Open Air at Open Space The 6th Annual Light, Bright, Outdoor Aerial Festival!

“Remember when you were a little kid and you would spin until you had to fall down? Or run to cool off? Or jump from the back of a couch and really really fly?”

Open Space for Arts & Community invites you to fly with us, at our sixth annual Open Air - a light, bright, outdoor aerial festival with a splash of circus and magic in the meadow. Bask in the sun, enjoy the view of Mount Rainier, lean back and fly in your imagination watching fabulous aerialists from the Northwest and beyond.

Over the last five summers, audiences for Open Air have grown and grown – people of all ages have relaxed in the shade of our pine trees, with Mount Rainier as a beautiful backdrop, and watched in wonder as joy happens before their eyes – everything from dancing dragons to summertime snow to magic and poetry.

Open Air producers Janet McAlpin and Lynelle Sjoberg are gathering artists and local favorites, as well as advanced students from the UMO School of Physical Arts, to fly before your eyes. Confirmed performers include the extraordinary Carey Cramer; the duo Dizzy Daze with their Newfangled Heathen Trapeze, aerialist Dream Frohe; rope artist Eric Sanford; a hoop quartet with Martha Enson, Lynelle Sjoberg, Janet McAlpin & Louisa Moody; recent UMO graduate Lhamu Konrad; samba goddess Molly Shannon; poet Tom Pruiksma; and more!

Read on for a glimpse at just some of the extraordinary talent who will be gracing our meadow…

Carey Cramer is one of the most dynamic performers ever to appear at Open Space, where she has blown the roof off with Acrobatic Conundrum in Love & Gravity and The Way Out. Carey’s performance background draws from a diverse experience in classic ballet, modern dance, muay thai kickboxing and acrobatics. After her first taste of circus as an undergraduate at Oberlin College, she trained intensively under the coaching of Terry Crane, before attending the prestigious National Circus School of Montreal. There her professional formation included acrobatics, hand balancing, clowning, singing, and her primary discipline of rope. Influence from hip hop, break dance, and contact improvisation styles along with a passionate love of movement and psychology have empowered Carey’s work on the rope with a unique, raw, and dynamic style.  She has brought her manifold talents to the stage in Montreal, San Francisco, Chicago, Vancouver, and Egypt and even toured with the American rock band Heart. Carey balances professional performing with teaching at the therapy-based Every Body’s Circus program at the School of Acrobatics and New Circus Arts (SANCA) in Seattle.  She has performed and toured with Acrobatic Conundrum for more than two years.

Dream Frohe is an aerialist with a passion for thoughtful and dynamic movement. She approaches her art with presence and wonder and aspires to offer her audience a uniquely engaging experience. She has been performing Aerial Dance since 2007 and is a founding member of the Bellingham Circus Guild, where she currently teaches and trains. When not joyfully hoisting herself into improbable positions for the sake of honest expression, she appreciates good friends, good food and well placed foolishness.

Dizzy Daze- Newfangled Heathen Trapeze from Lara Paxton (Circus Contraption, Aerialistas), and Jill Marissa (ticktock dance). The duo is excited to return to their native Pacific Northwest after spending the winter performing at Friedrichsbau Variete in Germany. Lara’s stoic brevity combines with Jill’s puckish irreverence to create an estuary of affordable entertainment! Twice the bang for you buck!!

Martha Enson, Artistic Director of EnJoy Productions, is responsible for the creative design of EnJoy’s customized events throughout the world. An aerialist, actress, event designer, director, and teacher, she is a graduate of Bowdoin College, and holds an MFA from the National Theatre Institute and Ecole Lecoq (Paris). In 1987 she co-founded UMO Ensemble, which went on to become among the most heralded physical theatre companies on the West Coast, touring the world with award-winning work. She conceived the landmark productions Instinction (1987), Caravan of Dreams (1994), Cities (2001), and the critically acclaimed Rubble Women (2009). In 2001, she became the first female Director at Teatro Zinzanni, the renowned dinner circus in Seattle, and worked with TZ until 2004. Martha approaches her work as an artist with high capacity, high expectations, unfailing creativity and tremendous humor. She lives on Vashon Island, WA with her husband Kevin Joyce and her daughter Ruby.

Molly Shannon is one half of the Vashon Island based comedy team, Duo Finelli. In addition to the clowning and vaudeville work she does with Duo Finelli, she has been a principal dancer with the San Francisco based samba group, Aquarela, for the past 8 years. Aquarela is one of the original groups in the United States to focus on and present authentic Rio de Janeiro style samba, and has received numerous awards for its representations of Brazilian culture. You can find out more at www.duofinelli.com.

Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma is a writer, poet, translator, teacher, musician, magician, and lover of life. He was born in Seattle, and has lived and worked in Tamil Nadu, India, and Oaxaca, Mexico. His recent books include Body and Earth: Notes from a Conversation (with the artist C.F. John) and The First Leaves. He lives on Vashon with his partner, David Mielke.

Louisa Moody has been dancing since she was a wee one. She was a principle dancer in The Vashon Dance Academy’s production of Mary Poppins in 2015 and has since then been dancing at the Vashon Center for the Arts. She is fairly new to aerial ( especially hoop) but has loved taking her dancing into the air.
Saturday, August 20 at 4pm

Open Air takes place in the meadow at Open Space, 18870 103rd Ave SW.
Visit openspacevashon.com for more details!