Kristi Alyssa (she/her), has been a circus artist for 16 years. She ran away with the circus and never looked back by joining the Gamma Phi Circus at Illinois State University. She later went on to graduate from NECCA (2012) and Aloft Circus Arts (2015) professional training programs.  She specializes in lyra and is a highly in-demand instructor and choreographer in the Chicagoland area. She is the Director of the Youth Program, Manager of the Professional Training Program an instructor, performer and photographer at Aloft Circus Arts. She also performs and teaches trapeze, lolipop (plyra), silks, spanish web, flexibility, juggling, pole, handbalancing, diabolo and more. She directed "Somewhere Out There" (May 2023, Aloft Circus Arts) and is thrilled to be directing her first professional show under her company Reminiscent Circus - "Way Home". She is honored to have the cast of "Way Home" be made up of talented artists from many facets of her career - her fellow professionals, her adult students, two recent graduates of the Aloft Professional Training Program that she manages and student members of her Aloft Youth Ensemble. 

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Kristi has a masters degree in clinical mental health/school counseling. Alongside her circus career, she is a photographer. She enjoys film acting, traveling, learning stage lighting, her cats and Taylor Swift. 

Chloe Zabicki is an aerialist who specializes in trapeze, lyra, and silks. Her exploration of space and movement is joyful. Chloe began her artistic career by studying ballet and ballroom dancing as a child, and throughout high school and college. She was a member of Smith College’s synchronized swim team where she performed and choreographed routines. Chloe began training circus in Chicago with a focus on static trapeze, single point trapeze, and pogo jumping. She has worked with a variety of coaches who have helped her to develop her technique and aesthetic.

Lucas Greeff (ze/he/they) is a dancer, choreographer, and circus artist whose work focuses on expanding the scope of queer & neurodivergent performance, engaging inherent energies, and challenging physical extremity through movement experiment. Luke's past choreographic works include (Z)im, Missile Kid, Bo(ix)y(e) Division, Carnal Inferno, Spectrum, and the Trapping Butterflies Project (artists against domestic violence). Former dancer for St. Petersburg Ballet Company and Joel Hall Dancers; Luke’s ongoing artistic affiliations include Yes Ma’am Circus, Reminiscent Circus, Lucid Banter Project, Synapse Arts, Kenwood School of Ballet, Aloft Circus Arts, and Thwack Dance. Recipient of the 2023 Twisted Windows LGBTQIA+ Artist Award presented by the Chicago Circus & Performing Arts Festival, Luke is the co-founder and co-director of Such Creatures and leads movement practices tailored for queer and neurodivergent movers.

Martha Bayne is a writer, editor, organizer, and amateur aerialist based in Chicago. The editor of three acclaimed anthologies of writing about Chicago and the Midwest, she is currently the senior acquisitions editor for regional trade books at the University of Illinois Press, and her reported work and essays have been published widely in local and national outlets. A member of Theater Oobleck's artistic ensemble, she has created work for solo and group performance, and was a recipient of a 2017 National Endowment for the Arts grant for the immersive haunted house project A Memory Palace of Fear. She has helped produce many original works of theater in Chicago and New York City, most recently the revival of Mickle Maher's The Hunchback Variations and the cantastoria cycle Baudelaire in a Box. A member of the Aloft community since 2013, she currently studies lyra with Kristi Alyssa and is excited to be part of the creative team for Way Home.

Having worn many a hat in many a place, Benjy is an aerialist, juggler, and general circus thing hailing from Chicago, IL. After a dizzying dive into the circus world in his late teens, Benjy became a founding instructor and performer with Defy Gravity Pole Fitness and Aerial Arts Studio in Champaign, IL. He traipsed across the country to continue his training in Seattle, WA and New York City before landing back in Chicago. A technically trained circus artist, he is most interested in creating fantasy narratives and making outlandish, queer art; which is to say he spends a lot of time crawling around like a nightmare lizard or frolicking in the air hoping he sprouts wings. Just kidding, he’d prefer a tail. Benjy specializes in aerial silks, aerial sling, and juggling, with proficiency in pole dance, duo trapeze, and aerial hoop.

As well as performing, Benjy has a BA in Global Studies from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and has spent the last few years bartending and serving. When he’s not in the air you can usually find him with his head in a book, meandering through a dark corner of his imagination, or exploring a new part of whatever city he happens to be in at the time.

Camille Swift (Femme Fénix) is a Chicago-based circus artist, specializing in static trapeze, dance trapeze, and aerial sling, with extensive training in traditional arts (ballet, piano, oil painting) and a few less conventional ones (breakdancing, Japanese swordsmanship). Her passion is creating acts that are highly skilled yet imaginative, expressive and visually striking. She speaks fluent French and has traveled to Paris and Montreal to train and develop her acts. Camille is also a visual artist, focusing in figurative oil painting, book arts, and collage. She has performed in AirOtic Soirée with Les Farfadais, CREACTIVE by Cirque du Soleil at Club Med Opio-en-Provence as well as performed multiple times at the Seattle Moisture Festival and various shows and cabarets across the Midwest. When not performing or creating, she works as a professional aerial coach, training her students in dynamic movement, efficient technique, building strength, flexibility and aerial awareness. 

Courtney began her circus career 6-years ago (at the age of 40) with a silks class at Aloft Circus Arts.  She would watch the Lyra class practicing across the room and thought that class looks like something I’d like.  She began taking Lyra the next session and immediately knew she found her apparatus.  

