Our Circus Team
Peter Holben - Owner
Peter is a passionate adventurer and began his exploration of movement through wilderness adventure. He began his travels seeking out the world’s greatest rock climbing destinations and discovered Thai Massage and Acro Yoga along the way. When Peter is not on his 6 foot tall unicycle or practicing inversions, he is crunching numbers as a CPA. He helps small businesses, including the Circus Collective, adopt a financial plan that achieves their goals. His favorite movement arts are unicycling, rock climbing, acro and handstands.
Sarah Dawn
Sarah Dawn discovered the wonderful world of movement arts 14 years ago, when a good friend made her her first hula-hoop, starting a lovely journey down a rabbit hole of circus arts that has culminated in her aerial career today.
Though Sarah loves the stage, bringing dynamic creativity to her performances, her main passion lies in teaching. She loves to share her aerial knowledge and commitment to health and wellness, inspiring others to lead healthier lives through circus. For the past seven years, Sarah has taught out of her studio, Such Great Heights Aerial Arts, in West Oakland, as well as at Kinetic Arts, Trapeze Arts, and others around the Bay Area and beyond, sharing her knowledge at circus schools, retreats, and festivals around the country. Sarah is a 2017 graduate of the Frequent Flyers Aerial Dance Professional Training Program in Boulder, Colorado, specializing in corde lisse, fabric, and partnering. With a Master’s Degree in Nursing and 10 years of experience as an ER Nurse, Sarah also has a deep understanding of health and wellness, injury assessment and prevention, and advanced first aid, and aims to combine art and science to explore the unique mental and physical effects circus has on the body. www.SuchGreatHeightsAerials.com
Coco Day
Coco happened upon an aerial yoga class in Phoenix, AZ in 2014, and attended classes religiously. It helped that the aerial school was in an old church! Aerial class was the best part of her week, so she soon took a deep dive into the world of trapeze, hammock, lyra, and silks. She has trained several aerial disciplines but is primarily interested in vertical apparatus. Coco has recently fallen head over heels with rope as it poses new challenges and allows for momentum and dynamic movements.
Coco has trained under Holly Dison and Rebekah Leach which ignited her passion for aerial theory. She moved to Denver in the summer of 2016 to spread her wings and feels extremely lucky to be surrounded by all the aerial opportunities in Colorado.
She specializes in curating looks for costuming, teaching private parties and event planning. When she's not at her Circus Collective home, she works full time in Marketing and Administration.
Jamie Rifkin
Jamie was born and raised in the Denver Metro area. Growing up she was a competitive gymnast and discovered aerial silks through one of her coaches. She took a long hiatus and rediscovered the circus world after graduating from the University of Southern California. Quickly, a hobby grew into a passion and Jamie began training aerial silks, sling, and straps more seriously. She loves how the aerial arts combine creativity, athleticism, and expression. When not teaching and performing locally and around the country, Jamie co-owns a fast-casual health-food restaurant in the Lower Highlands with her sister called The Green Collective Eatery.
Megan LaFollette
Megan LaFollette is primarily an educator who found partner acrobatics during grad school as a way to exercise, have fun, and build community. She loves the beauty and connection of practicing acro yoga. She has both formal training and years of experience in teaching physical skills such as swimming and horseback riding. As an acro yogi who did NOT do acrobatics, dance, or yoga as a youth, Megan fully understands what it is like to be a true beginner in the circus world. She has been consistently practicing all parts of acrobatic yoga from basing to flying to spotting for over 7 years which also supports well-rounded instruction to her students. She enjoys perfecting a move and figuring out what really makes it “work” so she can communicate that to others. She loves seeing students gain new skills while having fun.
Nadja Tizer
Nadja is a full time circus artist and moving arts instructor. She brings decades of teaching and performance experience to her work. Nadja is the owner and operator of Firebird Moving Arts. She teaches yoga, aerial dance, aerial yoga, choreography and flexibility classes in Denver and regularly performs circus feats around Colorado and beyond. She is certified in yoga and aerial yoga. Additionally, she has completed Silks Level 1 teacher training with Paper Doll Militia and Born to Fly. Nadja has over 30 years of experience teaching students of all ages in a variety of disciplines, and earned her Masters in education in 2004. She believes in a mindful approach to life, and brings this philosophy to all of her teaching and performing.
