meet the team

Chris Johnston

Chris started gymnastics at the age of four, and at thirteen he began to focus on trampoline and tumbling. His tumbling career took off quickly, and he was the Canadian National Champion at seventeen, earning him a spot on the Canadian National Team. After leaving gymnastics and completing a degree in human kinesiology, his love of acrobatics led him to Club Med, where he taught and performed circus arts. Despite being terrified of heights, he fell in love with flying trapeze. Chris is a certified NCCP Level 2 Trampoline instructor, and has taught circus and gymnastics and directed circus school programs in Mexico, throughout the Caribbean, and the United States. His passion for flying trapeze and circus arts inspired him to bring the experience back home to Canada, and share it with as many others as possible.

Kimmie Dioszeghy

Kimmie is proof that you don’t need to be a gymnast or a dancer to succeed in the circus—she grew up riding horses, got an engineering degree from UBC, and now works in online marketing. She began her circus journey on aerial hoop at age 23, and has been flying with West Coast Flying Trapeze since they first opened in 2014 at Cypress Mountain. She slowly added more and more disciplines to her repertoire, now specializing in aerial silks and contortion. She graduated from the “Ring Masters” pre-professional program, and regularly travels to train with circus professionals around the world. Kimmie is a trained NCCP Foundations Artistic Gymnastics instructor.

Matt Mayer

Matt dove into the world of acrobatics almost a decade ago. He started with coaching gymnastics, first recreational, and eventually competitive men’s gymnastics. Matt then began teaching movement therapy, where he worked with kids with physical and mental disabilities, such as autism and cerebral palsy. Matt is also a personal trainer and runs his own fitness training company in addition to coaching at WCFT. Matt has a ton of passion for the smallest details of how the body works, and he has a contagious love for training. Matt believes that there is something in fitness for everyone.

Dave Cavaletto

Dave started his acrobatic career as a trampolinist, competing with the Canadian National Team in double mini. He made his transition from gymnastics to flying trapeze at Club Med Resorts in 1997, and has been active in the trapeze community as a performer and instructor since then. He has experience teaching and performing in nine different countries. Dave has worked with people of all ages and abilities, but his specialty is working with intermediate and advanced flying trapeze students to achieve their personal goals, and enabling them to bring their flying to heights they never dreamed possible.

Colleen Forrest

Colleen has been in the recreation and fitness industry for over 15 years. She holds a degree in Recreational Leadership, and she has worked as a personal trainer and fitness motivator in Ontario. Colleen has instructed flying trapeze, aerial arts, and children’s circus programs at various resorts, schools, and summer camps worldwide, including Canada, United States, Australia, Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Costa Rica. Colleen has also performed with The Flying Aces for the Netherlands National Circus on their 2012 UK tour and with Limburgs Kerstcircus for their Christmas gala in Sittard, Holland.

Michael Locke

Michael is a born-and-raised Vancouverite, who spent years practicing martial arts and many other types of sports. Though he didn’t grow up in the circus world, he fell in love with it while going to Club Med and learning the flying trapeze—coming close to realizing his lifelong dream of flying. Michael is one of our regular flying trapeze coaches, though he teaches other types of trapeze and partner acro as well. Michael loves creating new circus tricks, and spending time with his daughter, who is following in his active footsteps.

Amanda Cole

Amanda fell in love with aerial arts in her very first lesson. Specializing in aerial silks, aerial hoop, and aerial rope, she has been training in aerial arts for over 8 years at various schools, including workshops at the Flying Fruit Fly Circus in Australia and the National Institute of Circus Australia. In 2011, Amanda studied full time at Aircraft Circus in London and performed at the Greenwich Live site for the London 2012 Olympics. After returning home to Australia, Amanda joined the instructor team at the Sydney Trapeze School. Amanda loves to share her passion for flying trapeze with everyone, and revels in helping others achieve things they never thought they could do. She is dedicated to helping students accomplish goals and realize new skills.

