OUR TEACHERS
All our Teachers have up to date First-Aid Training, and the relevant background checks related to teaching, which are updated annually.
MIKE HIRSCHBACH
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR & COACH; HEAD OF JUGGLING & CIRCUS, CIRCUS CIRCLE, & YOUTH CLASSES.
Mike Hirschbach has been a circus artist for 35 years. He performed from 2001-2003 with the Cirque du Soleil’s touring show “Dralion.” From 2003 – 2005 he was a Master Trainer with the Cirque’s social outreach program, Cirque du Monde. As such, he trained the trainers in the existing Cirque du Monde programs, upgrading their circus, social and teaching skills in Orlando, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, South Africa and Burkina Faso. Since 2005 his full time work has been directing the Halifax Circus school and the outreach programs of Circus Circle, working with youth in difficulty; incarcerated youth, youth with addictions, with mobility or mental health issues, and those from a background of abuse.
Before performing with the Cirque du Soleil, he toured his solo theatrical-circus shows for many years. These performances were seen across Canada, the continental U.S., Europe, Asia, India, the Yukon and Alaska in venues such as the Calgary Olympic Games, the Canada Summer Games, the International Mime Festival in Montreal, the Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris, the Singapore River Festival and the International Clown Festival in Mumbai and Goa, India.
CAIT ANTHONY
GENERAL MANAGER & COACH; AERIALS, CONTORTION, ACROBATICS
& MORE
Cait Anthony is a 7th generation lepidopterist, well known for her yodelling and rock-paper-scissors expertise. She assisted Lord Carnarvon excavate the tomb of King Tut in 1922, but was bitten by a rabid dromedary and subsequently turned into a semi-permeable gaseous solid. Resuscitated in the following decade by a team of histrionic surgeons, she currently wanders the halls of Halifax Circus, a mysterious tentacled presence who cannot abide dust motes. She also does aerials. (Does anyone read these bios? Let us know)
Specializations for Private lessons and/ or Performances:
Aerial Hoop (dynamic and “big flippies”
Aerial Silks
Handstandbalancing
Contortion skills
Stilts
+more
KYLE SCOTT
COACH; ACROBATICS, HANDSTANDS, CALISTHENICS & WORKSHOPS
Kyle Scott has a theatre degree and a degree in kinesilogy from Acadia University. He has 20 years of experience in national level sports; he was on the NS wrestling team for the Canada Games and the NS National team for rugby. Kyle is a founding member of Incendia Motus – the premiere fire-troupe in Atlantic Canada, and regularly instructs in our social outreach Circus Circle programs. He also runs our fire safety workshops, and tours his fire show every summer to Festivals across Canada and the US, from the Masters of Fire competition in Montreal to Burning Man in Nevada.
Specializations for Private lessons and/ or Performances:
Calisthenics/ Personal strength training
Partner Acrobatics
Building blocks for Backflips
Weight Training
Acrobatics
Fire Performing & Safety
+ More
ANNIE JIVALIAN
COACH; TIGHTROPE, UNICYCLE, YOUTH CIRCUS & MORE
Annie has been doing circus since 2014, first as a student at Halifax Circus, and more recently as a teacher for Young Circus classes and all things Balance. She specializes in the tightwire (her feet were featured in a 'Nature of Things' episode on evolution), unicycle, rolling globe, juggling and diabolo. Annie also teaches with our youth program, Circus Circle. She has an undergraduate degree in Environmental Horticulture and when not juggling two diabolos is a professional gardener.
Specializations for Private lessons and/ or Performances:
Tightwire
Rolling Globe
Diabolo
Balancing on things that nobody else can balance on
+ More
GUINEVERE LAST
COACH: AERIALS, YOGA, & PERFORMANCE CLASS.
Guinevere Last began her aerial journey in 2010 at the Toronto School of Circus Arts with a background in dance, martial arts, yoga, and personal training. Most recently she was coaching and performing in Victoria, BC, and had the pleasure of performing with Halifax Circus at Nocturne in 2015 and 2016. She directed and performed in Nautica: A Circus Sea Journey, winner of the Live Arts Dance Moves Award at the 2016 Halifax Fringe Festival. She specializes in aerial silks, sling, rope, and straps. In another world she is also a mother, a graduate of the University of Toronto's Creative Writing MA program, and a writer of essays on obscure films.
