 | Thrive Movement Studio |
STAFF
STAFF
Becca DeAngelis
Becca is a New York based aerialist. She has been teaching for over 20 years. Her repertoire has grown to include: trapeze, lyra, silks, Spanish web, straps, hammock, and cube. She has attended NECCA and Nimble Arts teacher trainings and currently instructs kids, teens, and adults in all things aerial. Her specialties include strength moves, slowing down dynamic sequences, and reverse-engineering tricky skills. It is her pleasure to open people's minds to the experience of all things aerial.
Becca enjoys adapting skills from one apparatus to another.
Becca enjoys adapting skills from one apparatus to another.
Kim McKenzie
Kim absolutely loves bringing art to kids through exploration of techniques, artist presentations, and different medium. She meets the kids at their interest and skill level. All art pieces come to fruition in different expressions, showing us what part of the lesson sparked interest in each child. She hopes all walk away with new ideas of their own, and ways to help those ideas come to life
Erin Mahoney
Erin is a freelance dance instructor, choreographer, and performer that has been dancing for over seventeen years. Erin has instructed and choreographed for numerous renowned dance studios and schools across Connecticut, both recreationally and competitively. Her training focuses on acrobatics, gymnastics, ballet, and modern dance.
Erin attended Naugatuck Valley Community College and graduated magna cum laude with an associate degree in dance. Since graduation, Erin has continued to train in ballet and modern and has since danced with the Olga Dunn Dance Company, Stepping Stone Performers, MB Dance Theater, Fisher Ballet Productions, and the Qualia Dance Collective.
Erin will be joining us for the Aerial Intensive and Cirque-opsia, working with students on contortion, ground choreography, acrobatics, partner acro and finding ease and grace in the air!
Erin attended Naugatuck Valley Community College and graduated magna cum laude with an associate degree in dance. Since graduation, Erin has continued to train in ballet and modern and has since danced with the Olga Dunn Dance Company, Stepping Stone Performers, MB Dance Theater, Fisher Ballet Productions, and the Qualia Dance Collective.
Erin will be joining us for the Aerial Intensive and Cirque-opsia, working with students on contortion, ground choreography, acrobatics, partner acro and finding ease and grace in the air!
Margaret Hopkins
Margaret found circus arts as a young adult and fell in love. Chasing her dreams she has trained at several studios including Thrive before attending a full time program at The Sellam Circus School and has spent 2 seasons training at Aircraft Circus Academy in London. Margaret has a background teaching outdoor and farm skills and brings that experience to her career in circus. Margaret is upbeat and loves working with students of all ages. Her specialties are flying trapeze, static trapeze, and lyra.
Heidi Kirchofer
A performing and teaching artist since 2000, Heidi has traveled internationally performing, collaborating and training. She is inspired by the moving body and it's vast capabilities. She loves the synthesis of creativity and physicality that circus explores. Circus, movement and aerials for her are creative outlets, a medium for healing the body and building strength, working though vulnerabilities and moving forward. As a teacher she focuses on alignment, building strength and flexibility and finding one's creative voice.
She has studied various aerial apparatus at the New England Center for Circus Arts since 2007- with so many amazing coaches- Jamie Hodgson, Lauren Breuning, Caroline Wright, Amy Hancock, Elsie & Serenity Smith and many more. She has also done Aerial Teacher Training with Nimble Arts as well as various rigging and safety classes. She is particularly interested in alignment, technique and longevity of physicality. She studies bio-mechanics and anatomy for fun. She has completed Yoga Teacher Trainings in Power Yoga and Taoist Yoga
Heidi is also co-founder of the touring duo, Matica Arts, whose focus is on Circus. Matica can be found performing at many festivals, events, and schools in the North East. see: maticaarts.com
She has studied various aerial apparatus at the New England Center for Circus Arts since 2007- with so many amazing coaches- Jamie Hodgson, Lauren Breuning, Caroline Wright, Amy Hancock, Elsie & Serenity Smith and many more. She has also done Aerial Teacher Training with Nimble Arts as well as various rigging and safety classes. She is particularly interested in alignment, technique and longevity of physicality. She studies bio-mechanics and anatomy for fun. She has completed Yoga Teacher Trainings in Power Yoga and Taoist Yoga
Heidi is also co-founder of the touring duo, Matica Arts, whose focus is on Circus. Matica can be found performing at many festivals, events, and schools in the North East. see: maticaarts.com
Joel Melendez
Co-founder of the touring duo Matica Arts, Joel has traveled the Americas performing, collaborating and training. He is a gifted performer known for his unicycling, clowning, improvisational, and acrobatic skills. Joel is a “physical artist” who loves exploring the vast capabilities of the human body. For many years he was the director of the Advanced Circus Program at the Children’s Circus of Middletown and teaches at many awesome organizations including Oddfellows Playhouse (oddfellows.org), Green St Arts Center, and ASAP. He is also a Capoeirista and has been practicing 1999 and is a student of Mestre Pinga Fogo of Sao Paulo, BR and Austin,TX. When Mestre Pinga Fogo left CT, he bestowed the honor of taking over his students to Joel. Currently, Joel teaches Capoeira at Plus 1 Defense in West Hartford and at Thrive and organizes a huge yearly event, bringing Capoeria Masters and students from around the US and Internationally.
teamplusone.com
teamplusone.com
Allison McDermott
Allison is a director, choreographer and circus artist who began her circus training at Connecticut's very own Children's Circus of Middletown. She attended the New England Center for Circus Arts' Protrack program in 2013. Some of her notable performance credits include Cirqularity's Sherlock Holmes and the Sapphire Night, ARTFARM's A Midsummer Night's Dream and Big Teeth Performance Collective's Goodbye Party. Allison has self-produced several original circus productions including Cycles, with Matica Arts, This is Artstagram! and Special Relativity with Stacey Strange. She has written, directed and choreographed work for Oddfellows Playhouse, Thrive Movement Studio, Big Teeth Performance Collective, Air Temple Arts and The Children's Circus of Middletown.
allisonmcdermott.com
allisonmcdermott.com
Thrive Movement Studio opened in the summer of 2014 and is a dream come true for Heidi Kirchofer Joel Melendez. It represents years of dreaming and scheming by the dynamic duo and lots of hard work by Heidi, Joel and Heidi's father Charles Kirchofer.
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- 221 Burlington Rd, Harwinton, CT 06791
- (860) 309-0306
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