Danielle Gramm

Danielle has been a part of the dance and acrobatic community for over 15 years, and continues to actively train. Growing up, she trained, competed, and performed many styles of dance including ballet, tap, hip hop, jazz, contemporary, lyrical, modern, stage, and acrobatics. In the fall of 2016, Danielle decided to take her ground skills up in the air, here at West Coast Flying Trapeze, primarily focusing on aerial silks and aerial hoop. Danielle is constantly looking for new things to push herself with, whether it be artistic, fitness, or career-oriented, and she loves every moment of the challenge!

Kyra Klein

Kyra grew up competing as a gymnast for 10 years, and has trained as an aerialist for the last 6 years. She coached the competitive Women’s Artistic Gymnastics team at Phoenix Gymnastics Centre in Edmonton for 14 years, and ran the program for 5 years. She also taught an adult circus tumbling class at Firefly Theatre in Edmonton. Kyra graduated from the University of Alberta with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Masters in Physiotherapy. Sher recently moved to BC, and now works as a physiotherapist at Pure Form Physiotherapy in Langley, specializing in treating aerialists, gymnasts, and dancers of all ages. Kyra also coaches gymnastics and circus, and likes to run and do yoga, cross-fit, and circus in her spare time.

Tara Hinecker

Tara has always loved movement-based activities. She has trained in gymnastics, dance (including ballet, modern, and jazz), cheerleading, kickboxing, and spinning poi. Tara has a fear of heights so she never thought she would try flying trapeze, but she loves to challenge herself—she and her daughter Skye started setting aside time to come to flying trapeze as a mother/daughter activity, and now Tara is one of our coaches. We love climbing up to the platform and seeing her giant smile! She also fits right in with the creative side of the circus world too; her day job is as a costumer for film and TV.

Beatrix Knoll

Beatrix first fell in love with flying trapeze while on vacation at Club Med in 2015. Though she still travels to tropical destinations for trapeze once a year, she is thrilled to fly and coach year-round without needing to leave town. Beatrix grew up dancing and swimming, and has trained in kickboxing and Crossfit—she loves everything to do with health and fitness! In the summer you’ll find her kayaking or hiking locally, especially with her dog, Tikah. Beatrix is also a grade seven teacher, and loves to challenge herself and share her passions with people of all ages and skill levels.

Andrea Moalic

Like many of our coaches, Andrea used to work at a Club Med. However, she wasn’t on the circus team; she first tried the flying trapeze because she lost a bet! Little did she know that flying trapeze would be where she found her happy place. Now, with two kids of her own, she’s excited to share her passion for flying with them, and encourage other students who are a little hesitant to try soaring through the air.

Briony Geldeard

Briony spent her 20s working in the TV industry in London, where she met her husband Max. In 2009 shortly after the birth of their first child, they decided to move to Canada, and made their home in Maple Ridge. After having another child, Briony decided it was time to get fit; she tried, Running, Swimming, ice skating, and Outdoor bootcamps. But none of them gave her the results she was looking for, and after a while they were no longer enjoyable. In April 2016 she took her first swing on the trapeze, and started attending the Big Top Bootcamp. From this she gained the strength and confidence to start aerial classes, and regular flying trapeze sessions, whilst still enjoying the Bigtop bootcamp. A year later she’s back down to the size she was in her teens, and stronger than she’s ever been! She cannot wait to share what she’s learned with you.

Jonathan Hamilton

Jonathan has always been interested in the unique and spectacular. Joining the Vancouver Magic Circle at age 14 exposed him to a world of fun and wonder that he has enjoyed ever since. Jon’s education and experiences have led him to have a varied skill set, including many art forms such as dance, juggling, balloon twisting, and unicycling. He holds a Fine Arts Degree from Simon Fraser University, where he was president of the Improv Club, and spent several years as a ballroom instructor where he honed his teaching skills. Always open to trying new things, Jonathan is excited to be part of the WCFT team, and is looking forward to sharing his passion with others.

Victoria Liu

Victoria is a life-long creative. She started performing music at the age of 11, and attended the University of British Columbia for Orchestral Performance with a specialization in percussion. She attended various summer programs, including one at Princeton University, and holds a certificate from Berklee School of Music. During a summer job working for Cirque du Soleil, she fell in love with the circus. She started with fabric (silks and sling) and quickly moved to straps and duo trapeze. Most recently she has fallen in love with corde and strap loops. Victoria has taken silks teacher training, Complete Aerial Anatomy certificate, and is currently enrolled in the “Instructor in Circus Arts” program at Ecole Nationale de Cirque.

