Workshop Offerings 2026
Julia Baccellieri, they/them
Diversifying Movement Quality on Dance Trapeze
We will be exploring a series of artistic exercises that will help unlock new qualities and styles of movement that help make new and old sequences, more texturally dynamic and engaging.
Prerequisites: Students must be comfortable with inversions and one arm hangs
Dynamic Trapeze: In the Ropes
This workshop will be exploring dynamic single point trapeze skills in the ropes: including, drops, beats, flips, and more!
Prerequisites: Confident with full, half, crazy beats. Able to execute single star open or closed on trapeze and silks. Please bring ankle protection.
Jenn Bruyer, she/her
Idea Factory
“If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.”
I think it is vastly more difficult to learn how to create than it is to learn how to replicate. In this workshop we will learn how to not only repurpose “skills” we know into our own sequences, but create original work from predefined structure or the ground up. This workshop is designed for full time or casual teachers, curious students, emerging performers, aspiring choreographers and all other aerial dance explorers who long to find their own unique voice through sequencing or performance.
Students can expect to learn traditional methods for material exploration and techniques for execution, my personal process and viewpoints, the role that values play in creating work, finding “voice”, various design elements including: shape, movement quality, tempo, use of space, balance, contrast and texture.
Prerequisites: All levels welcome
Trapeze Witchcraft
It’s still magic, even if you know how it’s done... Seemingly complex, most wraps employ a few simple rules that when combined create a spellbinding effect. Wraps, shelves, and connections can appear and disappear in an instant.
In this workshop we will dig deeply into 'theory' - relating connections to one another all the while exploring some super sneaky skills and ideas.
Prerequisites: Ability to pullover onto the bar easily, remain in the air for two minutes, and invert in the ropes.
Twisted Trapeze
Warp your perception of these ‘two ropes and a bar’ with all the twisting, turning, and spiraling pathways that will move you inside and outside of the frame. In this workshop we will explore shapes and transitions that are “twisty” in nature.
Prerequisites: Ability to pullover onto the bar easily, remain in the air for two minutes, and invert in the ropes.
Sierra Camille, she/her
Airborne Presence and Performance
Workshop Mission Statement: For participants to understand and harness the power of audience connection and storytelling through physicality. We will work towards participants being comfortable with taking risks, failing, and being.
Workshop Description: Now that you know a number of tricks in the air, how do they all fit together to make a memorable and compelling performance not to be forgotten? Wondering how to touch audiences at the core of their being and show them the inside of your very own self? In this workshop, we'll explore new ways of moving on your apparatus and the floor. Through games, performance exercises, breathing techniques, and performing for each other students will gain many tools to pull out of their toolbelt while creating a new act or performing one that is tried and true!
This workshop incorporates:
- Elements of clown training to focus on audience connection
- Elements of Viewpoints technique to focus on movement quality
- Theater games to focus on storytelling
- Discussion about different types of performance, how to begin creating, what makes something compelling to watch, why it’s imperative to fail
- Sierra’s arsenal of information about performance theory and technique
Prerequisites: Aerialists of any level. The ability to do three tricks on your apparatus is a plus.
Saifee Ghadiya, he/him
Dynamic Entries, Transitions, & Clean Release Moves
Explore bold entrances, fluid transitions, and crisp release techniques designed to elevate your dynamic vocabulary. This session focuses on power, timing, and precision—giving you the tools to move explosively while maintaining clean lines and control in the air.
Dynamic movement isn’t just about momentum—it’s about form and efficiency. There are very specific fast-twitch muscles involved in executing these skills with finesse, grace, and minimal wear and tear on the body. We'll start with foundational technique and take it as far as the class is ready to go.
Even if you’re familiar with skills like straddle cuts, dislocates, courbettes, saltos, and other release tricks, working with proper form transforms them. You stop overthinking. There’s precision, reduced risk, and a pathway to cleaner execution and faster progression. Starting with the most basic movements done well will help you unlock new skills more easily and safely.
Ask any of my private students—the first thing we drill is swing beats. Swing beats are critical to dynamic movement, and both the base and flyer play an equally important role in their success. This workshop will get your duo working as one, refining timing, and building clean, confident dynamics from the ground up.
