FREQUENT FLYERS PRODUCTIONS - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Manager

Job Titles:

• Contact Our Administrative Staff Member
• Education Director

A true ringleader at heart, Ariana has been leading and directing circus productions and youth programs for over 10 years. Her love for education and movement runs deep. She has spent many years teaching spatial dynamics, experiential learning, and circus arts in Waldorf school communities. A professional circus artist herself, Ariana has been immersed in the circus world since 2010. When you see her on the stage you will likely see her performing on unique invented aerial apparatuses, standing on someone's shoulders, or dancing with flames.

Job Titles:

• Business Manager
• Contact Our Administrative Staff Member
• Member of the Staff Administrative Team

Chrystal comes to us after 26 years at the University of Colorado. The last five she worked as Finance Director for the Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research, supporting scientists and facilitating brilliant geoscience research. She is excited to bring her experience to the Frequent Flyers team. She is also a student in our community classes. When not in the studio, she likes to hike, and is learning to paint.

Job Titles:

• Assistant Faculty

Cressie Mae has been following her dreams of cultivating connection and creation through movement since she was a little girl. It all began on the swingset in her backyard, where she would spend endless hours pushing and testing the boundaries of gravity and weightlessness. Flying high, climbing the chains, and knotting herself up in whatever ways she could find to do so, Cressie Mae was hard at work manifesting the future of her dreams. Since then she has studied acrobatics, dance, fire spinning, prop manipulation and a variety of other circus and aerial arts. From 2005-2009, Cressie Mae studied circus arts at SUNY Purchase College in NY, specializing in acrobatics and static trapeze. She became the programs teachers assistant, show producer and assistant director in her second year. In 2012 Cressie Mae discovered dance trapeze and began studying with award winning coach, Elana Panova at The San Francisco Circus Center. In 2016, she moved to Boulder, CO where she began her studies with Frequent Flyers, completing their Professional Performance Training Program in 2017. Since completing the program with Frequent Flyers, Cressie Mae has gone on to star in two major productions with MOTH Poetic Circus, and The Fractal Society, has directed and produced ensemble collaborations and solo work, managed entertainment for private clients, run circus camps for special needs children, and has fallen in love with the art of coaching. She began her coaching career in 2017, specializing in dance trapeze, choreography, partnering, and expressive movement. Teaching in several studios in the Boulder / Denver area, and hosting workshops around the country, Cressie Mae has gained a loyal following of dedicated students. Most recently, during the height of the pandemic in an effort to keep her community ties close, Cressie Mae launched an online donation based platform called Circus Workout Party. Made up of coaches from around the world, Circus Workout Party offered costume themed, collaborative workouts that could be done from home without the use of an apparatus or studio equipment. While the world continues to be a winding path full of unknowns, Cressie Mae is honored to be a part of the Frequent Flyers team as she continues to develop her unique offerings as both a performance artist and coach in this budding industry.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board
• Member of the Board of Directors

Job Titles:

• Contact Our Administrative Staff Member
• Marketing Coordinator
• Member of the Staff Administrative Team
• Faculty / Student Company Manager
• Student
• Student Company Manager

Laura immensely enjoys telling the world about the magic at Frequent Flyers Aerial Dance and has been doing so as marketing coordinator since 2015. Before joining the FF admin team, she served as marketing support for Circle Modern Dance outreach and productions (2011-2014) and her aerial duo, The Wing Project (2012-2014). As a marketing consultant, Laura has worked with Grounded Aerial, Educational Movement Systems, Transform Fitness, Femmes de Flight, Mitchell Moving, as well as solo performing artists. Laura is also an alumni of the Frequent Flyers Professional Training Program and Professional Company with whom she had the pleasure of performing at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. She holds a BFA in Dance Performance from the University of Georgia and has been dancing in the air since 2008. She is currently based in TN where she also performs local project-based dance and chases her toddler. Casey Pottle has over a decade of dance training in ballet and contemporary dance. After graduating from college having studied dance abroad in London, Casey discovered aerial arts and fell in love. She has many years of experience teaching and performing on aerial silks, aerial sling, and loop straps. Her current passion is choreographing and combining her love of aerial dance with ballet technique. Casey teaches at several studios in the Denver/Boulder area, as well as performs in multiple aerial and dance shows, including performances at the Clocktower Cabaret and the Oriental Theater. Casey currently dances professionally with In The Wings Aerial and Park Hill Dance Collective.

Job Titles:

• Professional Company Faculty

Laurel Johnson is thrilled to be joining Frequent Flyers as an apprentice this year! As a classically trained ballet dancer, she was introduced to aerial dance in 2016, and since then is always looking for a chance to be upside down. Laurel is a graduate from the University of Northern Colorado with a Bachelor's degree in Fine Art and Dance, and is returning in fall 2021 to begin her master's degree in Dance Education. Having completed her Aerial Yoga Teacher Training in 2018, she now teaches at Loveland Community Yoga. Laurel enjoys helping others find their love for dance through teaching ballet, acro, jazz, and modern to ages three through adult. Her own passion for dance is rooted in her eagerness to learn about the human body, developing an artistic voice, and finding intentional community with other movers.