Specializations for Private lessons and/ or Performances:
Aerial: Rope, Straps, Silks (Vertical apparatus)
Partner Acro
Yoga
Adaptive Circus (see our Dis-Co Circus Program)
Artistic Direction/ Choreography/ Routine Creation
+More
ETHAN AVILA
COACH; AERIALS & ACROBATICS
Ethan Avila first discovered aerials in 2016 at a circus school in Mexico City. This sparked his interest in the Circus Arts and he has been training at Halifax Circus ever since. Specializing in trapeze and aerial straps, he shows a particular interest in doubles aerial work, as well as partner acrobatics. He has performed with Halifax Circus in the Halifax Circus on Music show in 2017 and at the Dream Big! gala event in 2018. Ethan graduated from Dalhousie University with a Masters in Medical Physics and is currently working at the Nova Scotia Cancer Centre as a PhD student. When he is not busy training to become a better aerial teacher and performer, he enjoys playing video games, supplying at least 60% of all sass at Halifax Circus, and winning local taco eating competitions.
Specializations for Private lessons and/ or Performances:
Aerial: Straps, Trapeze, and
Partner Acro
Yoga
Adaptive Circus (see our Dis-Co Circus Program)
Artistic Direction/ Choreography/ Routine Creation
CATHERINE MURRAY
Coach; Aerials & Circus Circle
Cat Murray is an Aerial apparatus instructor and performance artist who began Aerial training in 2017. Cat also has a background in fine arts through NSCAD which she incorporates into her creative performance work. Cat completed an Aerial Silks Teacher training program with Paper Doll Militia and began following the path as an aerial instructor in 2020. She has done performance work for Nocturne Arts Festival for several years consecutively since 2017, as well as, worked with a number of local circus troops to develop original acts, including choreography and costume design. Cat consistently seeks out education and training to build her practice both as an instructor and performer, and is currently enrolled in the instructor training program with École Nationale de Cirque. In addition she is always working on projects and various teacher trainings to expand upon and share her knowledge of and passion for circus arts.
Cat’s performance work contains elements of story telling and character creation though bold and high contrast imagery. Her stories and characters are typically conveyed with a darker edge that displays that beauty can be found in many forms, especially in the non-conventional. Cat’s works often have a focus around political and environmental topics and is charged with a passion for instilling deeper intellectual thought and conversation. Cat has always been drawn to the way the world of circus connects trained physical disciplines, with theatre and visual arts. She is always inspired by and interested in collaborative projects and developing community through the arts.
Specializations for Private lessons and/ or Performances:
Aerial Silks
Aerial Sling/ Hammock
Hula Hoop
Lollipop (Aerial Hoop without rigging attached)
AIYANA DEMERS
COACH; AERIALS
Aiyana Demers is a contemporary circus artist. She has always felt natural expressing herself through movement art and has pursued an active lifestyle since childhood. Circus did not find Aiyana until she moved to Halifax in 2012, where she happened upon her first aerial arts class, only to find that she could fly. Since then, circus arts have been her calling. She has leapt into the artform with both feet and hands and hasn’t looked back... except when back bending of course.
Aiyana has trained in schools throughout Halifax and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia and taught at Studio In Essence, Atlantic Cirque, and Halifax Circus. She has pursued private lessons from renowned artists and workshops to advance her artistic practice and performs regularly. In 2017, Aiyana traveled to Costa Rica to attend an aerial creative process workshop. While there, she tried her hand at flying trapeze and enjoyed it so much that she tried it again in Montreal the following year. Always seeking to extend her boundaries as an artist, in 2018, she really got to fly when she performed aerial silks 80 feet in the air, hanging from balloons, with Flamchen at the ImaginAIR Festival in Dieppe, NB.
A versatile artist, Aiyana has had the opportunity to perform with multiple troupes and collaborations, both corporate and contemporary. She has performed to live poetry at the Halifax Music Co-op and at multiple Nocturne: Art at Night events over the years in collaboration with Breaking Circus, Halifax Circus, Studio In Essence, and Serpentine Studios. As she continues to grow as a person and as a performer, Aiyana looks forward to being able to share her unique perspective as a Cree woman through her art. She looks forward to opportunities for her to tell stories that are both personally and culturally relevant and to change herself in the telling.
