Meet our instructors

Kelsey began her aerial training on a whim in the summer of 2011 after moving to Portland, Oregon. She immediately fell in love, training silks, trapeze, and partner acrobatics diligently. Just over two years after her first class, Kelsey performed in her first professional show with Night Flight Aerial.

She has been fortunate to have some of the best coaches, including Daniela Steiner, Rachel Walker, and Aimée Hancock for trapeze, Stefan Furst for partner acrobatics, and Nicolo Kehrwald and Brittany Walsh for handstands. She has had the pleasure of performing with companies such as Night Flight Aerial, Prismagic, Sir Cupcake’s Queer Circus, and Aerheart KC Circus Company. In 2015, Kelsey was a semi-finalist in the 5th Annual Denver Aerial & Acrobatics Arts Festival Competition Show and in 2016, she was awarded an artistic residency at The Steep and Thorny Way to Heaven in Portland.

After moving to Kansas City in June of 2017, Kelsey began coaching and performing at Kansas City Aerial Arts (then Lucia Aerial Performing Arts) where she became the Director of the student Training Company. Working with the KCAA Training Company as well as the professional company Aerheart KC Circus Company led to her falling in love with directing. As a director, Kelsey’s goal is to amplify the work of the artists around her rather than dampen it.

As a perfomer, her goal is to draw in the audience by creating a performance that feels relatable to every individual. The study of character through her screenwriting education and the heightened sensitivity through her clairvoyance apprenticeship guide Kelsey in her art and interactions. Every movement, every shape, every skill has intention.

Disciplines: Aerial, Partner Acrobatics, Tarot, Living Statue, Character

Sonja is a professional dancer and aerialist, originally from the Chicago area. She has been in Kansas City since 2019 and has performed with several companies along with teaching at local studios and recreation centers. Sonja grew up with extensive training in gymnastics, dance, and acting through studios, intensives, and her high school's fine arts programs. She went on to study at the University of Iowa from 2015 to 2019 where she earned her BFA in Dance, BA in Economics, and 200-Hour Hatha Yoga Teaching Certification. Her aerial training began in 2015 as well while training and taking classes at Aerial Dance Chicago. Performing, teaching, and training have all become a significant part of Sonja's life and identity and she is so grateful to continue in these fields. 

Sonja joined the professional company of Circus Scorpius in October 2022 and has been teaching at Skyloft Center for Movement since June 2023! She has performed with Quixotic, KC Contemporary Dance, City in Motion, Westport Center for the Arts, Voler, and in project-based works with Suzanne Ryan Strati and Katarina Fitzpatrick. She is currently dancing with KC Dance Collective. She has her Barre Certification, NASM Personal Training Certification, and Aerial Physique Level 1 Certification, and continues to work with people of all ages in dance, yoga, aerial, and fitness. 

Check out the GPCC schedule to take class with her and she is available for private lessons as well! 

 Sonja is available for private lessons in the following:  

silks, sling, wall/harness dance, dance, yoga, and more

  Mallory is a St. Louis native and has been a dancer, aerialist and choreographer in the Kansas City area since 2010. She received her BFA in Dance (emphasis in Ballet) and a BA in Mathematics from Webster University. Mallory started her professional career as a guest artist with MADCO and as a Bharata Natyam dancer with Dances of India. She has danced with VidaDance, City in Motion, KCCD, Gurukul Indian Dance Company, and was a back-up dancer for Material Girl and The Fame Monster. As an aerialist, Mallory has performed with Aerheart, Kansas City Aerial Arts, and Voler. Mallory currently performs with Circus Scorpius and is a dancer and finance director of Kansas City Dance Collective. 

 Madeline began her aerial training in the Chicagoland area after seeing a lyra performer at the age of twelve. Her primary apparatuses are Roman rings and lyra. Despite that, she is a generalist at heart and has performed in such disciplines as trapeze, German wheel, perch pole, Spanish web, and so much more. She is deeply interested in Circus history and is currently a full-time student.