Addie Pitre

Aerial Instructor/Performer

Addie Pitre truly has a love for creative expression in all it's many forms. Other than creating wearable art, one of her ultimate favorites is the ability to translate music into movement utilizing the entire body. She has always loved to dance, but something really opened her heart to a new level when she began learning Aerial Arts several years ago through Aerial Fabric Acrobatics in Denver, CO. Self empowerment, healing, strength, and courage are only a few of the incredible characteristics sharing this art through teaching and performance has granted her. 

She has trained at Aerial Cirque Over Denver and Miraas Circus Arts, learning much from Megan McMaster in recent years. Addie has performed for many events around Denver, Sonic Bloom Music Festival, as well as special events in New Orleans, her hometown. Addie is an ambassador of the heart, encouraging all to believe, live and move from this space. She has a deep love for teaching Aerial Arts and truly lights up with the ability to instill this love in others!

Ananda Voecks

Aerial Instructor/Performer

Ananda is an experienced aerial artist with over a decade of practice. She approaches aerial arts as a puzzle to be solved, breaking down skills and techniques into small, manageable steps before reassembling them. As someone who struggles with mobility, Ananda understands that one size does not fit all when it comes to aerial. She has a strong understanding of how to adapt movement to suit the individual needs of her students, ensuring their safety and success. Ananda's primary focus is rope (corde lisse), which she finds particularly appealing due to its straightforward nature. In addition to rope, Ananda also teaches fabric. In her classes, Ananda prioritizes both fun and proper form/technique. A life-long learner, Ananda is always seeking new ways to grow and improve as an artist and instructor. Her inclusive teaching style caters to a variety of learning styles, making her classes accessible and enjoyable for all students.

Katrina Schwarzenberger

Flexibility & Aerial Instructor/Performer

Katrina began her circus journey 9 years ago. With a background in Tae Kwon Do, she fell in love with aerial dance during her first class. Through training flexibility to improve her aerial skills, she found another joy in contortion. By teaching she has been able to share her passion for aerial the past 7 years and her love of contortion the past 4 years. In addition to teaching, she finds joy and excitement performing her art whether it has been at an outdoor festival or private event. She enjoys helping students of all ages and abilities reach their goals and surpass their own expectations.

Rachel Speights

Aerial Instructor/Performer

Rachel Speights aka Rachel Marie Lamarr is a chemist by day and an aspiring aerial dancer by night.  She fell in love with aerial dance because it is both technical and artistic. She began her aerial journey in 2013 and quickly found her circus home and family at Miraas Circus arts (now Gravity Aerial Arts).

Though her first love was aerial fabric, Rachel has since continued to develop her passion through the study of other apparatuses. She gets excited by the prospect of transitioning knowledge from one apparatus to another and has therefore begun studying unique and invented apparatuses. Rachel is also experienced in partner aerials, having performed in group acts with up to 8 people as well as one-on-one hand to hand performances.

Rachel has been seen performing at Santa Fe Renaissance Festival, Carnivale de Sensuale, among other ambient and choreographed performances. She is thrilled to often be a part of Gravity Aerial Arts showcases and productions.

Anthony Nunez

Aerial Instructor/Performer

Erin Hicks

Aerial & Acrobatic Instructor/Performer

Erin has over 10 years of experience training and competing in gymnastics and martial arts. She began her aerial journey at Miraas back in 2016. Since then, she has primarily focused on training silks, which is by far her favorite apparatus because if its versatility and the opportunity for big drops. She looks forward to sharing her love of dynamic moves and big drops with her students. 

Hanan Shorrosh

Aerial Instructor/Performer

Hanan has always loved adventure and especially climbing high in the air. As a baby she tried repeatedly to climb the TV set, to the dismay and horror of her parents. After a childhood and young adulthood filled with climbing trees and roaming around the world, she discovered and fell in love with aerial silks in 2013. Since then, she has trained in several aerial studios and performed in various locations around Denver. She loves the freedom of expression and movement in aerial performance and believes there is nothing else quite like it. She has also discovered a second passion in teaching and sharing her joy in aerial, and she absolutely loves seeing her students reach their aerial goals. Gravity Aerial Arts has become her second home and family in the last few years and she is delighted to be a part of Gravity’s supportive and enthusiastic community!