As a teacher, Aiyana delights in sharing information with her students and helping them along their journeys in whatever way might be needed at the time. She mainly teaches aerials but is always keen to help in one of her other skills if needed. Always focused on safety and technique with opportunity for personal artistry along the way, Aiyana takes joy in seeing her students flourish and achieve their goals. She offers classes in English and if you’re willing to work with her language skills she is happy to offer classes in English as well as in German, French, or ASL. Just ask and she will accommodate you in a group class or a private class.
Specializations for Private lessons and/ or Performances:
Dance Trapeze (single point)
Aerial Silks
Stilt Walking
Poi
Juggling Basics
Routine Creation / Development
+ More
NIKA BUB
COACH; AERIAL, Trampoline & youth Circus
Nika Bub is an ambitious 21-year-old performer, instructor and student at Halifax Circus. Specializing in aerial hoop, silks, acrobatics, and trampoline, I blend creativity with athleticism to deliver captivating performances, workshops and private lessons. I’m excited to share my love for circus arts with audiences of all ages.
Specializations for Private lessons and/ or Performances:
Aerial Silks (performance and/or workshop/privates)
Aerial Hoop (performance and/or workshop/privates)
Mini- Trampoline (workshops/private)
Acrobatics (workshops/ Private)
Seasonal Staff / Abroad/ On Hiatus
MARTHA BARRETT
COACH; AERIALS
Bio coming soon
Kristin Langille Dahl
COACH; AERIALS
Kristin Langille Dahl has been the head aerial instructor at Halifax Circus aerial program since it's opening in 2009. She is one of the city's most recognized circus performers and regularly performs solo and duo acts on silks and aerial hoop. She’s a graduate of the instructor program at the National Circus School, and has completed foundations of aerial circus, trapeze and aerial fabric at NECCA, the New England Center for Circus Arts. In November 2015 her passion and wanderlust brought her to Hong Kong to compete in the Professional Women's in Dance Trapeze at the Aerial Performance Tournament, where she placed 3rd in her category. She also practices fire: poi spinning, torches and contact fire, fire fans, fire fingers and flaming devil sticks.
Kristin graduated from the Dalhousie Acting 4 year Program, has 12 years of dance training and has an education degree from the University of Maine at Fort Kent. She has been a member of The Irondale Ensemble Theatre Company from 2000 on, and worked with them for a month intensive at the Dell’Arte School in Blue Lake, California. In 2011 she performed with Mike at the International Clown Festival in Mumbai and Goa, India. She is a professional actor and has had many lead and principal roles in film and television. In 2013 she was honoured with the award for best actress at the Atlantic film festival for her work on the film "There are Monsters".
MADELAINE HIGGINS
COACH; AERIALS
Madelaine Higgins is a performance artist with over a decade of experience. Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Madelaine grew up dancing, acting, and climbing trees, and found their home in the burgeoning east coast circus arts scene. Madelaine is a graduate of the National Circus School's trainer of circus arts program and has seven years of experience teaching circus arts.
Madelaine teaches intermediate and advanced aerial arts, assists students in the development of performance pieces, and coordinates the production of cabarets, student showcases, and circus shows.
Jennifer MacLatchy - Aerial COACH
Jennifer MacLatchy has been training aerial acrobatics at Halifax Circus since 2010, and teaching aerials since 2014, the year she completed the aerial teacher training course at the New England Centre for Circus Arts in 2014. She specializes in cerceau, but also works with aerial silks, trapeze, aerial hammock, corde lisse, and Spanish web. She has performed with Halifax Circus at Casino Nova Scotia, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the Nocturne art at night festival, and the Pride parade, as well as in various Halifax Circus productions. When she isn't in the air, Jenn is also a kayak guide and instructor, a PhD student, and a wandering adventurer.
JOSH RIGO
COACH; AERIALS & Teen classes
Josh grew up as a theatre performer and was introduced to circus arts in 2006 when he was in the musical Barnum. He continued training aerials, which eventually took him to the New England Center for Circus Arts where he completed their year-long professional training program. Josh worked with Frequent Flyers Productions in Boulder, Colorado, for nearly a decade – teaching, choreographing, and performing with the aerial dance company. He has been teaching performing arts since 2010 and recently completed his graduate degree in theatre education. When not doing circus, Josh works as an actor, director, interior decorator, and travel planner.
MADDY COX
assistant-coach
Bio Coming soon
MACKENZIE KORTHALS
assistant-coach
Bio coming soon