Carolina Circus Festival will be Sept 14th, 2024 at the Downtown Cary Park!
2023 virtual festival
Check out our 2023 line up!
Our 2023 Virtual Festival is here! Even though we had to cancel the in person festival due to a storm we wanted to share everyone's amazing acts with you!
Throughout October we will be sharing new videos here, on our youtube channel, on instagram and Facebook! Check back each day to see more!
If you love them, consider leaving a donation on our donation page, or sharing them with your friends! This will help us get back up and running in person for next year in the brand new park!
*We do not own the rights to the music in these videos*
2023 Videos
Gabe Menzo - Loops
Our first performer to feature our great line up of performers that were supposed to perform at our festival this year is the talented Gabe Menzo! Gabe is apart of the Pura Vida Studio performance troupe and was supposed to perform this piece in the Pura Vida show this year at Carolina Circus Festival!
Gabe has been training aerials for 4 years and loves featuring his strength and flexibility on loops. His piece is about the final ending of a villain in a fairytale. His character is powerful at the beginning but at the end his character is defeated.
Performer: Gabe Menzo
Song: Died in your arms
Videography by: Menzo family
Performer at: Pura Vida Studio
Ashleigh Miles - Lyra
Next aerial performer to feature is Ashleigh Miles! Ashleigh is apart of the Pura Vida Studio performance troupe and was supposed to perform this piece in the Pura Vida show this year at Carolina Circus Festival!
Ashleigh has been training aerials since 2019 and chose lyra as her favorite apparatus to perform in CCF for the first time ever! She is performing to Icarus because it is a Greek myth about a boy who is overwhelmed with excitement and flew too close to the sun, leading to his demise. Her piece is beautifully telling this story in her aerial hoop.
Performer: Ashleigh Miles
Song: Icarus by Bastille
Videography by: Cambria Hunter
Performer at: Pura Vida Studio
Chanel Pereira - Fire Dance
Our next performance is by Chanel Pereira doing an amazing Fire routine! 🔥 Chanel started aerials 5 years ago and recently got into fire arts last year. This is her first performance with fire and she looks forward to continuing growing and learning more in the fire flow arts! We hope you enjoy this wonderful fire 🔥 piece! 🔥
Performer: Chanel Pereira
Song: Darkside by Neoni
Lisa Gangarosa - Sling
Next aerial performer to feature is Lisa Gangarosa! She is apart of the Pura Vida Studio performance troupe and was supposed to perform this piece in the Pura Vida show this year at Carolina Circus Festival! Lisa has been training aerials since 2010 and chose sling as her favorite apparatus to perform in CCF for the second year in a row!
Lisa enjoyed the Game of Thrones books and series. It has many strong women characters. So her piece is her portraying a member of House Targaryen flying with her dragon.
Performer: Lisa Gangarosa
Videography by: Cambria Sinkez
Performer at: Pura Vida Studio
JesiLyn - Fire Dance
Next up is JesiLyn with a fire performance!
JesiLyn was born in Charlotte, NC and although she moved away as a child,came back once when grew up because of her love for the big city life! She has loved performing since a young age, starting out in cheerleading and some gymnastics through college. After finishing school and starting adult life, she still desired to be active again and eventually fell in love with Olympic weightlifting in becoming a nationally ranked athlete. JesiLyn discovered the aerial arts in 2015 when she was looking to add some fun accessory work to her training, and quickly fell in love with the art of aerial performance. She lovescreating character based aerial acts and eventually started working with a private acting coach. JesiLyn fell in love with acting and continues to work with her acting coach to continue to develop her abilities.
She also loves to play with fire! Her spirit animal is the phoenix and connects to her inner phoenix while performing with fire. She has a calling towards artistic work that personifies the dark, sensual and mysterious.
Performer: Jesi Lyn
Song: “Invocation of Lilith”
Lea Geddie - Mini Lyra
Next aerial performer to feature is Lea Geddie! She is apart of the Pura Vida performance troupe and teaches at Pura Vida Studio!
Lea has been training aerials since for 7 years and chose mini-lyra to perform in CCF as it’s her newest apparatus she’s been exploring on! Lea is portraying an angstier take on Dorothy from Wizard of Oz, but turned up by 11.
Performer: Lea Geddie
Videography by: Cambria Sinkez
Performer at: Pura Vida Studio
Annie Cunningham - Silks
Up next is Annie Cunningham performing on silks! Annie has been practicing silks for 8 years. She goes to school in Wilmington, NC and currently trains with Cape Fear Circus Arts.
Annie got hurt and wasn’t able to film a more recent performance video, but please enjoy this video she took from practice a few months back at @puravidastudionc !
Performer: Annie Cunningham
Song: Bejeweled by Taylor Swift
Carolina Quiros - Harness Dance
Our next performer is Carolina Quiros performing an aerial harness dance piece!
Carolina is a dancer that discovered the world of aerials about 10 years ago. Recently she started to play with the connection of ground work and aerials, and she found joy on Harness Dance.
This piece is about all the good things in life that we are happy about and the new adventures to come.
Performer: Carolina Quiros
Song: Pixies by TIN
Sarah - Silks
Our next performer is Sarah!
Sarah has been training on aerial silks for 6 years, starting in Chicago at The Actor's Gymnasium and Aloft Circus Arts. She made Upside Aerial her home when she moved to the Triangle last year. This is her first piece choreographed for performance!
Performer: Sarah
Performer at: Upside Aerial Arts and Fitness
Song: There is a Ghost by Fleurie
Gemma Weinberger - Rope
Our next aerial performer to feature is Gemma Weinberger! She is apart of the Pura Vida Studio performance troupe and currently pursuing the Pura Vida Level 1 silks teacher training!
