Tricia is an aerialist and instructor who expresses her passion, strength, and musicality through movement primarily on aerial silks, straps, and sling. She is forever a student herself, learning new methodologies for teaching and new skills to be taught. She began her aerial training in 2014 and has been coaching circus since 2016. More info at music-in-the-air.com.

Alfy serves the very important position at Monarca in Flight of providing emotional support to all of the hard-working aerialists. Through his enthusiastic greetings and whole-hearted acceptance of pets and cuddles, he makes everyone feel welcome to our community. Alfy has recently begun his circus journey by training to jump over poles and through a hoop.

Michelle is a lyra, sling and conditioning coach at Monarca, who started her aerial journey in 2016 at Still and Moving Center in Hawaii. She moved to Northern Virginia in 2017 and continued training here at Monarca. She has an extensive background in Olympic Weightlifting and Powerlifting and loves to translate that strength into the air!

Alex has been an aerialist for nearly 14 years and has been teaching since 2018 with her primary apparatus as silks. Her passion in fabrics is exploring and discovering new pathways and sequences to delight her students! While she has a background in competitive dance, her true passion is finding all of the twisty, complicated tricks and perfecting those transitions into unique choreography.

Hilary Eckberg has studied aerial silks since 2011 and rope since 2015, and she has taught both silks and rope since 2016. She began her training at TSNY-DC and various studios in Northern Virginia, but she has also trained at studios wherever her day job in the aviation industry has taken her. At last count, Hilary has visited and trained at nearly three dozen aerial studios or trapeze rigs in the US and Mexico, which has given her a wide range of experiences and exposure to a variety of teaching styles.

Charlie is a professional juggler who started their circus journey at 11 years old. After aging out of his circus program at 15 he continued with that program as a teacher and has since gone on to teach at various circus schools, camps, and even at the Maryland renaissance festival over the past 11 years. Thanks to the support from his coaches growing up he has developed a deep care for skill development, accessibility, and communication towards students interested in juggling in both a casual or disciplined setting.

Gwynne is a DC-based aerial performer with over 15 years of experience. She has trained in NYC, NECCA, Montreal and also holds an MFA in Acting from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. Gwynne is a founding member of Girls on Trapeze, Forever Marzipan, and Duo K+G. You can find out more about her at gwynnewithwings.com

Cyndi started her circus journey in 2013 when accompanying her kids to their classes. While her kids have since replaced circus for other interests (like makeup and cars), Cyndi has continued to see her own passion for the circus arts grow. Her journey over the years has come to land on twisting her body in different ways to wrap around hard apparatuses. Her current obsessions are finding similar body shapes in different planes, in the air and on the ground, and enjoying the nuances of muscular engagements.

Cyndi has a background in nursing and art history, and is a certified health coach. She enjoys rolling around on the floor, listening to audiobooks at 2x speed, drinking caffeine, stealing midday naps, snuggling with other people’s dogs until she gets her own, and spending time with her family.

Cora is a coach who believes circus arts are truly for everybody. She specializes in meeting where you’re at and working toward your goals together. Cora started aerial arts with aerial silks in 2015 in the Northern Virginia area. An avid traveler, Cora seeks studios wherever she goes and has trained in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, California, Scotland, Greece, Mexico, and Russia. Cora received her Level One Silks Teacher Training Certification from Paper Doll Militia in 2022 and is currently coaching Aerial Silks and Flexibility at several studios in the greater DC/MD/VA area. Cora’s speciality is aerial silks, but she also dabbles in sling and lyra and is available for private lessons in silks, sling, lyra and flexibility. She is currently pursuing a certification in assisted stretching and flexibility coaching from the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM). Photo credit: Christina Alexandra.

Rachel Hipszer is a professional performer and coach currently living in D.C. After college, she was accepted into the New England Center for Circus Arts professional training program where she studied hand-balancing and aerial silks. Rachel currently teaches handbalancing, flexibility, aerial silks, and handstands. Rachel has performed across the U.S. for 15 years for companies such as the Boston Circus Guild, the Washington Commanders, Hallmark's Enchant, Nimble Arts, Troy Wunderle, Bindlestiff Cirkus, Skylark, Caroline Calouche and Co., and many others.

