Thanks to everyone who came out and joined us
​for our 4th Annual
​Regional ​Circus Festival
held Sun. Feb. 23rd, 2020!

Next year's Festival will be held
February 2021
​Stay tuned for exact date!
So many amazing Workshops with so many amazing Coaches!

 
​​"I would love to have this experience again. It was amazing and very exciting to learn something new!" -KR

"It reminded me that there are so many fun, new things to learn and try. I enjoyed the Instructors' skill and enthusiasm.  -MJ

"I had tons of fun!" -JB
​

Sample of Workshops that will be offered in 2021 below

COACHING STAFF for 2020 Festival

Nicole Sirdoreus
Aerial Tissue & Lyra
​Nicole was one of those amazing toddlers who started dancing as soon as she was upright. She studied ballet, tap, jazz and flexibility, and went onto years of dance, which also included a stint with the Bolshoi Ballet.
Later, she discovered aerial arts and was immediately hooked. She began performing throughout the Southeast, including the Circo Espectacular de Mexico, where she was part of a duo hoop in 2016.
Nicole is medaled as well, having won the 2014
Southeast Aerial Art Competition and the 2017 Florida Pole Fitness Championship, both in lyra.
Currently, she teaches Aerial Arts at Anti Gravity in Orlando, FL. and continues professional appearances across the region.
We’re so lucky she had a day off to join us this year and share her expertise in Aerial Arts!

Amanda Renaud
Stiltwalking 
 Amanda made her grand stage debut with the 1965 Academy Award winning Rogers and Hammerstein classic, "So Long, Farewell,” in her three year old ballet recital and has been looking for excuses to perform in front of audiences ever since.
Dance, renaissance festivals, and theatre productions filled her childhood(once all of her homework was done, of course).
After acquiring her master’s degree in education and producing 30 shows per week for a captive audience of public school teenagers, she realized that there had to be something out there that would get more cheers
than theoretical geometry.
In pursuit of the elusive standing ovation, she has fire danced in the Bahamas, sword fought all over the state of Florida, mermaided in Michigan, and masqueraded as every bit Shakespeare role left vacant after casting.
She sewed endless costumes and even directed a couple of original shows before Lily reached out the hand of partnership and the Topsy Turvy Show was born.
Now, Amanda’s lifetime of festival experience and arsenal of stupid human tricks have a focused direction until she is too broken (or broke) to continue and will return once again to being responsible for the education and betterment of your impressionable youth.

Lianna Ashton
Hula Hoops & Foot Juggling
Lianna grew up singing and doing 'Risley', where her dad, Michael Ashton, juggled her and her brother Miles on his feet starting when they were only 2 years old. At 3, she made her debut at Busch Gardens where she joined the act, the family tradition of Risley.  She would soon go on to Circus Circus in Las Vegas and when only nine years old was offered center ring on Ringling Bros. Barnum & Baileys Greatest Show On Earth Tour. Growing up and traveling worldwide, as The Amazing Ashtons, she began to develop her own hula hoop show. That coupled with singing with her father in his nightclub act, they wouldn't stay under the radar long. Soon, they would go on to appear on such shows as David Letterman, Jay Leno, The Steve Harvey Show, Regis and Kathy Lee, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Body Expo, Voted NBA top halftime act, and numerous benefits for the Kennedy family and their foundations. The crowning achievement for all these accomplishments for Lianna was in 2001 when she and her family, The Ashtons, were inducted into The Circus Ring Of  Fame in Sarasota, Florida.
Lianna now resides in Clearwater, FL, teaching at Dance & Circus Arts and continuing her performing career. Many of you may have seen her the last 2 summers at Busch Gardens Summer Nights performing her hula hoop dancing!

