Aerial & Circus Instructors
At Denver Circus Collective, our dedicated Aerial and Circus Instructors are here to inspire you with agility, artistry, and boundless imagination. From novices discovering new heights to seasoned performers mastering the extraordinary, they'll support your path in a welcoming, community-driven environment. Let's fly, flow, and create magic together!
Studio Manager / Intstructor
Noelia Antweiler
Noelia is a multi-disciplinary aerialist, though Dance Trapeze and Silks are her favorites! Although she's from Denver, she began her aerial journey in NYC and has performed in the nightclub scene there. She completed her 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 Denver circus community.
Instructor
Megan LaFollete
Megan discovered partner acrobatics in 2016 during grad school and immediately fell in love with how it blends movement, fun, community, laughter, and flow into one accessible practice. Over the past nine years, she’s trained as a true “mid,” both basing and flying, giving her a well-rounded understanding of the practice.
Instructor
Katya Peepin
A goat farmer's daughter from the midwest, Katya has been delighting Denver audiences for the past eight years as a burlesque performer, belly dancer, contortionist, and emcee! She currently runs Badass Burlesque production company with it's pro troupe, the Badass Burlesque Bomb Squad, as well as the School of Badass Burlesque.
Instructor
Anastasia Timina
Born in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Anastasia grew up dreaming of an artistic life. After moving to the US, she discovered circus in 2011, first as a physical outlet, then as a passion that quickly reshaped her world. By 2013 she committed fully to the path of an aerialist, and completed her teaching certification in 2016. She has since performed in shows and taught at studios across the country. Specializing in vertical apparatus and aerial theory, Anastasia also delights in the expressive possibilities of sling and trapeze and loves helping people learn to fly!
Instructor
Jamie Rifkin
Jamie was born and raised in the Denver Metro area. Growing up she was a competitive gymnast but didn’t find the circus until moving back to Denver after graduating from the University of Southern California. Quickly, a hobby grew into a passion and Jamie began training, teaching, and performing a variety of aerial apparatuses. Jamie specializes in straps, rope, silks, and hammock. Jamie is currently a core member of professional contemporary circus company, Circus Foundry where she performs aerial, tumbling, partner acrobatics, stilt walking, and flow in a variety of events and shows across Colorado and country. Jamie also performs as a cliff diver at historic Mexican restaurant, Casa Bonita.
Instructor
Rae Curran
Rae (they/she) is a dance trapeze artist and aerialist who has been performing and teaching across the U.S. since 2014. Known for a movement style that is both powerful and provocative, Rae weaves stories onstage that fill the room with depth and emotion. As an instructor, she guides students toward self-expression and affirmation through movement, helping them build meaningful connections between their bodies and the apparatus. Rae is also the founder and director of Trapeze Over Colorado, an annual gathering dedicated to celebrating connection and expanding community through trapeze.
Instructor
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.
Instructor
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.
Instructor
Katie Stewart
Katie spent the first decade of her life as a competitive gymnast before finding aerial dance at age 11. She has been teaching hoop, trapeze, fabric and sling for 6 years now. Katie has a passion for teaching and wants to share her knowledge with as many people as possible. Specifically, she loves innovative transitions and dynamic sequences. Currently, she is a senior at CU Boulder studying Biomedical Engineering with an emphasis in biomechanics.
Instructor
Al Firstenberg
Al Firstenberg is a collegiate-trained dancer with a BA in Dance from Marymount Manhattan College. They have been coaching Flying Trapeze since 2019 and have worked at multiple schools on the East Coast including Espana-Streb Trapeze Academy, Philadelphia School for Circus Arts, Trapeze School New York, and Dallas Circus Center. Al was the manager of the flagship location of Trapeze School New York during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic and directed the flying trapeze program at the Philadelphia School of Circus Arts. Al utilizes their decades of experience as a dancer and movement coach in each discipline they coach. Their coaching style centers on honesty, authenticity, and ingenuity. Moreover, they find that breaking down tricks into individual skills and drills to be the most accessible way for most students to learn properly and minimize the development of poor habits. Al is passionate about helping programs, students, and communities grow and improve, and they thrive off of the successes of their students, coworkers, and peers.
Instructor
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.
Instructor
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.
Instructor
Drake Bruner
“Dazzling” Drake has been training circus arts since he was a senior in high school. Now as a college graduate, he is one of the youngest circus professionals in Colorado. He teaches and performs all over the state with specialties in aerial sling, silks, flexibility and contortion! He’s passionate about keeping circus fun, attainable and engaging for all ages.
Instructor
Dana Wilson
Dana has dabbled in many types of circus and many types of non-circus. She got her undergraduate degree in French horn performance before switching gears to get her masters in computer science while simultaneously getting her circus career started by learning and then co-teaching acroyoga. She taught herself handstands, learned to juggle, and then occasionally practiced various aerial disciplines in between climbing objectives and working a tech job for many years. It wasn’t until she took an aerial rope class with Nicole Londraville that she knew she had found her favorite way to be in the air. She studied rope for several years with Nicole, spent a few weeks at NECCA in the summer of 2024, and now teaches at a few studios in the Boulder/Denver area.
Instructor
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 Westminster, CO.
Instructor
Brianna Wegrzyn
Brianna has a background in dance, circus, and psychology and is passionate about uniting these fields to create a safe space for learning and artistic development. Having trained in dance from a young age, Brianna was motivated to take her dancing to new heights. In 2010, Brianna joined the Gamma Phi Circus at Illinois State University where she performed silks, duo lyra, and triple trapeze. In 2015, she began coaching aerial dance at Cirquemania. In 2016, Brianna attended aerial teacher training and circus arts therapy training at the Circus Arts Institute in Atlanta where she learned about safe progressions and using circus arts as a therapeutic tool.