • As a lifelong athlete, Mackenzie was thrilled to have found circus at the end of 2016. Circus took the best of her athleticism and creativity and enabled her to mold herself into the performer and instructor that she is today. Her main specialty is handbalancing, which she combines with contortion, acrobatics and dance—plus a heavy dose of creativity and a bit of goofiness—in her training and performance pieces. 

     

    Connection is a big reason why Mackenzie loves handbalancing. It gives her an avenue to connect to herself and her body daily. She sees the upside-down world as a place full of new perspectives and possibilities. For Mackenzie, there’s something special and playful about finding stillness through standing on her hands—an inexplicable moment of peace and connection that needs to be experienced to understand. Her passion lies in guiding others to this place of connection and peace, in understanding themselves better and in a more meaningful way.  

    Mackenzie has been teaching handstands along with mobility and flexibility since 2017. She has performed for Circus of the Moon, Circus Something, The Peoples Circus, Mongolian Contortion Center and many other small venues.

     Superpower: Video-bombing. She’s the extra you never knew you needed. 

  • Quinn Li began her aerial journey when a co-worker started offering group classes in lyra and contortion to her fellow workers. It was painful, and she wasn’t really hooked on either discipline. However, it did kick off a fascination with aerial arts that led her to try other apparatus before landing on aerial sling.

    Training initially with a Burning Man-inspired group in San Francisco, Quinn Li continued to hone her skills in New York at the Midtown Circus Center and at various studios in Miami. As an instructor, she loves helping her students feel empowered and accomplished through her aerial sling classes.

    Superpower: Barrier breaker

  • Sasha Sobol stumbled into aerial as a young adult. What started as a physical outlet grew into a joyful passion. Sasha's first love was silks but everything changed when the more powerful and dynamic style of rope stole their heart.

    As an instructor, Sasha creates a supportive and playful environment for you to challenge yourself. They're excited to celebrate the little wins, big wins, and not-yet-wins with you!

    The bulk of Sasha's training has been at San Francisco’s Circus Center. They have a B.S. in kinesiology and a personal trainer certification.