Bria has been teaching aerials since 2011. After years of traveling the U.S. to teach workshops at various locations, Bria decided to settle near family to raise her daughter. She began hosting private lessons outdoors in Wilmington and quickly saw a need for a dedicated training space in Delaware. She decided to open Ascend Flow Arts in 2014 with just 10 local students. Having started her professional path in social work, she found teaching aerials to be an effective way to help people become stronger, healthier, and happier. Ascend was created as more than just an aerial and acrobatics studio but also a community that supports students as they grow into the best versions of themselves.
She strives to blend quality training with a supportive atmosphere and has carefully chosen and trained the instructors at Ascend. She loves taking skills apart and studying them. The theory behind it, the how and why things work, and the technique. She has focused on building a full curriculum with solid foundations and progressions so that aerial and acro is safely accessible to all levels at all ages. She loves soaking up as much knowledge as possible with continuing education and trainings and is always learning.
When she is not heading up this local circus scene, Bria enjoys spending time with her wonderful daughter and many pets. An artist in her own right, she has a passion for photography and pottery among other art forms and tries to fill each day with art and good company.
Growing up as a competitive gymnast and diver, Amber has always sought out thrill and fun in her everyday life. Now the Team Director at Rainbow Gymnastics in Sewell, New Jersey, she started teaching gymnastics in 2002 and has taught all ages and levels, from preschool to competitive. After attending an introduction workshop in 2015, she decided to change up her exercise regimen and challenge herself creatively by training in aerials and started teaching youth classes at Ascend in March 2018. She really enjoys sharing her gymnastics expertise with the Ascend community and helping shape young aerialists’ journeys.
As both an instructor and student, Amber continues to grow in her own aerial pursuits by working her mind alongside her body while practicing and teaching combinations. Despite a lifelong investment and involvement in fitness and competition, she has found Ascend challenging and fulfilling her in ways she did not think possible. She has found a home on the lyra for its likeness to gymnastics equipment and loves hanging upside down whenever she gets the chance. Amber’s commitment to growth and need for a challenge keeps her students on their toes—or off, in this case, and her passion for movement and killer technical skills translate into the compassion and energy she delivers when teaching and planning ground and air routines.
If you asked Emily in her high school years what she would be pursuing in her future, circus arts would be the last thing she ever expected. Before Ascend her passion was with art, an activity she had loved ever since she was little. And while she still indulges in her drawings from time to time, she has taken on another form of art. All it took was one youtube performance that she happened to come across to spark her interest and start her journey in the world of aerial circus.
Her time with the Ascend studio started in 2020 with sling classes but she quickly added hoop, then silks, and before long she had fallen in love with every apparatus. She got certified to teach through the Ascend teacher training program in 2024 and never looked back! The Ascend studio is like a second home to her, with all of her studio peers like another family. She believes that no matter your background, or previous experience, you can pursue a fulfilling adventure in circus arts. Joining the Ascend studio was the best decision she could have made for her body and mind, and it gave her a new passion to follow.
Kristina is pretty sure she was never meant to have her feet on the ground. What led her to this conclusion has been a lifelong pursuit of mind-body movement and artistic expression. Spending most summers in university programs and intensives throughout the U.S., she studied theatre and music alongside leading contemporary performers. Eventually, this creative Alaskan native uprooted herself and settled on the East Coast to begin her degree in Musical Theater through the rigorous Bachelor of Music program at the Catholic University of America and graduated with a minor in English Literature in 2002. She discovered Pilates through college internships and completed her 700-hour certification training in the ten months following graduation.
Always pursuing new and exciting forms of movement, Kristina has been an E-RYT 200 since 2013 and has trained in kinesiology, movement, post-rehabilitative movement, and flexibility. Discovering the intersection of movement and performance in aerial arts, she found a home at Ascend in 2014 as a student and then as a teacher in 2015 and is pursuing Womack & Bowman’s “Master the Silks” certification. Kristina’s unique position as a student, teacher, and performer gives her the freedom to explore the exciting, mysterious inner-workings of aerials and hone her style and technique in sequencing tricks for students. As someone who previously struggled with climbing the silks, she triumphs in building budding aerialists and gracefully nailing complicated routines. Nowadays, she spends her time perfecting her splits, drops, and storytelling on all apparatuses while carefully listening to the air—oh, the secrets it can tell!
Brooke Hahnert (she/her) doesn’t have a traditional movement background – she really didn’t move much at all until she stumbled into a Kentucky aerial studio in 2017 and tumbled head over heels in love with aerial hoop. Aerials quickly became a key piece of her life, offering sanctuary from the outside world. In 2021 she moved to Delaware, where she found a new circus home at Ascend. Brooke has continuously challenged herself and her fear of heights through the pursuit of aerial knowledge and theory. She began teaching shortly after completing her Aerial Teacher training at Ascend in March 2023. When Brooke isn’t at the studio you can bet she’s either grabbing a coconut latte, playing D&D, listening to a heavy metal on her commute, or researching the next recipe she wants to make for her friends.
Hannah is a lifelong performer who fell in love with the stage after landing the lead role in her third grade musical. She began practicing circus arts in 2012, looking for a new creative outlet to fill the void left from aging out of colorguard. She started with fire staff spinning, and has since added hula hoop dance, aerial arts, and stilt walking to her performance repertoire. She can be found performing at community events, fundraisers, and parties around the Delaware Valley.
In addition to performing, Hannah teaches hula hoop dance and makes custom hula hoops. She also volunteers as vice president of The Philadelphia Spin Coalition (SpinCo), a non-profit with the goal of providing accessible and affordable movement arts education and social gatherings for people of all ages and backgrounds. Outside of circus, Hannah works as a software developer building web apps and websites. Most notably, she was the lead developer on the NORAD Tracks Santa 3D Santa Tracker from 2015 to 2021.
Hannah strives to share her love of circus arts with people of all backgrounds. She believes in the power of movement and self expression to promote both mental and physical wellness. She looks forward to seeing the continued growth of interest in circus arts in the coming years.
Lindsay Grant (she/her) has been performing on stage since she was a child. Most recently, Lindsay has been seen on stage as Cinderella in “Into the Woods,” Morticia in “The Addams Family Musical, and as part of the tap ensemble in “Something Rotten.” Lindsay’s love of dance and movement led her to start her aerial training at Ascend Flow Arts in 2018. Lindsay has studied silks, sling, lyra, and static trapeze. Outside of performing arts, Outside of the studio Lindsay works in business risk, remediating customer accounts when there’s been a technological issue.
Aerial arts has provided Lindsay with a way to gain unmeasured confidence and to be vulnerable with tons of amazing instructors and peers available for support. Lindsay hopes to help create the same supportive and inspirational environment when teaching from which she benefits to this day.