Gemma has been performing for almost 4 years. She dabbles in all apparatuses but has felt rope is one of her favorites to perform on. She loves it because not many perform on rope in the area! Gemma decided to be Cruella de Vil as her character for her CCF piece.
Performer: Gemma Weinberger
Videography by: Cambria Sinkez
Performer at: Pura Vida Studio
Jackie Shaffer- Hand balancing
Up next we have Jackie Shaffer performing a hand balancing routine! Jackie has been practicing handbalancing at Enso Movement since January of 2020. This is only her second time performing (her first being last year's festival!).
Although Jackie's primary focus is handbalancing, she has also been exploring learning acrobatic and dance elements to intertwine with her handstands.She also enjoys doing elevated handstands on her canes since they provide a different presentation compared to doing handstands on the ground.
Performer: Jackie Shaffer
Performer at: Enso Movement
Song: "I am My Own Muse" by Fall Out Boy
Laura Townsend - Silks
Our next aerial performer to feature is Laura Townsend! She is apart of the Pura Vida Studio performance troupe and teaches for Pura Vida! Laura has been training for 9 years and loves the endless possibilities and shapes that she can discover in silks. In her piece she’s portraying a dragon!
Performer: Laura Townsend
Videography by: Cambria Sinkez
Performer at: Pura Vida Studio
Heather Stafford - Silks
Our next aerial performer is Heather Stafford on the silks! Heather has been training on aerial silk for four years.
For this performance, she will be embodying a sprite who is selfishly wreaking havoc in a couple's relationship for her own entertainment and pleasure. The Fae have long been known to be mischievous and unpredictable magical creatures, with long lives and fickle natures. She is not evil per se, just playful and mischievous. But like the rest of her kind, she is completely unconcerned about how her actions are impacting the humans around her. Therefore, one would do well to steer clear of her and her kind, or you may find that you too will need to start sleeping with one eye open...
Performer: Heather Stafford
Song: One Eye Open by Lola Blanc
Videographer: Neil Stafford
Performer at: Upside Aerial Arts and Fitness
Audrey Stafford - Silks
Our next aerial performer is Audrey Stafford on the silks! Audrey has been doing aerial silks for about three years now, which has been a great experience.
Audrey has also been a competitive gymnast for the last three and a half years and the strength and flexibility she has gained through gymnastics has been very helpful, but she especially likes that she can express herself artistically through aerial silks! She will be performing to Feeling Good by Escala. For this piece, she is a wind spirit and the choreography was made to represent the ebb and flow of the wind. Audrey had a lot of fun creating this and she hopes that you enjoy it!
Performer: Audrey Stafford
Song: Feeling Good by Escala
Videographer: Neil Stafford
Performer at: Upside Aerial Arts and Fitness
Pura Vida Teen Trio - Silks Trio
Our next aerial performers to feature are Gabe Menzo, Brooke Murgitroyd, and Gemma Weinberger! They are the teen trio a part of the Pura Vida Studio performance troupe!
In this piece they are portraying Hercules and the beautiful goddesses!
Performers: Gabe Menzo, Brooke Murgitroyd, Gemma Weinberger Videography by: Cambria Sinkez
Performers at: Pura Vida Studio
Joy Li & VIctoria D'Agostino - Straps Duo
Our next aerial performers are Victoria D’Agostino and Joy Li! This dynamic best friend roommate duo is apart of the Pura Vidas Sudio performance troupe! They are channeling Peter Pan and Tinker Bell in this piece spreading joy and a little pixie dust✨
Performers: Victoria D’Agostino and Joy Li
Videography by: Cambria Sinkez
Performers at: Pura Vida Studio
Emily Trotta - Sling
Our next pro performer to feature is Emily Trotta! She teaches sling and silks for all ages at Pura Vida Studio! Emily has been training for 7 years and teaching for 5 years. She loves the creativity that aerial gets to bring out of her in performances and in teaching!
Performer: Emily Trotta
Performer at: Pura Vida Studio
Carlie Huberman - Fire and LED Dancing
Our next pro performer is Carlie Huberman performing LED and Fire dancing! Carlie is one of the co-founders and is the Executive Director of the Carolina Circus Festival. She has been doing aerial acrobatics for over 20 years and is an instructor at Pura Vida Studio but this year decided to showcase her Fire and LED skills.
Carlie has been doing fire dancing for over a decade and loves when she gets the opportunity to perform with fire. Carlie is also the owner of Elite Arts Physical Therapy one of the Gold Sponsors of CCF. We hope you enjoy this video compilation of Fire Fans, Palm Torches and LED Fans filmed by Nora Zubizarreta!
Performer: Carlie Huberman
Videographer: Nora Zubizarreta
Song: "Alone" by Marshmello
Performer/Instructor at: Pura Vida Studio
Alicia Calderwood - Sling
Our last pro performer is Alicia Calderwood performing aerial sling! Alicia is one of the co-founders and is the President/Artistic Director of Carolina Circus Festival. She has been doing aerial acrobatics for over 10 years and also is the owner of Pura Vida Studio!
In this video Alicia was 4 months pregnant and is now still teaching and training aerials at 6 months pregnant! She has been modifying each week of her pregnancy and has still been able to safely train throughout her journey. She wants to remind the community that she is doing lots work to check in and work with her body and baby to keep them safe throughout this experience. She hopes to inspire others in the community to keep safely moving and doing what you love in your movement journey while pregnant or through big transitions if your body allow for it✨
Performer: Alicia Calderwood
Owner/Performer/Instructor at: @puravidastudionc
want to see more?
Want to see more? Check out our 2021 and 2020 virtual shows!
See more amazing acts from last year's show!
Site Photography by: Rob Miracle Image, Image That Photography, Natasha Johnson Photography, and Paul Cory Photography
Event sponsored by VAE Raleigh & the Town of Cary