Prerequisites: All Levels Welcome. Must be able to invert.
Partnering Technique, Timing, & Trust-Building
Strengthen your connection. Refine your collaboration. This workshop dives into the essential elements that make duo aerial work captivating and connected: precise technique, impeccable timing, and unshakable trust. Whether you’re exploring duo for the first time or looking to elevate your partnership, you’ll leave this workshop with refined tools and deeper awareness—on and off the bar.
We’ll explore the building blocks of excellent partnering: body alignment, weight distribution, non-verbal communication, and active listening in the air. From understanding when to lift, how to grip, and how to position yourself to minimize strain and maximize efficiency—both base and flyer will sharpen their understanding of collaborative movement.
Ever wonder where to place your grip—or whether to internally or externally rotate your arms? Timing a lift with clarity and precision is a skill, and we’ll break it down from both the base and flyer perspective. What’s the cue for the base to lift? How does the flyer communicate that moment without saying a word? This hands-on session will help you answer those questions with both technique and intuition.
This workshop isn’t just essential—it’s also fun. Through engaging drills and interactive trust-building activities, you’ll develop a shared language of movement with your partner.
Bonus? We’ve got some playful (and safe!) blindfolded exercises designed to heighten your sensitivity, spatial awareness, and teamwork.
Trust is at the core of every powerful duo act. Through progressive exercises, we’ll build confidence between partners and strengthen your mutual awareness. You’ll learn how to ‘listen’ through movement, match timing seamlessly, and respond instinctively. These are the quiet superpowers that transform tricks into art.
Workshop Highlights:
- Develop stronger communication in the air
- Learn to feel and match each other’s timing
- Strengthen foundational partnering mechanics
- Practice trust exercises and partner awareness
- Enjoy blindfolded drills that build instinct and creativity
- Build sustainable duo habits that reduce injury and boost flow
Naomi Graff, she/her
Embodied Trapeze Magic
Have you been searching for your own unique trapeze style? Or your authentic expression in aerial in general? This workshop seeks to provide a safe space for aerialists to tune into their bodies and find their unique way of moving with the trapeze. How would you move if the only rule was to keep yourself safe? We will use our bodies/internal sensations and impulses as our guide for movement and expression with the trapeze.
You can expect:
- Improvisational prompts
- Guided imagery
- Experimentation with proximity to the trapeze, movement qualities, breath, and most of all: inner body awareness
Prerequisites: The student is able to complete a 1-minute sequence of skills on the trapeze and is comfortable sitting, swinging, and orbiting on the trapeze. Students are highly encouraged to bring a journal.
Cirque Gravizoides: Leah, she/her & Bayard, he/him
Twisted Trapeze
We'll explore some of our favorite twisting, spinning, flipping, rolling, & cart-wheeling moves on the Doubles Trapeze.
Prerequisites: Students who have a fundamental understanding of DuoTrapeze (or other aerial apparatus base/flyer partnering) & who are able to invert unassisted in the air multiple times will get the most out of this workshop.
Get in Someone’s Face: Double’s Trapeze
Partner up on the Trapeze! Students will learn a short double trapeze routine. We’ll break down the sequence into digestible segments, explore the transitions & bring it all together.
Prerequisites: Beginner to intermediate level. Students who have a fundamental understanding of aerial movement & who are able to invert unassisted in the air multiple times will get the most out of this workshop.
New to duotrapeze? No problem! We'll show you the ropes (& the bar) & how to get in someone's face...but with artistic intent :)
**Exceptions can be made, just ask us!
Shannon Gray, she/her
Becoming Creature, pt.1: Release
My love for dance trapeze has stemmed from a deeply personal relationship with release-based movement and the allowance for a more intuitive language to emerge- showing up not only in the development of my choreography, but in how I move this choreography. This workshop, through the exploration of some of my favorite sequences, will invite participants to expand their movement pathways and to descend into the felt sense of moving and expressing from their emotional body. Basically, this is a workshop on becoming the deep, sentient, feeling creature that you are and bringing it all to life with your partner, the dance trapeze. I will use a lot of words like, “find your yum” and “let it go” and “see that window? Now thread it”...
