James Schubert is the founder and director of The Acrofabulous Circus. He first became involved with circus arts in 1997 at The Actor's Gymnasium in Evanston, where he completed their Certification Program in 2001. He then began high flying trapeze with Julio and Gloria of The Flying Gaona's, and later became an instructor at their gym. Concurrently James trained with Sports Acrobatics Coach, Nourbol Meirmanov, and maintains his membership as a Sports Acrobatics team member. He also volunteered and worked instructing for CircEsteem and The Chicago Youth Circus for several years. Beginning in 2002, James began creating and directing a new children's circus summer camp for the Skokie Park District which has enjoyed outstanding success! James holds a degree in Germanic Studies from the University of Illinois as well as a BFA in Film Production from San Francisco State University. He has also been in several independent circus performances, vaudeville shows, theatre performances, TV commercials, dance collaborations and has an extensive history of musical performance starting from a very young age.
Dharmesh Bhagat introduces juggling into his and others' lives as much as he can. He performs as a juggler regularly, and among many other things, has done performances with the Midnight Circus, Acrofabulous Circus, and Vaudeville Underground in addition to working as a freelance performer around the Chicago area. He has also taught for the Chicago Youth Circus and Circ Esteem.
Amy Chen received extensive ballet training as a child at the Royal Academy of Dance and Vaganova methods. She received a bachelor of science degree from the University of Michigan in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, and more recently a law degree from the Chicago-Kent College of Law. Amy began her study of trapeze in 2001, and also studies acrobatics with Nourbol Meirmanov. Amy has taught circus-arts with Circesteem, and The Adler Danztheatre and currently teaches for The Acrofabulous Circus, Joel Hall Dance Center and The Skokie Park District. In her free time, Amy is an intellectual property lawyer and breaths fire.
David Chervony hones the mad circus skills! He's been learning and practicing circus arts since the tender age of eight! He's been in over a dozen theatrical productions, several film productions, and of course, many circus productions for Acrofabulous, or other special events. David's focus on the Diabolo (a Chinese yo-yo), has made him the focal point of several workshops, birthdays, events or other performances. David is in the class of 2009 at Niles West High School, where he presides as the president of their juggling club.
Laura DeGood began practicing circus arts at the Actor's Gymnasium in 1996 when she was nine years old. While having a strong foundation in ground work (tumbling, unicycling, sports acrobatics, etc) she specializes in aerial work. Laura began flying trapeze at the age of 15 under the instruction of Julio and Gloria Gaona of the Flying Gaona's Gym, and is currently a teacher there. She is now attending the University of California at Santa Barbara pursuing her B.A. in Sociocultural Linguistics and French minor.
Rachel Dubrow found her way to The Acrofabulous Circus with her multitude of relative talents in theater, comedy, dance, acrobatics, gymnastics, children's programs and more. She Joins Acrofabulous in several capacities, including performing, teaching, producing, and directing. With a strong focus on the aerial arts, such as trapeze and lyra, Rachel has hit the stage in a variety of circus productions with passion, exhibiting her natural abilities and showmanship. Most recently, she was the assistant director for the Skokie Park District's locally famous Circus Camp, where she was part of directing two different casts of 48 children in their own circus production. She does this on a regular basis too! At Starland Creativity Center in Deerfield, IL, Rachel has been cranking out fabulous theatrical productions with all-youth casts, in addition to making hundreds of kids very happy in celbrating their birthdays.
Pete Erickson Pete Erickson first started circus arts at the age of 11 at the Actor's Gymnasium after being a competitive gymnast in Wilmette, IL from the age of eight. At the age of 13 he started training with circus and sports acrobatics coach, Nourbol Meirmanov, and later joined Nourbol's team as a Men's Pair flyer, and then again as the flyer for his 4-man team. Having tasted flying trapeze with The Flying Gaonas at the age of 12, he moved on to work for them by the time he was 18. All along, Pete performed shows for Meirmanov's Sports Acrobatics, The Flying Gaonas, Vaudeville Underground, The Acrofabulous Circus, Circus Juventus and at numerous other special events. In 2007 and 2008 Pete cheered for The University of Minnesota, and ranked 8th in the UCA National Competition. He also appeared on the stage of Ballet Legere's Nutcracker as the Harlequin. Pete's key talents remain in the acrobatic world, including floor tumbling, trampoline, Russian Bar, hand balancing, adagio, flying trapeze and cheerleading, yet he is also skilled in juggling, unicycle, diabolo and physical comedy. Pete graduated from New Trier High School in 2007, and is pursuing his college degree in Chicago.