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Katya Peepin
Katya began her journey into body movement with dance during university and has now been belly dancing for 16 years. Over the years she also accumulated experience in jazz dance and yoga teacher training, and got her personal trainer certification. She joined the Phantom Circus tribal belly dance troupe when she moved to Denver in 2016 and was introduced to the circus world. After a few years of extensive training, Katya is now a working contortionist and is excited to share her experience with students in her flexibility classes. She still dances with Phantom Tribal and also operates the School of Badass Burlesque and Badass Burlesque LLC, a burlesque production company.
Oksana Barhatkov
Oksana is an artist through and through. For 20 years she trained and performed in all styles of dance from Pointe and Acro to Latin Ballroom. Working as a professional dancer her credits include: Patti Labelle, Taylor Dane, Tory Lanez, and Harley Davidson. In 2014 she began her aerial journey and due to the freedom of movement it inspires decided to specialize in Lyra. She’s new to Colorado but so excited to share her passion for hard work, technique, and creativity with her students.
Maya Shoup
Maya grew up playing softball, running cross country, and performing in musical theatre. When she discovered circus, it felt like the perfect puzzle piece. Pole and Lyra in particular mold her aerial flow, making her routines a creative, fun fusion of cross-apparatus styles and tricks. When not flying high in the sky, Maya pursues fire and LED prop dancing, creates wire-wrapped jewelry, and practices massage therapy at her office in Westmisnter, CO.
Cosmo Dudley
Cosmo has been an acrobat since 2008. He has spent that time learning and teaching: circus acrobatics including tumbling, martial arts tricking, handbalancing, aerial straps, Chinese pole, parkour, and trampoline/trampwall. Cosmo has trained extensively across the United States, Canada, China, and Europe learning from many great circus and movement instructors.
Wil Fields
Wil Fields has been in performing and entertainment for nearly 2 decades. He has studied performance at a performing arts high school as well as technical theater with emphasis in costuming from University of Northern Colorado. After graduating, he worked for Walt Disney World, first for costuming, then performing as well as stunts for Universal Orlando. He has been doing aerials now for 10 years and had performed for different professional companies including Phantasmigoria Orlando. He also holds a personal trainer with NASM and is currently going to school for surgical technician. His goal is to share all his professional experience with any who want and to help get the next aspiring artist on their journey.
Sarah Bender
In addition to her decade long background in dance and aerial acrobatics, Sarah was introduced to the art of vertical dance in 2016. After falling in love with the freedom and endless opportunities that the art form provided, she committed to pursuing the best training opportunities available, from Bandaloop Studios in Oakland, CA, to Il Posto in Venice, Italy. Sarah is committed to creating a safe and creative class environment and is excited to share her knowledge with the students at the Circus Collective.
Ella White
Ella was raised in Lexington, Ky but didn’t stick around long.. She’s been nomadic until landing in Colorado as of 2020 and finally feels like she’s found home. She’s been a dancer since age 9 and fell in love with the aerial fitness/ circus world in 2015. Aerial arts have been incredibly transformative in her life. She believes the community, confidence and strength these sports can create is pure magic. She completed her level 1 aerial silk training with Paperdoll Militia in 2019 and recently finished an aerial yoga certification with CircAsana in 2022. She is invested in discovering what sets your soul on fire and exploring the various physical puzzles that come with different aparati. Her teaching style is playful. She likes to encourage students to find their inner teacher, listen to their body, and allow themselves to be silly. She is committed to creating a space for her students to feel safe to challenge themselves and build confidence in their abilities in and out of the studio. Grab some fairy dust, put on your wings, and prepare to fly!
