MAGIC AND CONTORTION
Maxim Voronin is 20 years old and finished “The Academy of Circus and Variety Arts Kiev” as an Artist and Director.

His father is a world renown magician and mother was a contortionist. Maxim has brought their talents together for his own mixed genre. He has created a new wave of magic that brings new spirit to the magic and circus world. His creative repertoire is strongly influenced by a love of story, character and theater.

From the age of 3 months, Maxim has travelled all over the world, learning from his parents and the people he met along the way. These experiences have informed his development as an artist and director.

Maxim has performed on big stages like “The Magic Castle, Teatro ZinZanni, Young Stage Circus Festival, NMU Magic Festival, and had the great opportunity to open his own show in Ukraine “History of Magic”. He hopes that the ideas and lessons his work brings can inspire and teach people.

KNIFE THROWING & DUO TRAPEZE
Daring Jones Duo is the team that runs the show.  They try their best.  Here’s a few of their awards. 

• Tigerpalast 30th Jubilee,  Germany, 2018-2019
• Izhevsk Winners Show, Russia, 2018
• 1^st Place, VivaFest Pro serries, Las Vegas, 2017
• Silver, Wuhan Festival, China 2016
• Bronze Idol, Idol festival, Russia 2016
• Bronze, 15^th Wuqiao International Circus Festival, China 2015
• Silver, 7th International Circus Festival Izhevsk, Russia 2014
• Zapashny Bros Special Award, 38th Monte Carlo International Circus Festival 2014
• Bronze, Moscow International Circus Festival, Nikulin, Russia 2013
• Bronze, Festival Del Circo, Latina, Italy, 2012
• America’s Got Talent,  National TV syndicate, top 48, 2012
• Critic’s Choice Award, Festival Del Circo, Figueres, Spain, 2012

HANDBALANCING AND MAGIC

Anastasiia Popsulys was born and raised in Ukraine. Since childhood, she was a professional rhythmic gymnast and was a very active. As she got older, she discovered
her love of performing which led her to a professional career. Asya graduated from the “Academy of Circus and Variety Arts” in Kiev, Ukraine as an artist. Due to the outbreak of war in her country, she was forced to leave her home. She has performed in many different countries, such as Europe, Israel, and now she is happy to be performing here in America. Asya really loves her job since she is able to bring pleasant emotions to people. She hopes it does the same to you!

MARKETING APPRENTICE & CLOUDSWING

Jacy was born into a circus and has toured with her parents all her 15 years on earth.  Having lived in more than 10 countries, she speaks a little German, a little French and has an ease with new cultures that belies her age. Despite all her travels, there is no place she would rather be that her home state of California. Jacy enjoys hanging out with friends, biology, nature and art. She is always learning new skills on tour with her family show, Flynn Creek Circus.  When she is not on tour, she attends High School and plays on the Varsity basketball team.

AERIAL ROPE

eka’s life as a performer began in her backyard at the age of 4, where she put on her nightly solo show, The Opossum Show, for a mostly imaginary audience.  This was, however, her only foray into the world of show business until she happened upon a small, local circus school at 19.  At the time, she couldn’t go upside down or do even a single push up, much less climb a rope.  She had absolutely no background or aptitude whatsoever, but she just *really* wanted it and kept at it day after day, year after year.  Although fraught with challenge and peril, circus has allowed her to be an adult version of her four year old self, living out her childhood dream and performing different versions of The Opossum Show to audiences near and far.  Eka is delighted to join Flynn Creek Circus for a third season.

In addition to being a circus artist, eka also holds a BFA in fashion design from Academy of Art University. She makes one-of-a-kind costumes and designs for the occasion of life.

She is a lover of movement, embodied expression, and the absolute strange and beautiful magic of being human.  When she is not performing, eka is a strength and NAMS certified nutrition coach at The Green Door Life. She can also be found wandering through the woods with her wolf dog, Lilu and mustang, Indi. Follow along with her adventures on instagram @ekaboo.button

AERIALIST

SWORD SWALLOWING & ILLUSION

Justin Therrien arrived here with the Flynn Creek Circus by way of a long and squiggly path. He knew that he wanted to be in a circus one day and hasn’t really stopped holding on to that compass to direct him. He began with a juggling act but that wasn’t going to be the act that put him on the map. To set himself apart and stand out he took up the art of sword swallowing and other dangerous stunt tricks such as walking on broken glass, eating glass light bulbs, and pounding nails into his nose. Those skills took him to many amazing places but as you do in the circus you must keep moving. He started falling in love with the art of clowning, the refined skills of the mime, and the subtle beauty of magicians. He is particularly drawn to taking these skills that he has adopted and applying them to tell the story of his heart. The thing that brings him the most joy is sharing with the audience the magic of the circus.