Marina Petrano
Intro Aerial Hoop &
Handbalancing/Acro
Marina is a contortionist, actor, and aerialist. Her job as  actorbat has thrilled audiences from Key West to Kuwait with her zany onstage personality. Marina began her journey to the stage when she joined a weapons performance ensemble at 13 years old. After graduating The New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts in 2010 she was introduced to circus by being cast in a production of Carnival. When the production ended Marina began studying at the New England Center For Circus Arts. She graduated NECCA in 2013 and has been on the road full time ever since performing for The Avenues Kuwait, M. Night Shyamalan Foundation, Victoria Buskerfest, Dundas Buskerfest, Greenies, Bush Gardens, Boston Circus Guild, Hendricks Gin, Aerial Angels, countless festivals, and many more! Marina has also coached nation-wide at thespian festivals, art schools, dance programs, circus schools and over 20 full sized productions coast to coast with Starfish Circus, an outreach circus program. But mostly, Marina aims to turn the world upside down, inside out, and tangled with laughter! 

Katie Skiba
Aerial Hammock/Sling
Katie is the Founder of Cirque Athetics in Melbourne, FL. Her school focuses on aerial arts, flexibility and strength training. Her initial aerial training began in Clearwater, FL with Dance & Circus Arts of Tampa Bay, along with her flexibility/contortion training with Catie Brier. Since then, she has traveled far and wide to further her knowledge and skills to pass along to her students. She has the cutest giggle and amazingly warm personality that is quite infectious and fun in class!
Tiele Rasmussen
Juggling & Utter Silliness
Tiele comes to us from the Land of Brazil, where she was Queen of the Amazon.
Give her a ball, a juggling club or an umbrella, she will be quite entertaining for hours. She comes with a whole bag of stuff to juggle, so let the fun begin!

Aaron Tremper
Cyr Wheel & German Wheel
Aaron is Co-founder of Movement Sanctuary in St, Pete, FL. He has a massive amount of ground skills, all relating to dare-devil acro style trickery, hence, the name "Acro Dude". If it can be jumped on, rolled around on, balanced precariously on, he is all over it.
He brings new perspectives to Cyr Wheel and German Wheel with his continuous training with international professionals.
​This is a great opportunity to learn with Aaron and these new equipments!

Maria Andersen
Ground based Aerial Hoop
​The "Weggsphere"
Maria hails from the Tampa Bay area,
bringing art to high school students by day, and running away to the circus by night. She is trained in Trapeze, Aerial silks, Hoop, Spanish web and Hammock. Maria is a coach at Dance & Circus Arts and also a professional troupe member of Moving Arts of Tampa Bay. You can see her perform on the weekends at Casa Tina's Mexican Restaurant in Dunedin, or at a fancy corporate event in a spectacular custom costume!
Katarina Danks
Flexibility/Contortion
Katarina Danks is a dancer, educator, coach/trainer and world-class performer trained in contortion, jazz and contemporary dance. Her performances are nothing short of eye-popping. Blending an artistic mix of body-bending contortion skills (she’s accomplished in Mongolian, European and contemporary contortion) with jazz and contemporary dance choreography and stage presence, Kat creates unique shapes in elegant inverted ways. She has appeared at numerous venues throughout Southwest Florida, including Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre (with Circus Transformus), Art Walks the Runway Fashion Show at the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center and at the Fort Myers Film Festival’s T.G.I.M. screenings.
During her five-week tour of venues throughout Germany and Australia, she performed at well-attended variety shows produced by Ska Von Schoning’s Showbiz Productions, which now hosts contortion conventions and competitions in Las Vegas and other locations in the United States.
Since turning professional, Kat has won numerous awards in various recreational and professional competitions for performance, technique, stage presence, choreography, and the difficulty of her routines. She has performed for Showbiz Productions, National Geographic, Royal Hanneford Circus, International Contortion Convention, and Que Noche for Telemundo.

Location

Dance & Circus Arts of Tampa Bay
1490 N. Belcher Rd, Suite H
Clearwater, FL 33765
​727-461-0098

Clearwater is a beautiful place to bring the family for a mini vacation. We've got some of the best beaches in the country along with cute little towns like Dunedin & Tarpon Springs to explore.  Fabulous dining and the freshest fish from the Gulf.
Make it a day trip or a weekend getaway and join us on Sunday Feb. 23rd for circus fun!
Contact us to help guide you through the perfect weekend!

Pics from previous Festivals:

Looking forward to circus-ing with you this year!