Jay Hendren
While searching for physical outlets after leaving high school, Jay trained gymnastics and calisthenics before discovering aerial straps in 2019. Since then, his love for straps has grown and taken him from coast to coast. In 2022, Jay started exploring teaching and performing, completing straps teacher training with Aaron Koz and spending a summer training and performing at the New England Center for Circus Arts. Aside from straps, Jay also dabbles in other circus disciplines such as juggling, handbalancing, and aerial pole when he is not working his day job in IT.
Logan Peters
Logan discovered aerial arts in 2016 in his home state of Florida and specializes in vertical apparatuses including aerial silks and rope. As a full-time writer and professional aerialist, he is passionate about creative storytelling and enjoys connecting to others through both words and movement. He loves choreographing and performing artistic aerial acts that express emotion and take the audience on a journey. In his classes, Logan encourages students to find their own unique movement style while building strength, flexibility, and technique through a combination of fundamental skill building and sequencing. Throughout his aerial career, he has performed on silks, rope, sling, pole, lyra, and cube.
Garrett Schniewind
Garrett was born and raised in Flagstaff, AZ. After recovering from an autoimmune illness at 13, he fell in love with all things exercise related. Garrett has been training for almost a decade in just about every discipline you can imagine. Everything from weightlifting, to yoga, to circus arts. He began his journey into circus through handbalance in 2017, added in aerial straps in 2020, and has worked with world-class coaches in both disciplines. Exercise Science and its application to circus is one of his main focuses. He as spent the last seven years learning as much as possible about this from experts in their field, and combining it with practical coaching knowledge from coaches in NYC, Montreal, and Las Vegas. Now, Garrett is a full-time coach, and his goal is to use the knowledge he has gained to help you improve in the most sustainable and efficient way possible.
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Anastasia Timina
Anastasia has been a professional aerialist since 2013. Her movement style is dark and dramatic, a mixture of slow hypnotic movement and fast dynamic sequences. Her emphasis is on fascinating shapes and clean lines all while upholding the illusion of defying gravity. Anastasia enjoys all forms of aerial including rope, silks, sling, trapeze, invented apparatus, and sometimes lyra. She completed the Aerial Teacher Training Program in January of 2016 and since has been working as a coach to help others discover the joy of aerial and their potential to fly. She hopes that she can help achieve each students individual goals, help them find their own artistic voice and influences, and hone their abilities.
Lisa Caldwell
Lisa Caldwell started training in classical ballet from a young age at Ballet Mississippi and at the St. Louis Ballet School. She attended the University of Kansas on scholarship and received degrees in Dance and Business Administration. After graduation she moved to Chicago to join Thodos Dance Chicago as a trainee for their 25th and final season. After taking classes in aerial silks and falling in love with dancing in the air, she joined Aerial Dance Chicago and performed with the company for over two years. Taking her training to new heights, she moved to Boulder, Colorado in 2019 to attend the Frequent Flyers Aerial Dance professional training program in which she created acts on silks, lyra, and traveling ring. She also performs with the Phantom Circus and at Temple Nightclub and teaches youth ballet in the Denver area.
Isabella Zemella
Isabella, a Venezuelan aerialist, discovered aerial arts by accident after entering a dance studio in Boulder Colorado. She did gymnastics and dance growing up in South Florida and later moved to Colorado, where she studied writing and minored in dance at the University of Colorado. She was under the direction of Nancy Smith at the University and at Frequent Flyers Studio where she was a student for four years. In 2020 she received her aerial teacher certification with Circasana in Crested Butte, CO. Since then, she’s enjoyed teaching private classes and loves teaching kids (at Boulder Circus Center). During the day, she’s a Content Writer/UX Designer for a company based out of Denver. Her goal is to push people past their comfort zones and enable them to do things they never thought possible.
Noelia Antweiler - Studio Manager
Noelia is a multi-disciplinary artist. Although she's from Denver, she began her aerial journey in NYC and has performed in the nightclub scene there. She moved back to Denver after a 10 year stint in NYC, and recently did her did teacher training with Aerial Physique out of Los Angeles. When she is not up in the air, you can find her performing at various theatres around Denver. She is delighted to be part of the Circus Collective community.