Ashley Smith

Aerial Instructor/Performer

Ashley AKA “Evelyn Violetear” started with a background in hip hop and contemporary dance. She began her aerial training several years ago & quickly became obsessed with aerial dance.  She then started pursuing a career as an aerial performer.  Ashley has performed at various clubs and events in Dallas and Denver and toured with The Shrine Circus in 2016.  Ashley started teaching at Gravity Aerial Arts in 2018.

Lucky Herrera

Aerial Instructor/Performer

Going through life i have always wanted to fit in, i was the misfit in school. Constantly trying to change myself to be what society wanted, even though i never wanted to. When i discovered pole and aerial it was like a breath of fresh air. It showed me that different is good, that we shouldn’t strive to fit a mold. My journey has taken me places i have never imagined. I’ve met people I’ll have friendships with forever. And even though i am so different then who i was i finally found the place where i fit in. My next mission is to push myself even further and compete in bigger competition while also helping others discover their passion for this crazy thing we call the circus!

Sofia Rodriguez

Aerial Instructor/Performer

Sofia has been expressing herself through movement since she was five years old, beginning with the study of Ballet and Jazz in her hometown of Monterrey, Mexico. She moved to Austin, Texas at the age of 10, and her involvement in dance was slowly replaced by other responsibilities.

It was not until she was working as a 4th-grade teacher that she turned back to dance as a pastime. That is when she discovered aerials and contortion. After several years of practicing as a hobby, she decided to leave teaching and become a professional performer and instructor.

For two years she worked as the studio manager and a principal instructor at Aerial Horizon, a circus arts studio in San Antonio, imparting her knowledge and passion while training for performances.

With her husband's acceptance to medical school in the summer of 2019, Sofia began her life in Colorado. For 2 years, she was a principal instructor at Aerial Works in Castle Rock, working with owner Rebekah Leach to teach aerials and flexibility to students of all ages and skill levels, including via online classes in adaptation to the pandemic’s limitations. With the closing of Aerial Works, Sofia has begun working with multiple studios, including Frequent Flyers, Gravity, and Cirque Over Denver.

Hannah Fortier

Aerial Instructor/Performer

Hannah stumbled into the world of aerial dance in 2017, and it has since become her whole life’s passion. Now, she feels extremely lucky to be able to share that passion with others through both performing and coaching, specializing in aerial hoop. Hannah gets so much excitement out of watching beginners fall in love with lyra, and helping them continue on their circus journey by offering a challenge at any level.

Casey Pottle

Aerial Instructor/Performer

Casey is a lover of movement with a passion for sharing it with others. She has over a decade of dance training and experience in ballet and contemporary dance. Casey fell in love with Aerial Arts upon moving to Denver, CO and has since trained with Born to Fly and worked with several renowned aerialists including Rebekah Leach, Danielle Garrison, and Marguerite Endsley. A firm believer that you are always a student of your craft, she continues to train in both aerial arts and ballet.

In addition to teaching, Casey performs in multiple aerial and dance events around Denver. She has performed on aerial sling, aerial silks, and aerial loops, as well as dances en pointe. Casey has most recently joined the instructor and performing team at Iluminar Aerial Dance. 

Her classes are centered around expression, encouraging students to explore their own creativity.