CHINESE POLE & COMEDY

Ross Travis is an award winning Actor/Creator, Bouffon, Physical Comedian and Circus Performer (specializing in Chinese pole), who has studied with world renowned master pedagogues, including Dodi DiSanto, Giovanni Fusetti, Ronlin Foreman, Stephen Buescher, Dominik Wyss and Master Lu Yi. Ross’ lineage of training and experience allows him to create provocative performances that combine circus and satire to develop extreme characters and tell stories from the fringes, igniting dialogue and change around ignored or taboo social issues.

Ross’ company Antic in a Drain has developed three shows: The Greatest Monkey Show On Earth, which received the inaugural Artistic Risk Award at the Vancouver Fringe in 2014 and was nominated for two 2016 Theatre Bay Area (TBA) Awards for Outstanding Makeup and Costume Design and won for Costuming. Bucko: Whaleman! was developed with a San Francisco Arts Commission Grant and premiered on Hyde Street Pier at San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park in 2017. Tempting Fate was featured in the San Francisco Chronicle by Lily Janiak and was nominated for seven 2019 TBA Awards, including Outstanding Solo Production, Outstanding Direction of a Specialty Production, Outstanding Creative Specialties for Mask AND Puppet Design, Outstanding Costume Design, and Outstanding Sound Design. The show won for Outstanding Creative Specialties for Mask Design. Tempting Fate is currently on an open ended West Coast tour.

Ross has worked with Kinetic Arts Productions in Oakland; Salvage (2015), Inversion: Circus Disobedience (2016), Circus Veritas (2017) (for which Ross was nominated for a TBA Award for Outstanding Performance in a Featured Role in a Specialty Performance), and Beyond the Ring (2019). Ross has toured two seasons with Circus Bella and performed with Firefly Theatre and Circus in Edmonton, Canada; Craniatrium (2014), Panache (2017), Panache Part Deux (2018) and Inferno (2019). He portrayed the Nutcracker in Nutcracker Circus with Moth Poetic Circus in Denver, Colorado (2019). Other companies include: Sweet Can Circus (in their holiday show Mittens and Mistletoe), Velocity Circus, Earth Circus, Vau de Vire Society (as Shanghai Kelly in their hit show Soiled Dove), and Le Cirque Boheme.

Ross has been some array of the ringmaster, character artist and Chinese pole artist for Flynn Creek Circus for five seasons (2016, 2017, 2020, 2021 and 2022). Excited to go into the desert with them again in 2023. For more of Ross’ cyber work which includes satires and behind the scenes looks of circus life, look for Antic in a Drain on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook (@anticinadrain) and TikTok (@antic_in_a_drain_circus).

IRON JAW & SPANISH WEB

SAND PAINTING & AERIAL ARTS–

Avery has been climbing things since before she could walk, so it’s no surprise she fell in love with aerial arts early on. She grew up in Oakland, CA and after a childhood rotating through gymnastics, ballet, and circus she eventually joined the Circus Spire program at Kinetic Arts Center. There she trained a baseline of acrobatics, contortion, handbalancing, juggling, and physical theatre but never got over her love for being in the air. Through shows, cabarets, street fairs and gigs she performed a variety of conventional and invented apparatuses while specializing in solo and duo static trapeze.

Over the past few years, she shifted her pursuit of heights to an interest in climbing. After several beautiful seasons working as a guide in Maine, she climbed and camped her way across the country in her little green van before settling back in Santa Cruz. Since, she’s rediscovered her love for the circus; teaching and performing with Cirque Tumble Cheer in Capitola. She’s gotten back into performing through showcases, festivals, and gigs but is overjoyed to be part of a cast again, and working with Flynn Creek for the first time!