Prerequisites: Students must be able to straddle up in the ropes unsupported.
No observers, please
Becoming Creature, pt. 2: Nuggets
Working from a foundation of movement expansion and quality, as explored in part 1, the second day of this workshop takes a deeper look at three realms of the dance trapeze, and your relationship to them. We will explore ground connection, bar threading, and movement within the ropes but through the lens of your intuitive pathways. I will provide exercises for accessing impulse and what I like to call "nuggets": moments, feelings, and movements that satisfy something deep and real and from which you can build choreography. You will combine these nuggets in order to create mini pieces- weaving together ground, bar and ropes with your unique voice and expression. This workshop will offer you tools to create innovative, personal, and satisfying material with the dance trapeze.
Prerequisites: Students must be able to straddle up in the ropes unsupported.
Participation in Becoming Creature, pt. 1: Release is great, but not required to participate in this workshop.
No observers, please
Lauren Kehl, she/her
Sequencing on Dance Trapeze
Having the bar of a dance trapeze to create space gives you a whole different set of options to explore while combining moves and transitioning between them. We’ll use that solid, heavy base to find sequences that capitalize on the extra real estate for movement, rolling, and transitioning. Rather than being choreography-focused, this workshop is designed to equip students with the sequencing concepts they need to develop their own choreography and transitions in their future practice.
Prerequisites: This workshop is taught on dance trapeze. All students must have comfort pulling over multiple times from the ground and comfort inverting in the air from standing on the trapeze.
Rolling Over/Shelf Theory
Learn the mechanics of rolling on an apparatus, finding your “shelves,” and using them to move with ease. We’ll explore transitions from sitting to hips and back again, and how these basic pathways can be used to transition into skills like hip keys and back balances. Students will come away with a solid understanding of efficient movement patterns for rolling skills and the tools to incorporate those skills into their own practice. If you enjoy twisty and windy movement, or if you WANT to enjoy it but struggle to make it feel good, this workshop will help you twist and wind with ease and grace.
Prerequisites: All students with a comfortable, active aerial practice are welcome. **Please note that this workshop involves a significant amount of hanging from the hip shelf. You should be comfortable with pressure in that area. Participants are encouraged to wear layers.
Niff Nicholls, she/her
From Out of Nothing
Level: Intermediate or comfortable with playing in the air and has a solid practice.
This class is all about guiding students to discover their own shapes and pathways. While I love how beautifully my students move through my pathways, I want to empower them to cultivate their OWN ideas. I'll be sharing tools I've developed for myself to ignite new ideas along with theory-based tools. Plus, the class will be a collaborative space where students can share ideas and build off each other. Get ready for a class full of play, examination, study, and self-discovery.
Prerequisites: Students should feel comfortable moving through the air, be proficient at mounting the trapeze, hanging from the ropes and the bar, and feel comfortable exploring aerial pathways. (best for intermediate level)
Niff Pathways
In this workshop, I will teach you some of my favorite sequences! We’ll go beyond learning individual skills—we’ll focus on how we move between them. Together, we’ll explore the transitions: the in-betweens, the unexpected, the exciting new pathways that connect shapes and discoveries. You’ll be introduced to my personal choreographic approach, built from studying the theory and relationships between skills to unlock unique, dynamic transitions that you can carry into your own work.
We’ll dive into fresh ideas for shape-making, and dynamic flow—inviting new ways of thinking and moving on trapeze.
Prerequisites: Students should be able to invert with proficiency, be comfortable working in the ropes, and know basic leg wraps (thigh hitch, hip key, seatbelt)
Niff’s Best Sh*t
In this workshop, I will teach you a little bit of everything! Let's spin, let's roll around the bar, let’s flare, let's play in the ropes and find all the cool unexpected transitions and pathways! I may break your brain but we will have fun learning all the new things!
Prerequisites: Intermediate to advanced. Students should have the ability to invert with proficiency, know basic leg and belly wraps, can easily roll up to a front balance from a hip hang, and can pull over to hips.
