Side C presents "Led Zeppelin IV"
SIDE C PERFORMERS
AVA GOWANLOCH is a contortionist studying at Circadium School of Contemporary Circus. Ava has been bendy their whole life and has been doing contortion for about two years now.
CASSIE BURKHARDT is an emerging circus artist specializing in hand balancing. She studies at the Philadelphia School of Circus Arts in Germantown. In addition, she has been practicing yoga for over a decade.
ELLIOTT GITTELSOHN is the founder of Side C. He is on faculty at Circadium School of Contemporary Circus, University of the Arts, and is the director of Philadelphia School of Circus Arts Youth Troupe. Resolving to join the circus at age 12, his training includes an apprenticeship at Circus Smirkus Academy, a degree in clowning from The Clown Conservatory, and training under Mongolian contortionist, Serchmaa Byamba. Elliott has performed with companies including Capacitor, Celebrity Cruises, and Sister Magic Productions. He holds a degree in Performing Arts from the LEAP Program and was assistant director of Oregon Fringe Festival (’21). Elliott directs shows using acrobatic language for Time Flies Circus and other companies. More info at www.ellastico.com
LESLEY BERKOWITZ-ZAK is a Philly based clown, actor and circus performer. As an aerialist she has performed with Tangle Movement Arts, Roller Circus and Airplay Entertainment. As an actor, she has created work with Alterra Productions, Brat productions, Curio Theatre Company, Northwest Children’s Theatre Co, Philly Shakes, Revolution Shakespeare and Tribe of Fools. When not performing she can be found either teaching circus at Philadelphia School of Circus Arts or wrangling her two kiddos.
MELISSA MELLON (she/her) studied Theatre Performance at Juniata College, where she trained in acting, movement expression, Skinner Releasing, Fitzmaurice Voicework, and was introduced to single point trapeze.
She finally made her way to training at the Philadelphia School of Circus Arts, where she is now a youth and adult coach. She is also the co-owner of the circus-theatre company, Watermelon Bathtub.
NINA SHARP is a non-binary Philadelphia performing artist and educator who is curious about nature, community, social justice/trauma healing as a means of widespread cultural change, and the intersectionality of creative/expressive art forms. Music, movement, collaboration, and play are some of the main tenets of their creation style.
RAE KRUEGER is a multidisciplinary aerialist based in Philadelphia. She has performed with Secret Circus many times, at the Cannonball Cabaret, Roxtober Festival, and Underground Arts to name a few. She has been an aerialist for 5 years and just recently has started working on lollipop lyra and is excited to bring it to the stage with Side C!
STEPHEN DOUTT is an experimental juggler that is inspired by forests, kitchen appliances and roller coasters. He is from a small town outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and later moved to Philadelphia to join the inaugural class of Circadium School of Contemporay Circus. For daily tricks, follow @space_marbles on Instagram.
VANESSA KAMP I am an artist from the USA and have been based in Barcelona since 2004. My background is in sports, fine arts and textiles, bringing a predilection for the tactile and sensorial to my work, which has most recently been a fusion of dance and clown as seen in my production Cheetah Banks (which I will be presenting at Cannonball this year!). My research includes working with improvised dance, objects, and characters anchored in movement, perception and metaphor. https://vnsskmp.com/