Colombian born multi disciplinary artist Juanita Cárdenas turned her BFA from The Cooper Union into a one-of-a-kind career in the performing arts as a cutting edge innovator combining aerial performance and puppetry. She is the artistic director of the absurdist circus theater collective Visceral Abstractions which has presented evening length original works in New York City for over a decade. In 2024, she and her partner Ryan Shinji Murray were awarded the MAP Fund grant towards the creation of a new show. She was also the recipient of the Bindlestiff Family Circus First of May Award. Juanita is an aerial coach at Circus Academy New York, as well as a freelance, designer, fabricator and performer. This fall she will be presenting Sex Ed by Visceral Abstractions in collaboration with Margret Maack and Gogo Star at the Reykjavik City Theater. You can see more of her work here: JUANITA CARDENAS​

Ryan Shinji Murray is a multi-disciplinary circus artist.  He has performed around the world with Cirque Éloize's iD and as an original cast member of Cirque du Soleil's Kurios - touring with the show for seven years and over two thousand shows. With his partner Juanita Cardenas, received the MAP Fund Grant and developed a new work of dance, puppetry, and circus entitled The Void. He collaborates regularly with several different companies and stages including The Metropolitan Opera, Little Island, ABCirque, Bindlestiff Family Cirkus, 3AM Theatre, Parallel Exit, and Westchester Circus Arts. 

Before taking off on tour, Ryan taught trampoline and flying trapeze at TSNY and it would be 14 years until coming back to the rig to coach again at CANY. He is excited to share skills and techniques learned over a broad career and is always learning new ways to teach them!

Mary is a dance instructor, choreographer, performer, a flying trapeze artist, as well as, a proud New Orleans, Louisiana native. She is the Director of Programming for STREB Inc., based in Brooklyn, NY, where she can be found teaching kids and adults alike in a variety of acrobatic and movement based activities. Mary also works as a dance competition judge for One Beat Dance Brands where she travels the country adjudicating and providing feedback for dance competitions. She holds a BFA and an MFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from the University of Southern Mississippi and from Florida State University respectively. Her students are graduates of major dance programs across the country and can be seen teaching, choreographing, and performing throughout the United States and Canada. Mary’s choreographic work was seen at the White Wave DUMBO Dance Festival, in the GO! Emerging Artists Commissioning Program, and ACDFA. Mary is co-director, choreographer, and performer in Coup de Foudre, an evening length contemporary circus show, performed on the flying trapeze and integrating contemporary dance.

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Rianna Brennan has coached at Circus Academy New York since 2019, specializing in aerials, stilt walking, and flying trapeze. Alongside coaching, she has a range of performance experience, including performing dance trapeze in commercials, live shows at CANY, and stilt walking at events locally and across the country. Rianna is dedicated to cultivating inclusive and accessible environments. She has been an advocate since she was just 15, starting by creating musical theater programs for children with learning disabilities and organizing sensory-friendly events at her local schools. These experiences continuously honed her craft for promoting access and self-discovery through the arts. Whether on stage, in a circus tent, or both, Rianna is passionate about guiding students toward their goals with an individualized approach.