Company Bio’s
Gary Kirkland
Owner
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Brian Flint
Fell in love with the flying trapeze in 1996 at a club med resort in Turks and Caicos. After returning home with a new found dream, Brian continued his training with world class flyer Richie Gaona in L.A. for the next 4 years and another year with the legendary Tony Steel at Trapeze High in San Diego, CA. Brian’s professional debut came in 2004 with the flying Casares at Monumental Circo in Portugal.
Brian then became a Cirque du Soleil apprentice in 2004 and 2006 for the La Nouba show. Since then, he has continued to work professionally for a variety of productions, camps and training facilities around the world.
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Elizabeth Rose
Is a unique performing artist with a diverse movement background in physical disciplines including modern dance, Bharatnatayam, Filipino martial arts, Commedia dell’Arte, yoga, gymnastics and stunt training.
Elizabeth began dancing professionally in her native Austin, Texas in 1998. She co-founded her first company, REALM danceproject, at 19 years old. She left the company to its founding members when she left Austin for NYC, and it is still in operation today. As a dancer, Elizabeth has enjoyed training and performing with Darla Johnson, Deborah Hay, Jacques Heim, and many remarkable artists and colleagues at Dance New Amsterdam in New York. She has trained on aerial apparatus in the U.S. with Elie Venezky, Elsie and Serenity Smith, Eric Newton, Jukka Juntti, and others.
Her choreographic style is marked by graceful fluidity, easy precision, high sensuality, and stunning articulation in the air. She always emphasizes artistry above spectacle and never fails to make moving and intimate connections with her audience. Elizabeth believes that collaboration is the soul of performance, loves a good artistic or physical challenge, and is always excited to work with other performers and directors.
She is currently producing new works in Seattle, WA, where she is a company member of the Aerialistas, Seattle’s original all-girl aerial gang. She also collaborates locally with members of Manifold Motion and Circus Contraption, and outside of Seattle with Kansas City-based Quixotic Performance Ensemble. She also freelances, creating commissioned works for festivals, events, film, and television.
Lara Lee Rasberry
Lara Lee Rasberry (aka “Poppy Daze) teaches and performs locally, nationally and internationally on a variety of aerial apparatus, including her signature anchor. She is the founder and director of the Original Aerial Girl Gang, the Aerialistas, an 8-member troupe which has been presenting large-scale, burlesque-inspired aerial performances since 2004. She was also the founder and artistic director of Circus Contraption, Seattle’s beloved, world-traveling, one-ring troupe, 1998-2009. Known for her artistic exuberance, Lara crafts painterly work touching on the surreal and whimsical, the dark and the darling.
“The Aerial Army of Love” was founded in 2006 by Lara and her students, with the mission of using circus arts to benefit those in extreme poverty. In December of 2008, they sent a team of ten circus artists to Guatemala City to teach trapeze, acrobatics, music and juggling to children whose families live and work at the nearby landfill.
Lara is currently expanding her work on invented aerial sculptures, in collaboration with large-scale metal artist Mark Appleton Stevens.
Lara has been called a “pioneer in the Seattle aerial scene.” Her warmth and humor have drawn a loyal following of students. Considered a pioneer in the city’s rapidly-growing circus arts community, She has been teaching classes in trapeze, rope, fabric, hoop and invented apparatus for ten years at her “Aerial Academy of Love.” Approaching aerial as a “language,” Lara’s teaching style centers on giving students the tools needed to explore their unique creativity through aerial. She treats everyone who comes through her class as an emerging aerial artist, giving thoughtful feedback while maintaining a playful, joyous environment. Principles of form, line, injury prevention and safety are emphasized. She weaves useful information on music, anatomy, costume, character, and “aerial etiquette” into her workshops.