Amy

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Amy is a local aerialist, coach, and one of the producers of Atelotorque. Her specialties are silks, rope, and duo tippy lyra.

Holly

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Holly’s circus journey began when she was just three years old and her mom found her hanging from the top of the swing set in her backyard, legs dangling and a look of adventure in her eyes. She grew up in a gymnastics and dance studio, which blessed her with the opportunity to turn these passions into a career. Circus has given her the gift of traveling the world and the opportunity to meet some of the most unique, free spirited, and passionate people; she thanks performing for the person she is today.

Jessica

Jessica Packard has been dancing, entertaining and “hamming it up” since the age of 4. She has a background in ballet, modern dance, hip hop and cheerleading. In 2011, she co-founded Phoenix’s first hula hoop troupe, Heady Hoop Tribe. Since then, she has sky rocketed being one to the most sought after entertainers in Phoenix. Jessica is a sponsored artist by the internationally acclaimed LED prop company, Astral Hoops. She has performed at top EDM festivals such as Sun City Music Festival and Decadence Arizona, engaged audiences at exclusive Super Bowl parties in San Francisco and dazzled onlookers at corporate events such as Yelp, Microsoft, SRP and more. This lady has more than one trick up her sleeve. She’s a professional hula hooper, LED dancer, fire dancer, stilt walker, character artist, interactive entertainer and aerialist. 

Marvin

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Marvin was born and raised in Borneo, Malaysia and spent the other half of his life in Los Angeles. Now he resides somewhere in Arizona. He found object manipulation in 2007 and got into juggling in 2012. 

Sarah

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Sarah Genise started her aerial journey in 2019. While her main apparatus is lyra, she has begun branching out to other disciplines including burlesque, chains, and straps. She performs regularly at Creator Space and several other valley locations.

Brian

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Brian Foley is the Associate Artistic Director of the World Clown Festival held in China, and has toured with Cirque Voila, Parallel Exit, and MacArthur Award-winning Bond St. Theatre. He appeared in five episodes of Sesame Street’s 40th anniversary season, and has been photographed for international publication with Jon Stewart, Madonna, and Steve Martin. Brian holds his MFA in Performance Directing from ASU, his BFA in Acting and Directing from NYU’s Tisch School for the Arts, and spends his weekdays teaching at several institutions of higher education in the valley, and his weekends being silly at private and corporate events. Learn more at vvphx.com.

Jeni

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Jeni has been an aerialist and acrobat for 6 years, performing primarily dance trapeze and hand to hand. She has performed in Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona, and is an instructor of aerial arts. In her free time, she loves to read, hang out with her husband and 4 cats, and do more circus.

Lindsay

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Lindsay has been in the performing arts world for 7 years, with her most loved apparatus being silks. She has trained in Bali and Thailand, and at NECCA, and performed in all types of venues from hotels and restaurants to arenas. She is also a co-founder of Atelotorque. She loves the community and space to create that aerial has brought to her life.

Moriah

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Moriah’s roots in dance began at the age 3 and never stopped growing. Classically trained in ballet, modern, and contemporary. She performed with multiple dance companies over the years but knew she wanted to do “more” when it came movement expression. She stumbled upon Cyr Wheel on YouTube one day and knew THAT is what she wanted to do. It was a combination of beauty, grace, and strength. Ten years later she has performed for festivals, museums, theatrical shows, events, and is currently an instructor in the art of Cyr.

Tawnya & Ted

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Tawnya and Ted are two producers in Atelotorque. Tawnya has been performing in the aerial world for a decade, beginning as a pole artist before transitioning to lyra and sling in almost any form you can think of. She gigs regularly, and is a skilled seamstress and spreadsheet addict (two skills which she utilizes frequently for Atelotorque shows).

Ted has been practicing partner acrobatics and hand to hand for eight years, and has been training with his wife Jeni for four years. Prior to that, he found creative outlets as a musician and in storytelling, and joined Atelotorque because he viewed it as a new and exciting way to be creative.

Elizabeth

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Elizabeth is a local aerial performer, instructor, and a founding board member of Atelotorque. She was a gymnast and dancer as a child and feels like she found the perfect fusion of the two in circus arts. Her passion is art as a platform for storytelling. She is proud to be a part of the strong, beautiful, weird, joyful community of people who dance in the air that she’s met since she took her first aerial class, nearly a decade ago. 

Jenna

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Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, Jenna’s early years were spent developing a love of dance, theatre, and dry heat. She found circus arts after completing a BA in Gender Studies and an MA in Human Rights. Circus offered a new and exciting creative outlet for personal expression. She moved to New England in 2016 to study circus at the New England Center for Circus Arts’ 3-year professional training program and went on to become a full time circus performer. She’s thrilled to be back in Phoenix performing in her hometown.

Martha

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Martha “Patty” Hernandez was born in Mexico and raised in Arizona. She began her dance training at age 15, and aerial a few years after. She has received recognition for her choreography, and has performed for several local dance companies. Martha continues to find ways to combine her love of dance, painting and aerial.

Paulina

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Paulina Milligan is a multidisciplinary performance artist based in Arizona. Starting out as a dancer, primarily focusing on jazz and modern styles, she has found a home in intertwining various dance styles with the circus disciplines she has learned over the past 9 years. Her passion for challenging her capabilities has led her to pursue fire arts, handstands, hula hoop, stilting, and aerial arts. Some of her most memorable moments include performing fire with Quixotic Fusion and countless times sharing the stage with so many amazingly kind-hearted artists. Paulina has found circus arts to be a great avenue for her exploration of the self and the capacity of the human body. Most recently she has started training in Latin dance with Que Candela Dance Company to continue along the path of fusing circus and dance. When she is not spinning something around or being spun around, she enjoys the outdoors, cold plunges and reading.

Turiya

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Turiya is a professional dancer-turned-aerialist. While she was in school earning her BA in dance, she discovered aerial and began teaching soon after. She formed a deep romance with the art form and eventually went on to open a dance and aerial studio called Creator’s Space with her friend and business partner, Holly. She can be found performing all over the valley and also teaches regularly!