Abbi

Team Member

Abbi Wilson is excited to be working with Circus Up! She is currently a graduate student at Boston College, studying Macro Social Work and her field of practice is children, youth, and families. She graduated from Hampshire College studying public health and performing arts...

Asia

Team Member

Asia Mei is a local chef and owner of Southie's Moonshine 152. She spends the majority of her time trying to squeeze in workouts in between work, caring for her vast number of rescue dogs and pets, and advocating for all things neighborhood, community and small business. Asia has long been impassioned by anything sports or action motivated...

Caroline

Team Member

Caroline Wright took to the air before she could walk, climbing curtains, furniture and anything else she could crawl to. She spent her early teens performing with Flying Gravity Circus, a youth troupe dedicated to helping other Waldorf schools start their own circus programs...

Cassandre

Team Member

Cassandre Charles, a native of Boston, is an interdisciplinary artist and professional dancer. As the sole proprietor of Charles & Moise Productions, Cassandre uses her know-how in marketing, branding, technical production and executive producing to curate presentations and shows for herself and fellow BIPOC artists in the New England area...

Isabel

Team Member

Isabel Present is finishing her last year of school at Northeastern, studying Economics and Philosophy. From organizing after school programs to towing a group of four-year-olds around the city of Boston, Isabel has thrived working with kids since she was 13! ...

Laura

Team Member

Laura Kathrein is Boston/New England-based educator, community organizer, and movement artist. She began her career as a teacher and dancer while training extensively in a pre-professional ballet school in her hometown of Chicago. Dance has continued as a thread, weaving her various professional experiences in outdoor adventure, natural sciences, fine arts, and dance together...

Leah

Founder, Executive Director, Co-Chair of the Board

Leah Abel is Co-Founder, Executive Director, and Head Instructor of Circus Up, a Boston-based social circus program. She holds a Masters degree in Social Work from Simmons College and is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW). Leah also (surprisingly) completed her Masters in Environmental Law and Policy at Vermont Law School...

Lucia

Team Member

Lucia Cassan has always been active. She began with sports and dance, yet discovered in high school that circus was her true passion. Aerial rope, silks, wire and partner acro are her most loved circus disciplines. Lucia is a recent college graduate from Umass Boston where she studied sociology and criminal justice...

Quela

Team Member

Quéla is a Freelance Graphic Designer working with Circus on our Social Media branding. Quéla is the owner Haus Of Jules Design Co., an Art and Design centered business providing a wide range of creative services including Art and Marketing...

Tara

Team Member

Tara Talland grew up in Cambridge, MA. Her background is in ballet, but after 13 years of training she shifted focus to circus arts. Along with teaching at Circus Up!, she has also been an aerials coach at Beaver Country Day School’s Summer Camp Circus program in Chestnut Hill, MA, and Circus Glory Trapeze School in London, England....

Yarumi

Team Member

Yarumi González was formally trained as a dancer and studied art at Universidad Central de Venezuela and Contemporary Dance at Universidad Nacional Experimental de las Artes. She has studied different dancing expressions, including traditional dances from her home country (Venezuela), Indonesian dances (Indonesian Embassy in Venezuela), and modern Cuban dance as well as popular, traditional, folkloric Afro-Cuban dances (Cuba)...