Who We Are
The Angels are part of the "New Circus" tradition, in which dancers, actors and athletes, instead of running away with the circus, create their own performances in theatres, Renaissance Faires, busker festivals, dance clubs and the street. Our training has been with coaches from the Moscow Circus, Circus Puerto Rico, and circus schools including Toronto’s Mainspace School of Circus Arts, as well as our favorite way to invent new tricks: “Hey, do you think this will work?” “Only one way to find out!” Company members’ specialties include aerial skills, contortion, handstands, tightrope, acrobatics and partner balancing, comedy characters, and more. Please inquire about the availability of specific artists.

Isabella Allison Williams (Aerial Angels co-founder and Artistic Director) co-owns the physical theatre company Commedia Zuppa and is a director and playwright. She began her aerial work six years ago on static and flying trapeze, and began hoop and silk shortly afterwards. Allison also performs contact improvisation, mask, and physical theatre work, and has performed with the Daring Devilinis at Renaissance Festivals and corporate events including Dun and Bradstreet, Easton Town Center, and Walt Disney World. Her directing has been seen Off-Broadway, at the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival, and at theatres and universities across the USA. Most recently, Allison completed the Canadian National Tour of her solo show, TRUE STORY, which includes fire-eating and aerial silk and hoop as spiritual pursuits.	Photo: Richard Gilmore
Photo: Dean Davenport	Spike Zay Weaver (company member) is a an actor entering her senior year in Western Michigan University's theatre performance program. Born and raised in Bay City, MI, Zay found creative ways of entertaining herself as a child by making up scenarios and getting lost in her relatively large backyard, a tradition she still carries with her today (if she isn't back by dinner, look to the biggest tree). Interested in all facets of performance, she joined Aerial Angels for the promise of exciting, challenging, and most certainly fun new experiences which will aid her in her future performance endeavors.
Lady MelissaMarie Wilhelm is a graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University where she constructed her own dance major, studying modern, tap, jazz, ballet, choreography, and Labanotation. For 18 years she has lived for her dance, and enjoyed working with Disney, Laban, Li Chiao Ping, and the Lindholms. A firefly who has always had many flames, MelissaMarie is excited to be trying her wings in the air. She thanks Allison, James, and Zay for all their help and encouragement.	Photo: Roger Blease
	Luna Kimberly Olson-Wheeler Company Member Figure Skating Coach, Scientist, Translator Lyra, silk, static and swinging trapeze, double trapeze, hammock, juggling, hula-hoop, handstands/contortion, acrobatics Ranked top ten in the USA as a junior in figure skating Background: After skating competitively for fifteen years, Luna stumbled onto the Midnight Circus and the world of circus arts. She's worked with Midnight, AMEBA acrobatic and aerial dance company, Aloft Aerial Dance, the Flying Gaonas, Circesteem, Seaworld San Antonio (Riptide show) and at the Chicago club Crobar. Favorite Fruit: Cantaloupe Cats: Allergic to all things with fur as well as dust, pollen and some air. Used to train rats to drive robots.
Max Zach Martens Artist in Training Actor, Dancer, Singer Silk, fire, partner acrobatics Majoring in Theatre Performance at Western Michigan University (dance minor) Max grew up in West Michigan as part of a warm and extended family. Discovering theatre in high school, he has played Billy Crocker in Anything Goes and Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors as well as appearing as an aerialist in Suessical, where he first met the Aerial Angels. After training for Suessical and informally with the Angels for two years, Max recently completed his internship and is performing on the road. Favorite Fruit: muskmelon Cats: 1 (ran away) Can fit 56 grapes in his mouth.
Photo: Allison Williams	Vince Vince Conaway (company member) accompanies the aerialists on hammered dulcimer with a combination of traditional Celtic music, original compositions, and playful arrangements of popular songs. In the lanes and while roaming at events, the dulcimer music creates a sense of place for aerial and comedy work, and helps capture and sustain audience focus. Vince has performed since 1997 at Renaissance Festivals including Ohio, Ontario, Bay Area (Tampa), Michigan, Kansas City, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Carolina, St. Louis, Louisiana, and many corporate events.
Huzzah James Warfield, a fan of the unusual, jumped at the opportunity to learn how to extinguish fire with his face, take targets with a bull-whip, and wear shiny blue tights in front of hundreds of people. James attended Western Michigan University as a theatre performance major. His training in movement, mask, and improvisation landed him a job as a professional mime at Busch Gardens and numerous roles at Walt Disney World. With a growing interest in magic and illusion, he has had the opportunity to work with illusionists David Copperfield and Sigfried and Roy's protege, Darren Romeo. James currently lives in Chicago where he continues to audition and cultivates his ambition of touching people's lives.	Photo: Allison Williams
Photo: Otto Phocus	Star Rachel Shepherd (intern) is the oldest of three children and a junior in Theatre at Harrison Arts Center. She recently performed in Mother Goose is Cooked and Children of a Lesser God for Pied Piper Players in Lakeland, FL. She discovered aerial silk and acrobatics when cast in Hamlet this spring, for which Allison choreographed a circus sequence for the play-within-a-play. Rachel performed with the Angels at the Bay Area Renaissance Festival this year, and will be our full-time intern next year. Rachel performs partner acrobatics and aerial silk.
Sparkle Maddy Hall (intern) has been dancing since the age of 4 and branched out into the circus world at the age of 8. She is a clown, juggler, actor, singer, dancer, and an aerialist which gives her a lot on her mind besides being a sophomore in high school. A native of Washington, D.C, Maddy has been going to Circus Smirkus summer camps for 7 years. Specializing in lyra (aerial hoop), she was an intern at the 2005 Maryland Renaissance Festival and hopes to return next year for a full time internship.

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