Kelsey Erickson, owner of Circus Sanctuary at Launchpad Artspace.
Circus Sanctuary was founded by Kelsey Erickson in January of 2018. The circus school was one of the original tenants of Launchpad Artspace and its origination coincided with the creation of Circus Sanctuary. The circus school offers private lessons, group classes, and intensives in a wide variety of circus skills including silks, pole, flexibility, inversions, trapeze and lyra. Personalized instruction is provided by knowledgeable instructors in a safe, supportive environment. Every body and every skill level are welcome to attend classes.
Kelsey describes her artistic work as vibrant, daring, otherworldly, striving towards technical proficiency, organic and flowing, sensual, sensational, meaningful and present. Her organization’s mission is to encourage people to play like a child, train like an athlete and perform like an artist.
Kelsey started training in Circus Arts over 12 years ago. She discovered Aerial Silks and Pole Dance at the same time, and later added in Fire Dancing, Stilt Walking, Partner Acrobatics as well as other circus disciplines to her repertoire.
Kelsey started the school in a 1,200 square foot warehouse with 24 foot ceilings, and one year later expanded to a second 1,200 unit where she could offer pole dancing classes. Kelsey says, “I was attracted to Launchpad Artspace because it was a little off the beaten path but close enough to be accessible. I thought we could build a community of artists here that could contribute to each other’s projects and draw a lot of lovely people to this space. The buildings we rent have great height and good lighting.”
Kelsey takes her business seriously, actively marketing her classes and investing significantly in upgrading her two units. Since she launched her business, Kelsey has installed a huge I-beam and premium truss structures to do aerial dance on, foam flooring, dance flooring, large mirrors as well as heat and air conditioning.
Her business aspirations for the future are to have an active performance troupe putting out quality work on a consistent basis. She’d like to reach more people that she can positively impact through circus. Her personal teaching mission statement is to invest in each and every student, teach a variety of circus skills to all ages, abilities, needs, aspirations and body types, in a way that is safe, scientifically sound, and technically proficient and to offer a process oriented approach that encourages self-love, awareness, personal responsibility and joy.
Some of the highlights of her career include building her business Circus Sanctuary. Prior to starting her own business, Kelsey performed on Balloons 100′ in the air working with Flam Chen, directed and performed for the All Souls finale in front of thousands of people and performed in Pole Show L.A. with some of her pole idols. She’s also directed and produced a full length show with a story line – Cadence. Kelsey spent a few years training and teaching at New England Center for Circus Arts (one of the most prestigious circus schools in the country) before returning home to Tucson.
To learn more about Circus Sanctuary, visit: www.circusanctuary.com.