Over the years she’s taken silks, rope and sling but lyra remains her passion.  She specializes in dynamic tricks and likes to translate fabric tricks to the lyra.  

Courtney trains under Kristi Alyssa and has performed in a number of amateur shows.  Way Home is her first professional performance.  

In her non-circus life she has a passion for fitness and is certified to teach group exercise classes such as Spinning, Insanity, Turbokick and more.  She also trained as an amateur boxer and has a mean left hook.  She works full time as the Director of Partner Integrations for a multifamily housing software company.  

Daisy Coleman is honored to be a teacher at Aloft Circus Arts and is completing her final year as a co-youth leader in the Aloft Youth Ensemble. While she specializes in silks, she also trains in trampoline and teeterboard (CCDC); handstands (Aloft); straps (MSA); and dance (Visceral). She has completed summer training intensives: San Diego Circus Center's Master Youth Intensive, NECCA's Performance Boot Camp, and Aloft Circus Arts's Jolt program. Daisy is very excited to be a principal cast member of Way Home.

​Nick Grischow (he/him) is a Chicago-based circus and theatre artist. While specializing in static trapeze and hat juggling, that doesn’t stop him from picking up any apparatus he can lay his hands on! By taking skills from different disciplines, he creates stories reflecting human nature without relying solely on spoken word. Nick is a graduate of Actors Gymnasium’s professional circus training program with a clown concentration. He has received his BFA in theatre performance from UW-Whitewater, and is a certified personal trainer through NASM. He has also received training in various martial arts and dance. Nick works events as a performer through Actors Gymnasium Entertainment and NewMoon Chicago.

Eleana just graduated high school and has been part of the Aloft Youth Ensemble for 3 years. She was a student leader in the ensemble and mainly does trapeze and lyra. Outside of circus she plans to major in Biology and she loves to read. 

Laila Ruangpan (b.  Bangkok, Thailand) is an American based multi-disciplinary artist.
Laila’s journey in aerial arts began in 2015, she now dedicates herself to silks and sling. She currently coaches fabric at Aloft Circus Arts, and Frankfort Circus Center. Her style highlights dramatic expression melded with athleticism. She loves to explore eccentric movement punctuated by stillness and her unique style and choreographic flair manifests in confident live performances.

With a strong passion for learning, sharing her knowledge, and fitness, Laila also practices Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, is a barre instructor at Barre3, and a piano teacher at her own piano studio. Additionally, she is a keyboard player for a metal rock band, 7th Symphonic. 

Laila can also be spotted on stage performing with The Galaxie Chicago, and in various random creative performance endeavors.

​Lyla Taraska is seventeen years old and has been a member of the Aloft Youth Ensemble for the past three years. After discovering classes at Aloft Circus Arts, she quickly developed a passion for circus and aerial arts. Lyla continues to develop her technique with a focus on lyra, single point trapeze, and spanish web.

Noa is a seventh-grader who has been doing circus for three years and is a member of the Aloft Youth Ensemble. She specializes in lyra and trapeze. She is excited to be part of Aloft Circus Arts’ performances.

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Taylor Fost (she/they) is 18 years old; She has been a circus artist for 11 years, with a specialty in lyra and aerial arts. She has been able to learn in all areas of the circus arts such as tumbling, object manipulation, hand balancing, and more throughout her circus career.

Taylor has a large background in traditional arts (musical theater, dance, visual art, piano, voice) which she focused on at Interlochen Center for the Arts, as well as years of learning the martial art Tae Kwon Do at Connelly’s Academy. She loves to use her experiences within the performing arts to explore the characters she creates on stage, and in the air, today.

Taylor joined the Aloft Circus Arts community in the fall of 2022 and recently joined the Aloft Youth Ensemble this past fall. She can’t wait to continue her circus career after her high school graduation this upcoming spring, as well as the continuing creation of Way Home.

Valeria Rosero (she/her) is an Ecuadorian-born, Chicago-based circus, dance, and theatre artist who is proud to call Aloft one of her artistic homes. She began her circus journey in 2020 at the Actors Gymnasium, and joined their Professional Circus Training Program the year after, where she created her silks piece “Bound.” Valeria then joined the Aloft Professional Training Program Year One, which culminated with the show Terra in 2023, and where she showcased her first cloud swing act “Broken Bridge.” Valeria uses performing arts as language for storytelling that is universal and inclusive; where spoken language isn’t a barrier, but a tool to be used as desired. She graduated from Northwestern University as a Theatre major with a BA in Communication, and holds a Certificate in Spanish Diction and Vocalization, Radio Script Writing, and Voiceover from the Tecnológico Espíritu Santo in Guayaquil, Ecuador. When she's not on stage, Valeria loves painting, drawing, and learning about interior design. She also works events as a performer through New Moon and Actors Gym Entertainment. Valeria is proudly represented by Shirley Hamilton Talent Agency.

Raven is an artist who has always followed their impulse to create. Beginning as a poet and expanding into the world of circus arts in 2016, Raven has brought their unique mix of language and creative movement to international audiences in Cyprus, Spain, and Austria.

Primarily a contortionist, Raven's work embodies queer experience as they explore the limits of possibility. In their hands, circus is a somatic experience and contortion is a language that allows for new levels of expression. Whether on the ground or in the air, they move in a way that is both fluid and unearthly to create something that can only be described as poetry in motion.