Jake Ganellen Jake entered the world of circus arts when he signed up for flying trapeze lessons with The Flying Gaona's in Chicago at the age of 11, and before he could turn twelve he was on the stage performing static double trapeze. Currently an accomplished and medaled gymnast and Niles West Class of 2009, Jake's interest in acrobatics take him beyond the world of a gymnastics studio. In the snow-capped mountains of any region of the world, Jake can be found speeding down a black-diamond trail on his snowboard, or riding the trick-course terrain. His thirst for adreanaline cannot be quenched. Additionally, Jake has skilled himself with a wide variety of circus arts such as the rolling globe, juggling, poi, fire-poi, acrobatics and diabolo. Jake spends his summers working at the Acrofabulous directed Skokie Park District Circus Camp as an Aerial & Tumbling Specialist.
Kacin Menendez grew up in a leotard in rural North Carolina practicing artistic gymnastics and eventually power tumbling and trampoline at Sandhills Academy of Gymnastics (SAG). Subsequently, she now has a general aversion toward shoes. She began coaching gymnastics at SAG at the age of fourteen. At fifteen, she won the national gold medal on trampoline in Sacramento, CA. It was at this point that she discovered the joys of live theatre, and threw herself into that as well. Over the next few years, she struggled to find a satisfying balance between her two greatest passions. Upon graduating high school, she came to Chicago to attend Northwestern University as a theatre major. After one term on Northwestern's Club Gymnastics Team and another term completely immersed in theatrical productions, Kacin finally discovered the glorious fusion of art and athletics in circus arts at the Actor's Gymnasium in the spring of 2007. Since then, she has dabbled in as much circus as she can get her hands on, learning from such organizations as the Actor's Gymnasium, The Flying Gaona's Trapeze, Meirmanov Sports Acrobatics, 500 Clown, and Ameba Aerial Dance. Although she has tried everything from tight rope walking to flying trapeze to German Wheel to clowning, her focus is in aerial circus arts, acrobatics, and tumbling. Kacin is in the graduating class of 2010 from Northwestern University, and maintains her Sports Acrobatics Team Membership with Meirmanov Sports Acrobatics - Chicago, and she loves coaching in Chicago-land with The Acrofabulous Circus!
Alyssa Petrovna S. loves to speak russian to her parrot while in a handstand on a trapeze. Well, not quite, but she is well versed in floor acrobatics including handbalancing and flexibility, thanks to her coach, Nourbol Meirmanov, and has a number of years of static trapeze training under her belt. She also speaks russian, and has attended both The Russian State Univeristy for Humanities in Moscow Russia, and graduated from Beloit College in Wisconsin.
Eric Robinson entered the world of circus arts by starting with sports acrobatics and gymnastics in 2003 when he met coach, Nourbol Meirmanov, in Chicago, IL. He quickly joined Meirmanov's Chicago Sports Acrobatics Team as a base for the 4-man team that went on to win two Gold Medals in the Regional and National U.S. Sports Acrobatics Competitions. At the same time, he was introduced to circus arts at The Acrofabulous Circus and put his talents to work at the Acrofabulous directed Circus Summer Camp with The Skokie Park District in 2005. Eric then trained with the Flying Gaonas as a catcher starting in 2006, where he also worked as a catcher at the Gaona's public trapeze classes. Eric graduated from Corliss High School in 2006, and both attended and worked for the Gallery 37 AAEP Program. Presently as a gymnastics coach, Eric works at Maywood Fine Arts in Maywood, as well as for Lakeshore Gymnastics Academy in Chicago. Eric is also a performer and instructor for The Acrofabulous Circus. Eric has also performed with MSA Circus Arts, Pacific Island Productions and Forms in Motion. Eric is the graduating class of 2010 from East West University in Chicago earning his BA in Graphic Design and Computer Science.