Timothy Ong

At the age of 10, Tim entered the world of extreme sports. In Singapore, he started riding BMX and subsequently competed at the Junior X-Games. He eventually moved to Sydney, Australia to pursue a degree in Marine Biology while concurrently working as a flying trapeze instructor at Sydney Trapeze School. Upon his return to Singapore, he continued to teach at the rig in Rasa Sentosa Shangri-la resort. In his spare time, Tim enjoys running, motorcycle racing, and playing the violin.

Danielle Fisher

Danielle first found circus arts 8 years ago after spending her entire childhood as a competitive dancer. She dabbled in hand to hand, tumbling, juggling, and aerial hoop, before finally finding aerial straps. For the past 4 years, straps and aerial loops have been Danielle’s main disciplines. Danielle recently spent a year travelling the USA with a traditional American circus as an aerialist and dancer in the show. Danielle has been a dance instructor for several years and is very excited to also start teaching aerial arts.

Ryan Ouellet

Edmonton born and raised, Ryan began his circus career after being enamoured by his brother’s first circus performance in 2012. Having no sports or artistic background to his name, Ryan was eager to learn and quickly fell in love with all aspects of circus. He dabbles in a bit of everything—from juggling to acrobatics to aerials of all sorts. You can find him up on the flying trapeze board, sending our graceful fliers off, as well as on the other end to catch them! (Not at the same time.) Always a cheerful, helping hand, Ryan is excited to help build the circus community that WCFT has cultivated.

James Jacques

James was born and raised in London, England. He played football from the time he could walk until age 14, when he discovered waterskiing, wakeboarding, and kneeboarding. James was late to the circus party, firstly taking a Ninja Warrior class at WCFT, before finding an interest in handstands. It snowballed from there, and James fell in love with all things circus—he now takes up to 6 classes a week, from flying trapeze to trampoline and everything in between. James works in the banking industry, but coaches flying trapeze when he’s not working or taking all those classes!

Kelsey Boileau

Kelsey stumbled into the circus world just after her 30th birthday and quickly fell in love with aerial silks. She has been with WCFT for 2 years, and has found that it wasn’t just silks she loved; she now regularly trains aerial hoop and duo trapeze. Kelsey loves many things about circus, especially the fact that a klutz can become graceful – there is nothing to trip on when up in the air! She works with our intro students, no matter what age or ability. Her favorite people to work with are those who have never tried circus before. She loves seeing someone go from “I could never do that!” to “I just did that!” in under an hour. When she is not flying around on a hoop she can be found working in the field of refrigeration.

Aimee Arsenault

Aimee is no stranger to the world of circus. Her background is in artistic gymnastics, and she is an NCCP-certified Level 1 Artistic Gymnastics coach, and trained Level 2 Artistic Gymnastics coach. Aimee has been coaching for over a decade in a variety of class settings: preschool, recreational, competitive, and workshops for all ages. A performer, dancer, and teacher, Aimee loves to inspire the lifelong love of movement in others.

Karen Broda

Karen is a Saskatchewan prairie girl who loves any activity off the ground and hates cold winters. She’s a Certified Personal Trainer (ACE) and a Pro Bikini Athlete and loves anything that involves moving your body. Karen first found circus in 2017 when she took her first aerial silks class. Being very uncoordinated on the ground, silks gave Karen a way to combine strength with grace and artistic expression (which she can’t seem to re-create on the ground). Karen has a passion for human movement, and focuses on teaching students to move freely (without pain). Karen also has a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Alberta.

Finn Cox

Finn came to circus through an academic background. While attending the University of Victoria with intent to become a neuroscientist, he was steered toward fitness as a career after anatomy class unlocked a love for exercise science. His practice as a martial artist and lifelong appreciation for circus arts spurred him to sample tumbling and acro in 2016, and he was immediately hooked. He has since latched onto trapeze, poi, and hand balancing, which he melds with his work as a personal trainer to bring a little circus magic into the gym.