Lorelei Ashe MacDonald

A recently retired trapeze artist and teacher Lorelei started taking movement classes with Martha Graham dancer Willa Shulman in 1969 at age 4.  A career in dance, both modern and jazz, lead to aerial dance and then to circus with a few breaks for injuries in between. Lorelei is proud to have been coached on static trapeze and rings by world renowned Elena Panova, on Tissu by Amanda Star Kelly and in character by Dominique Jando and Jeff Razz. Lorelei has performed in a variety of venues – theatres, nightclubs, museums and office buildings for a diverse array of causes (from Blue Water Network to Queeruption) and a multitude of troupes large and small (from Circus Finelli to Velocity Circus). Additionally Lorelei appeared in videos for San Francisco Vaudeville and the rock band You Said Saturday.

In 2003 Lorelei began as an instructing assistant for introductory static trapeze at the San Francisco Circus Center. By the end of 2004 she was teaching aerial conditioning, intro to aerial skills and static trapeze. In 2006 she began coaching choreography to aerialists developing their own acts.

Moving to NYC in August 2007, Lorelei received training from Radu at Radu Physical Culture in the Radu method, as well as receiving NASM CPT certification. In addition to personal training around the city Lorelei taught workshops to aerialists at Murray Hill Aerial fitness. In June 2008 Lorelei arranged for trapeze and rope to be rigged at her favorite gym in NYC, Hype Gym and began teaching group classes in addition to private training sessions. Adding Kettlebell Concepts training to her repetoire,  Lorelei is bringing Gravity Defying Fitness to New Orleans starting November 2009!

You can contact Lorelei at lam@gravitydefyingfitness.com . You can also phone her at 646.334.3036.

The following instructors are Gravity Defying Fitness trained!:

Aidan O’Shea now of Acrobodics!

Aidan O’Shea met and trained with acrobatics master Lu-Yi of Nanjing, China when he was 13 years old. A star pupil, he progressed quickly and began performing with the New Pickle Circus at the age of 16. Aidan literally ran away from home and joined the circus - which has taken him all over the world and into the hearts of many. He flipped on stage and for movie cameras, until two years ago when he relocated and settled down in New York to attend the prestigious masters acting program at the New School for Drama. While completing his training there, he is the newest member of the gravity defying team and is so happy to encounter new ways of flying high, kicking butt, and defying his own expectations.

You can contact Aidan at aidan@acrobodics.com, at osheamoves@gmail.com and at 415-515-7796.

Heather Hammond

Heather Hammond is a versatile and accomplished international circus performer. She currently performs her own work at festivals, corporate events and school shows, in addition to teaching circus and dance.  Her circus classes were featured in the Jan/Feb ‘09 issue of American Fitness Magazine, and her performance troupe, Helium Aerial Dance was recently seen on NBC TV’s First Look show and in NYC taxi cabs. Heather was thrilled to dance in Noemie Lafrance’s ‘Rapture’, performed 60 feet in the air on the undulating roof of the Frank Gehry building at Bard College, last fall.  Heather is a graduate of the School of Toronto Dance Theatre. She began her circus training with Marsha Kennington of MainSpace Circus and the Toronto School of Circus Arts. She has performed with Cirque-tacular Entertainment, High Strung Aerial Dance, Cirque Sublime, TSNY, Harrah’s Casino, Canadian Opera Company, and Zero Gravity Circus.  She is delighted to be part of Gravity Defying Fitness - you’ll love her enthusiasm and your results!

You can contact Heather at heather@acrobodics.com