Maya Shoup, known as Illusionary Arts on stage, has been heavily involved in the circus community since moving to colorado in 2017. Shortly after discovering a passion for poi and fire spinning, she began doing local LED performances at small venues around Denver and Fort Collins. At the same time, she was introduced to the physical and mental challenge of pole dancing, so Maya shifted her focus to cross-training flow and pole. A few years down the line, aerial arts captured her heart as well; thanks to years of pole dancing, she was able to quickly absorb the foundation of aerial hoop and grow into the performer, coach, and circus artist she is today. She now performs regularly throughout Colorado as an aerialist, burlesque performer, pole dancer, fire spinner, acrobat, contortionist, belly dancer, and more. Additionally, she is an instructor in advanced lyra and exotic / intermediate pole at Denver Circus Collective, as well as in Boulder at Frequent Flyers and Catwoman Pole Academy. Through teaching large classes and 1 on 1 privates, Maya shares her passion and inspiration with aspiring students while meeting them at the level they are at. Fluidity in movement, a story in motion, poetry beyond paper - those are the driving forces behind Maya's creativity. She strives to hold that same space for others to exist, learn, and grow in as well.

Job Titles:

• Professional Company Faculty

Michelle (She/They) discovered their passion for aerial in 2010 when they took their first trapeze class. Drawn to a little bit of everything, they have trained in a variety of apparatuses including rope, fabric, dance and static trapeze, straps, sling, lyra, invented apparatuses, really anything that gets their feet off the ground. They love collaboration and duo work, especially duo trapeze. They embrace exploration and curiosity, always eager to dive into aerial theory and find connections between seemingly disconnected things.

Job Titles:

• Artistic Director
• Contact Our Administrative Staff Member
• Director
• Founder
• Member of the Board of Directors
• Founder / Artistic Director -
• Founder / Artistic Director / COO / Faculty / Board Member

Nancy Smith originally wanted to be an astronaut or racecar driver; instead she became the founder & artistic director of Frequent Flyers® Productions in 1988 and the Aerial Dance Festival in 1999. She teaches a variety of topics for FFs Professional Training students and teaches dance trapeze, invented apparatus and Skinner Releasing Technique around the country. Choreographing more than 350 aerial dances / evening length-works, her choreography for Frequent Flyers, in collaboration with the dancers, has been acclaimed at The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Cirque du Soleil in Montreal, Boston, Virginia, New Orleans, Utah, San Francisco, the Bahamas, and throughout Colorado. Nancy has taught 4,000 students the joy of dancing in the air. She has received numerous honors including the Living Legend of Dance in Colorado award and Women Who Light the Community. She co-authored the first book on Aerial Dance and dreams of a prehensile tail.

Job Titles:

• Chairman of the Board of Directors
• Member of the Board

Richard Nunn has been involved with Frequent Flyers in an unofficial capacity since 2017, attempting to help out wherever he was able to. Richard officially joined the board of directors in January of 2021. For the past 10 years, Richard has worked as the Assistant Curator at the National Science Foundation Ice Core Facility in Lakewood Colorado. There he oversees the US collection of ice cores from Antarctica and Greenland that are stored in a large freezer kept at -36 degrees. His primary job is to distribute samples of this precious ice to scientists around the world. He has also spent two field seasons on the Greenland ice sheet as part of an international team of scientists helping to drill and analyze an ice core. It is through this work that he met his partner Valerie Morris and was introduced to the world of Frequent Flyers.

Job Titles:

• Professional Company / Faculty

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 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, she decided to leave teaching and become a professional performer. She has been teaching aerial for the past 4 years to various skill levels and ages while training for performances. She has appeared in many competitions and shows, including the Aire Festival in Mexico, a rendition of Shakespeare's The Tempest, and numerous private events. Currently, she works at Frequent Flyers, Gravity, and ACOD and is very excited to continue her aerial journey surrounded by passionate artists.

Job Titles:

• Contact Our Administrative Staff Member
• Member of the Staff Administrative Team
• Office Manager

Sue Sutherland believes that the key to running a successful office is providing stellar customer service to every person, every day. She enjoys seeing first-hand how taking flight through aerial dance is enriching lives and bringing joy to our community. Sue is a graduate of California Polytechnic State University, and has been a member of the Frequent Flyers team since 2019. She loves all things that are beautiful and has a special affinity for sunflowers, hummingbirds, and puppies of all ages.

Job Titles:

• Contact Our Administrative Staff Member
• Mannsz - Community Outreach Manager

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board
• Member of the Board of Directors

Job Titles:

• Professional Company / Faculty

Valerie has been a dancer since 1980 and became an aerial dancer in 1996 with Frequent Flyers. She has had the pleasure of performing with Movement Laboratories, Lancaster Ballet, Boston Ballet, CU Dance Department, Boulder Ballet, Frequent Flyers Productions, Wellingon Circus Trust (faculty and board member, NZ), AeroTerra (director, NZ), and Empress Stiltdance (NZ). She has happily returned to Frequent Flyers Productions after a four-year hiatus in New Zealand. Her secret life as a scientist keeps her busy during the day, using stable isotopes to unlock the secrets of global climate change.

Job Titles:

• Professional Company Faculty

Whitney has spent her life delving deeply into any form of movement she can get her hands on. She's been dancing on the ground since the age of three and has a deep love of tap dance, but in 2015, she shuffled her way into the air and didn't ever want to come down. After discovering her passion for aerial dance, she began directing performances for Monarch and Croi Croga Aerial Arts. She also had the pleasure of performing with Transcribing Dance, Point Dance Ensemble & in the Wisconsin Dells. In 2020, she moved to Colorado to attend Frequent Flyers Professional Training Program. Since graduation, she has joined the tap dance company Rocky Mountain Rhythm, taught at Aerial Cirque Over Denver & performed alongside the Industrial Dance Alliance. She holds a BA in Dance from the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point (2009) and is working toward her