Janelle Peters, they/them
Pre Contortion: Fundamentals
This class is for students who have interest in contortion, and would like to dip a toe into the water. We start slowly, with discussion of fundamental concepts and techniques for building the strength, control, and awareness to highlight deep flexibility. In addition to challenging stretches, we delve into the importance of a structured warm-up and cool-down, as well as strategies for listening to your body and safely building flexibility.
Materials: please have on hand 2 yoga blocks, a foam roller and/or peanut, and a strap or resistance band.
Prerequisites: All levels. Please no active spinal injury.
The Music Made Me Do It
In this workshop, students will unlock their potential for musicality and increase their ability to truly dance in the air. We will explore key elements of music, how to listen and feel for rhythm, melody, dynamics and voice. Students will have ample opportunity to experience aerial movement to a variety of musical styles and will be able to provide and receive feedback on how their own natural movement style meets the music.
Prerequisites: This workshop is appropriate for aerialists who can safely string together 3+ skills in the air
Kat Saxon, she/they
Catch Waves: Low Flow Trapeze Exploration
“Catch Waves” is a workshop built on guided dance trapeze improvisation & exploration. A trapeze rigged closer to the ground gives Kat the creative freedom to play with modern and contemporary movement styles more comfortably, while also blending the aerial arts techniques she has been developing for fourteen years. She loves being able to give other artists the creative liberty to do the same, with a coaching style that focuses on building foundational skills that will get students comfortable working low to the ground. The different skills & flourishes they'll be shown will help them break into & develop their own style of movement, helping them to feel uninhibited & free to play. These are all skills she personally cultivated on the hardwood floors of Challenge Aerial Atlanta and they include:
- Slides
- Spins
- Rolling around under the bar
- How to get from floor to air/air to floor with style
- Developing musicality, flow and personal style
By the end of this workshop, students will leave with a stronger intuition when it comes to movement. They will leave feeling empowered and emboldened, with a deeper connection to themselves, the dance trapeze, & their aerial artistry entirely.
Prerequisites: Intermediate level and upward, or at least one year of consistent dance trapeze experience.
A decent spin tolerance.
Comfortable rolling around on hardwood floors. (Students are allowed to wear knee pads if needed!)
Comfortable and familiar with flamenco wrap and rolling on the bar in hip hang, back balance and armpits.
An open mind! Once you learn how to use the trapeze at an unconventional low height, this workshop begins to focus on creative exploration and the best way to unlock new pathways and creativity within your own body is to let loose and let go!
Sara Sparrow, she/her
Dynamic Sequencing for Artful Athletes
This workshop is for those who love dynamics, and are searching for the poetry within the technical framework. How can we find graceful flow in the effort? How do we incorporate our momentum work seamlessly with our creative choreo? Let's take those jock moves to the theater department! This workshop will delve into dynamic combinations and sequencing, explore elements of tempo, pace, variety and shape, and aim to give participants tools to move their gymnastics into the realm of dance. Students will learn new dynamic sequences in-class, as well as creative strategies to take home for future exploration. This workshop will utilize single point equipment.
Prerequisites: Intermediate level. Students should be confident in a variety of dynamic movements, including both front to back and side to side movements, hip circles and elbow circles recommended. Strength-wise, students should be strong in both pullovers and straddle ups from a beat. Hands must be in condition for long swinging sequences on the bar. Bring upper arm and waist protection.
Camille Swift, she/her
Power Hungry Trapeze
In this workshop we hone in on advanced dynamic trapeze tricks and sequences, tackling key skills for generating powerful swings, tight twists and daring drops. This is for the intermediate to advanced student, fully capable of pulling over out of a beat and comfortable with knee beats and ankle hangs.
Prerequisites: Pulling over out of a beat without tagging the ropes and very comfortable with knee beats and ankle hangs.
Tactical Technique for Trapezistas
Augment your technique on trapeze by learning the key concepts behind dynamic movement and fundamental drills designed to increase power and efficiency. Beneficial to advanced beginning or intermediate students.