Stacey Kim

Aerial Instructor/Performer

Stacey first began her aerial arts journey in Detroit alongside her daughter in 2011, and immediately fell in love with the physical challenge and artistic beauty of the aerial arts. She began her circus arts training in the air on silks, sling, trapeze, and lyra. After her first student showcase, she caught the performance bug and joined a troupe. Her circus world expanded to include hula hoop, fire, and silk fan dance, and even a little bit of Cyr wheel, as she found love for both ground skills and aerial. Performing all over Michigan ignited more passion, and led her to begin her training to be an instructor at the Circus Arts Institute in Atlanta. She has trained at many studios across the US, including Aloft in Chicago, TSNY of Chicago, aerial festivals in Boulder, and with Sandou Circus in the city that first ignited her passion, Las Vegas. Teacher training courses she has completed include beginner fabrics (CAI), Acro Dance (Acrobatic Arts), and Agora Arts intensive teacher training program in Ferndale, MI. During her years at Agora Arts, she had the opportunity to learn from a group of highly talented aerialists that were among the original group to bring aerial arts to Michigan. Agora Arts also hosted many talented traveling aerialists who often provided special training sessions for instructors. Through the mentoring of her circus family at Agora, she gained all the knowledge and training she needed to take her love for teaching with her as she started a new chapter in Denver, CO. Gravity Aerial Arts was the first studio she trained at in CO on one of her many trips to visit her daughter after she had moved here to follow her own dreams. It’s only fitting that it is also the first studio in Colorado she has taught at and the first student teacher showcase performance as well. Stacey is also Certified as a Personal Trainer and Corrective Exercise Specialist through NASM. She has a passion for all dance, both on the ground and in the air, and has trained in multiple styles including Afro Cuban, Musical Theater, Hip Hop, Ballroom, Jazz, Contemporary, Tap, Ballet, and Modern.

Ashley Turner

Aerial Instructor/Performer

Ashley Turner began training in Denver at Miraas Circus Arts in 2013, where she started on the Aerial Silks. She continued her Aerial Arts training in Utah, where she discovered her love for the Aerial Hoop/Lyra. She spent the following two years focusing on the Lyra, while cross training on the Aerial Silks, Pole, and Trapeze, as well as other unique aerial apparatuses at various studios across the Unites States. Ashley is excited to introduce students to the basics, conditioning, strengthening, and exploring the beautiful world of the Lyra.

Cheryl Buck

Aerial Instructor/Performer

Cheryl has found joy and freedom while dancing since she was a small child. She graduated from Loretto Heights College with a B.A. in modern dance. At the age of 52 she discovered the fun of dancing in the air. Cheryl realized shortly after she began her Aerial journey, that she wanted to teach others that anything is possible. She took a teacher training program from Cathy Gauche at Boulder Circus Center, and has been having a blast teaching since. She likes to incorporate elements of dance and improvisation into her classes whenever possible.

Alison Walker

Aerial Instructor/Performer

Alison discovered aerial when she spontaneously took a sling class at Marguerite Endsley’s studio, Denver Dance. She was immediately hooked. She’s trained at several gyms in the Denver area with fantastically talented aerialists- Marguerite, Jen Kramer, Ashley Smith, Casey Pottle, Janelle Dinosaurs, Vicki Whisenhunt, Dillan Harris, and Staza Stone - all of whom sparked a deep passion for aerial dance and expression in Alison. She fell in love with the art and the community, and is eager to fly on every apparatus imaginable. Trapeze, sling, lyra, and loops are her particular favorites.

Alison is committed to teaching fundamental skills and theory alongside beautiful poses and sequences. Her goal is to facilitate a friendly, fun class environment, empowering others to embark upon their own journey and discover unexpected capabilities along the way.

Leah Grandstaff

Leah was introduced to the circus arts with the aerial silks in 2013. It wasn't long before she found partner acrobatics & a whole new outlook on trust! Inspired to share her love of circus disciplines, she began her journey as an aerial acrobatics coach in 2016. Notable professional development certifications include Aircat Aerial Arts, Aeriality Aerial Yoga, Air Control Pilates ®, & BhavanaKids Yoga. Leah has been a cast member of the Phantom Circus since 2016 & In the Wings aerial dance company since 2019. She specializes in aerial silks, duo-trapeze & partner acrobatics, but enjoys exploring all manner of apparatuses including lyra, dance trapeze, corde lisse, straps, sling & loops.

Bayard & Leah

Duo Acro & Duo Trapeze Instructors/Performers

Bayard & Leah have been working together since 2017, with a combined total years circus experience of nearly 20 years. As a duo, they perform partner acrobatics, duo-trapeze, acro-trap fusion as well as partnering on various invented apparatus (like the aerial chandelier) for corporate & private events in addition to casting with the Handsome Little Devils, In the Wings Aerial Dance, Aircats Aerial Arts, the Circus Collective, RAW Artists, Thrill Entertainment & the Phantom Circus.