Abbi

Administrative Assistant and Web and Media Consultant
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Abbi Wilson is excited to be working with Circus Up! She is a graduate student at Boston College and is studying macro social work practice. She recently graduated from Hampshire College studying public health and performing arts and went on to serve for a year with Americorps, working at an after school program...

Alissa

Youth Instructor

Alissa Feller has experience in modern dance, Ashtanga yoga, and capoiera. Alissa moved to Boston in 2018 after living in Konstanz, Germany for 4 years. She is excited to join the exuberant circus community here in Boston. When Alissa is not teaching or preforming she is hiding in the woods or being a mama to her baby boy!

Latoya

Youth Instructor

Latoya Okundaye has been a Circus Up student for the past two years and is excited to continue her training while working as an assistant coach. Born in Nigeria, Latoya came to the U.S. in 2017 and is currently based in Boston. She loves duo trapeze, tumbling, aerial silks, and contortion...

Laura

Youth Instructor

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. She completed her M. Ed. in Community Arts with a specialization in Multicultural Education at Lesley University.

Leah

Co-Founder, Executive Director, Head Instructor

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

Youth Instructor

Lucia Cassan has been training in circus arts for more than 5 years, and loves every second of it! Her specialties are rope, silks, and wire.
Lucia grew up in Boston and has loved being active ever since she could walk. She began dancing ballet, yet discovered that circus was her true calling. Now, Lucia is a professional aerialist and belly dancer and is currently a teacher at Commonwealth Circus Center...

Ronnie

Youth Instructor

Ronnie Terrel Thomas, an active dancer, director, choreographer, and teacher in the Boston /New England area. The founder of Mystique Illusions Dance Theatre. His initial training started with the Boston Arts Academy, Under the watchful eyes of ballet teacher Cosmin Marculetiu...

Sophia

Board Member and Instructor

Sophia Herscu graduated from Colorado College in 2011 with degrees in drama and sociology. She received a Watson Fellowship, which awarded her $25,000 to travel the world studying the ways different communities utilize circus pedagogy in order to work for social justice. She then went to professional aerial dance school in Boulder, Colorado...