ART AND REPAIR

As soon as Ed got his driver’s license he ran away with the circus to be a clown.
After working his way up to Producing Clown at Great American Circus, they shuttered and he spent several years ‘Framing up’ new shows, Canvas bossing and Clowning at Circuses all over the country.
After a couple seasons Managing a Sideshow unit with a Freak Animal Zoo and a ‘Xoma the Monkey Boy’ show he shifted to the Renaissance Fair Circuit and spent almost 30 years entertaining crowds by swallowing swords, eating fire and doing disturbing things with an ice-pick.
Working on the Grounds Crews and in Fair Management he helped build, Performed at and Managed some of the largest fairs in the country until a serious sword swallowing slip caused him to rethink his career choices.
He then combined his entertainment and engineering skills and started building Combat Robots to compete with on shows like BattleBots and Robotica in Hollywood, Robot Wars in London and King of Bots in China. He’s the guy with the Shark Robots.
When the world shut down he moved to the California High desert to enjoy the life of a true hermit. Fully off-grid and isolated from mankind & modern life.
After 3 years in the desert he has now returned to his first love, The Circus, and uses his mechanical & engineering skills to keep the wheels rolling, the lights burning and the music jamming.

PARKOUR ACROBAT – COACH – STUNTMAN

 Dmytro ‘Dima’ is a 26 years old parkour athlete from Ukraine. He has have doing parkour for 10 years and trampolining for 5 years. Dima worked as an artist in various shows and as a sports coach. He also has experience as a stuntman.

LIGHTS & SOUND – Lights and Sound Tech
Jon returns to the Flynn Creek Circus for his 2nd run. Originally from North Carolina, Jon has been traveling all his life which now fuels his sense for adventure.
Now a self-proclaimed Roustabout with several shows under his belt, he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. While he is not a stage performer, he enjoys working hard to keep the wheels of the circus “turning”. His passions include learning new skills and pushing himself to the limit. He takes great pride in overcoming seemingly impossible obstacles.
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CIRCUS MENTORS APPRENTICESHIP -AERIALIST

The first word that Jocelyn ever spoke was “up,” and her love of the air has continued into adulthood. She was born in Boston, MA; she has trained at the San Diego Circus Center and performed with Tempos Contemporary Circus in Portland, OR.  Jocelyn is an acrobat, a learner, a writer, and a lover of living. She swims, she cooks, she dances. This is her first time performing with the Flynn Creek Circus!

CIRCUS MENTORS APPRENTICE AWARDEE -PARKOUR ACROBAT

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LORYNNE MACHADO- LIZARD

Lorynne (she/her) is an acrobat from Vancouver Canada; specializing in hand to hand, partner acrobatics, and group acrobatics. She has a passion for learning new things, being tossed high in the air, and being upside down. With a background in theatre and acting she enjoys having the opportunity to bring a character to life. “Small and chaotic. More energy than sense.” -Matt

MATTHEW BAGSHAW- LIZARD

Jumping straight in, Matt ports people and spins left. More so he bases Hand to hand, banquine, and Russian Bar and cradle. The spinning left? Well this is what started it all, it was what took him away from one obscure job choice into another – the cyr wheel. Cyr quickly became an obsession, drowning out other hobbies almost overnight. The dizzies, the crushed fingers, the countless times being tossed on the ground by this cruel piece of metal, mental fatigue and physical pain.. worth it. Cyr showed Matt new places of the world and opened different doors, one such door was hand to hand.

While cyr wheel is cold and cuel, hand to hand is warm and cruel. Cruel as in with cyr if you make a mistake you will fall and the wheel will try to come crashing down onto your head, with hand to hand you make a mistake and your flyer tries to come crashing down onto your head, but then asks you if you’re ok? But atlast he’s done it, He’s ran away and joined the circus!

ANNA MINAKOVA- general aerial acrobat

Anna started her sport career at the age of 5. Her first sport was rhythmic gymnastics, which she pursued for about 5 years. Later, she ventured into sport ballroom dancing, participating in city and international competitions. Seeking more, Anna transitioned to cheerleading. With her team, she traveled nationally and internationally for performances. After her competitive career ended in 2016, she joined a dance-circus show as a universal dancer and aerial gymnast on the hoop. Anna has performed across Ukraine and Europe for 6 years. Now a resident of the USA , she is happy to start performing here..