Prerequisites: Familiarity with hand and knee beats ideal, solid single-arm hang on both sides required.
Caitlin Wallace, she/they
Bar Noodling #1 – Fundamentals of Weightlessness and Friction:
This workshop dives into fundamental transitions around the trapeze bar, focusing on techniques to create smoother, more efficient movement. We’ll explore strategies for making the body feel more weightless during transitions and examine how friction influences the ability to maintain or adjust points of contact on the bar. Through movement theory and practical drills, students will gain a deeper understanding of how to control rolling, tipping, and sliding—building a more effortless and intuitive bar noodling practice.
Prerequisites: straddle invert under the bar, pullover to front balance, hands-on back balance, single hip hang
Bar Noodling #2 – Body Positioning for Weaving and Threading:
This workshop introduces a variety of threading and weaving skills, approached through the lens of body positioning for better control and happier alignment. We’ll explore techniques for steering the bar with the body (not just the hands), using friction, pressure, and momentum to support smooth transitions, and understanding shoulder mechanics for threading through tight spaces—even for less bendy bodies. Students will leave with a deeper grasp of how to flow through complex pathways with better body mechanics, plus some fun new threading patterns that twist, turn, and weave in all directions. (While Bar Noodling #1 is recommended for a deeper understanding of the noodling theory curriculum, it is not required to enroll in Bar Noodling #2)
Prerequisites: straddle invert under the bar, pullover to front balance, hands-on back balance, single hip hang
Enya White, she/her
Spin Club
You’ll learn how to find your center & stay in control while exploring different techniques & shapes. Learn ways to “come back” quickly after spinning fast. We’ll cover spin theory, pathways, create more efficient spins, maintain them for longer and control them. Deconstruct the mechanics of a fast spin, avoid orbiting when starting them, and how different spinning dynamics will influence choreography and vice versa
Prerequisites: This workshop is designed for aerialists with a good spin tolerance and experience working with spinning. The session includes a variety of off-apparatus exercises to help you gain better control over your spins. We won’t be spinning for the full 1.5 hours, and you are welcome to sit out and take notes and/or videos at any time.
Back Bone
This 90min workshop is designed for aerialists eager to explore new ways of moving on the dance trapeze. In this class, we'll move beyond the traditional "pretty" poses and focus on creating fluid movement in the air using unique choreography. Students will dive into the importance of intentionality, discovering how different approaches to the same positions can drastically shift the way they read to an audience. The session’s emphasis will be on movement efficiency, allowing you to conserve energy while enhancing your expression.
What you will gain:
Techniques for fluidity and ease on trapeze
Insight into how intention alters the audience’s experience
Confidence and tools to create your own choreography
Prerequisites: Intermediate aerialists. Must be comfortable inverting in the ropes and have good endurance.
Catch Me If You Can
In this workshop, we’ll cover all the ways to enter and exit the catcher position on dance trapeze — from dynamic movements to sneaky entries. You’ll learn how to use catchers as a building block for creating unique and authentic sequences.
We’ll cover:
- Drills for strength, timing, and technique
- How to seamlessly transition into other moves
- Safe experimentation with different variations
By the end, you’ll have greater confidence in incorporating catchers into your choreography and aerial practice.
Prerequisites: Intermediate aerialists. Must be comfortable inverting and have a solid grasp of basics on dance trapeze.
Sam Wilder, they/them
Slanted Pole - Exploring Under the Bar Skills on Slant
Slanted pole is a unique apparatus that combines techniques from Chinese pole, dance pole, trapeze, and wire. Pole and trapeze are exceptionally different apparatus, but when you put a pole at a 45 degree slant, skills become much more transferable. In this workshop we will explore which trapeze and bar skills fit (or don’t) on a slanted pole. Bring your favorite under the bar trapeze skills and sequences and we will see if they can translate to slanted pole. Students need to bring layers including a long sleeve shirt or sleeves, and leggings or stretchy jeans. The need for skin coverage varies for each skill and each individual's personal preferences.
Prerequisites: Intermediate students to professional artists welcome. Feeling confident in pull overs and front and back balance will allow for more exploration.