Sarah Hluchan fell in love with circus via flying trapeze over a decade ago and has been training aerials, focusing on lyra since 2012. She completed Lyra Teacher Training with Paper Doll Militia in 2019 and began sharing her love of lyra with students. She spent autumn of 2020 at Sweet Retreats in Puerto Escondido, Mexico, participating in an aerial residency, focusing on lyra, artistry, and silks. She has traveled around the US and abroad furthering her circus education. Sarah’s practice thrives on exploring dynamic progressions, finding unique movements and shapes, and using apparatus as a tool for storytelling. She aspires to help her students build a practice that works for them and their bodies and helps them find their aerial superpowers.

Rachel (she/her) has been part of the Monarca community since 2020.  She primarily trains in sling, but also enjoys silks, handstands, and partner acro!  Her other passion is teaching young children. She has a Master's in Early Childhood Special Ed, and has been professionally educating and caring for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers since 2009. Teaching the Caretaker & Me classes at Monarca is the perfect way to merge her love of young children with her love of movement, play, and circus!

Samantha Dean is an aerialist and dancer who loves connecting to her audience and telling stories through movement. She is returning to Monarca after three years living in Frankfurt, Germany and is excited to get back in touch with the NOVA circus community. Samantha’s love of performing began early on in her childhood while training in every form of dance she could find. In 2015, she first discovered aerial hoop, thinking it would be a fun way to keep in shape while dealing with the daily grind of life in Washington, DC. A few years later, she decided to make aerial a larger part of her life by trying out new apparatuses, becoming a lyra instructor and started seeking out new training and performance opportunities. She has trained throughout the United States and Europe, including attending a variety of aerial festivals, and performed in stage shows, immersive theatre productions, nightclubs, corporate events, and private celebrations.

Hilary is an aerialist and a dancer with over 9 years of experience in the air and 15 years of experience in floor-based movement. They trained primarily in modern and contemporary movement styles in their early dance career, but their personal movement practice also draws influence from martial arts, pole dancing, and handbalancing and continues to evolve day by day. His primary focus in circus is on silks, lyra, handbalancing, and bridging the gap between floor and sky, but she likes to dabble with whatever catches his interest.

Jessica is a lawyer by training, but an aerialist at heart.  She has over ten years of aerial experience and is thrilled to be teaching rope (her favorite apparatus) at Monarca.  Jessica previously taught rope, silks, and aerial conditioning at Circus Culture in Ithaca, NY and has trained at studios across the country.  When not in the office or on a rope, she can be found riding her bicycles in and around DC, or at home furiously trying to finish her library books before their due date.

Danielle O’Donnol is a mathematics professor. She found her passion for aerial arts after starting her career in math. She has trained at National Centre for Circus Arts (formerly Circus Space) in London and Asabela Studio in Bloomington, IN. Danielle has focused on static trapeze, but also explored Lyra, dance trapeze, rope, German Wheel, silks and sling. She started performing three years before moving to Arlington.

Adele has been a part of the circus community for most of their life, starting at Stone Soup Circus in 2009 and since teaching/training at Trenton Circus Squad and The Circus Place before moving to DC and finding Monarca. Throughout this time Adele’s passion for circus has only grown, though they specialize in aerial rope and silks, they have also taught and performed sling, lyra, trapeze, unicycle, juggling, hula hoop, partner acro, and more! When they aren’t doing circus, Adele’s head is probably stuck in a book (or a scientific journal) as their other passion is sociology, which they are currently studying at George Washington University.

While working full-time as a government drone, Hannah has also been studying circus arts for 13 years. An interdisciplinary learner and thinker, she has studied and performed on flying trapeze, static trapeze, doubles trapeze and aerial straps, with forays of varying intensity into lyra, fabric, rope and even cyr wheel. She is excited to share her love for the classic circus discipline of static trapeze with the Monarca community.

Lizzy is a circus coach and performer who works with multiple aerial apparatuses as well as aerial acrobatics and flying trapeze. She has worked at many circus schools and shows across the US, as well as internationally, but has recently adopted the DC area as home base. She has over 18 years of experience in the circus industry, and is also a personal trainer and nutrition coach, with a concentration in strength and conditioning and group fitness. Lizzy has a deep love for movement and live entertainment. She endeavors to support her students though helping them find growth in their physical capacity, technical skill, and artistic expression.