LU YI – Artistic Director and Director of Acrobatics

Master Trainer Lu Yi brings more than 50 years of experience to the CIRCUS CENTER. For 33 years he was associated with China's celebrated Nanjing Acrobatic Troupe, first as a star performer then as its Director. He was also Vice President of the Chinese Acrobats Association. During his long tenure with the Nanjing Acrobatic Troupe, Mr. Lu Yi has toured internationally and his company was the first Chinese group to perform in western circus productions, notably with Circus Knie in Switzerland, and the Big Apple Circus in the US. He taught circus arts for Circus Oz in Australia. Mr. Lu Yi moved to the US in 1990 to become Master Teacher and Artistic Director at CIRCUS CENTER, He has judged international circus competitions in Paris, Monte Carlo, and China.


ELENA PANOVA – Director, Aerial Arts

Born in Murom, Russia, Elena Panova is a graduate of Moscow’s Circus and Variety College, where she specialized as an aerialist. Under the guidance of the famous training tandem of Tereza Durova and Viktor Fomin, she created a groundbreaking swinging trapeze act that redefined swinging trapeze as it is performed today all over the world. Elena won a gold medal at Paris Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain in 1987, and a gold medal at the 1988 All-Union Circus Artists Competition For over twenty years, she performed in major circuses and variety shows on four continents, including the Moscow Circus, Circus Knie, Paris’ Cirque d’Hiver-Bouglione, and the Big Apple Circus. Elena moved to the United States in 1991. She started teaching at CIRCUS CENTER in 2004.


PAOLI LACY - Acting Director, Clown Conservatory

Paoli began her career as a clown appearing in theaters and circus rings around the world, including the Minskoff and St. James theaters on Broadway. As a director, Paoli has developed original works locally with the Dell’Arte Players Company, Miracle theater, Make-A-Circus, the New Pickle Circus, and Brava! She has directed over three dozen premiers and classic plays throughout the United States and internationally in such cities as Tokyo, London, Florence, and Port-au-Prince. The author of The Clown Therapy Handbook, Paoli is known as the God-mother of Clown Therapy. She has served on the faculty of the Dell’Arte School, the University of Miami, Ohio University, and the University of California at Santa Cruz. Paoli's education included training as a clown with Lotte Gosslar, and at the Oval House theater in London with Chris Harris and Nola Rae, an MFA from the University of Washington, and a diploma from Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Clown College.

XIAOHONG WENG – Assistant Director of Acrobatics

XiaoHong started learning acrobatics as a boy with the celebrated Nanjing Acrobatic Troupe in China. There he specialized in chair-balancing, Chinese pole, and hoop diving, which he performed with the Troupe throughout China from 1977-1994. He also became a teacher for the Troupe in 1986. From 1994 to 1996 he performed in two productions for Princess Cruise Lines, "Metamorphosis and Mystique", before joining the Dynamic Acrobats of China in "The Incredible Flying Dragon Show". He has since performed at Circus Circus Hotel and Casino in Reno, Nevada, at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Los Angeles, and in many productions and corporate events. Xiao Hong joined the faculty of CIRCUS CENTER in 1999.


HELENE TURCOTTE – Director, Aerial Studio Program

Born in the Province of Quebec, Canada, Hélène is a graduate of the National Circus School in Montreal, where she specialized in aerial arts. Together with partner Luc Martin, she created an innovative trapeze duet, " Mouvance", which was choreographed as a passionate aerial tango. Their incredible act received numerous international awards, including a Gold Medal at the Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain in Paris in 1989, and a Silver Clown at The International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo in 1997. Hélène and her partner toured for many years in Europe, Canada, Australia, and the United States. They have been regulars at San Francisco’s famous dinner-show, Teatro ZinZanni. Hélène has produced circus-cabaret productions at The Broadway Studio in San Francisco. She started teaching at CIRCUS CENTER in 2002.


SERCHMAA BYAMBA - Director, Contortion

Born in Mongolia and trained by legendary contortion teacher, Madam Tsend-Auysh, Serchmaa has performed her amazing contortion and balancing act around the world.


SCOTT CAMERON – Director, Flying Trapeze

A native Californian, Scott graduated from U.C.Berkeley with a degree in genetics. In1986, he left the laboratory to become a catcher on the flying trapeze at Club Med. He has since worked as a consultant, performer and teacher in eleven countries, helping to establish and expand the international Sport Trapeze Movement. In 1992, he joined the faculty at CIRCUS CENTER, where he designed the Flying Trapeze curriculum and served as head.

JIM DONAK (C.A.M.T, MPNLP) – Trampoline

Since he was 9, Jim has been fascinated the structure and movement of the human body. This has lead to a lifetime of studying anatomy, movement, and manual healing therapies. At age 14, he began studying Chinese martial arts, and at age 20, he started extensive training in the Alexander Technique. Jim's first introduction to circus arts was in 1980 when he began taking lessons on swinging trapeze. In 1987 he began working for Circus Of The Kids, a traveling circus school where his main teaching responsibilities were mini-trampoline, rope, pyramid building, and teeterboard. He performed an adagio Rolla Bolla act, a double trapeze act, and was catcher on the flying trapeze. (He was also the assistant director and head rigger.) Jim has been trained in the coaching of trampoline. Beside his teaching duties at CIRCUS CENTER, Jim teaches at the Acupressure Institute in Berkeley. He also maintains a private practice, which includes rehabilitative bodywork that integrates movement and orthopedic techniques with Tui Na and Thai massage. He also teaches educational workshops for Yoga instructors, body workers, dancers and others whose lives involve understanding the movement and structure of the human body.


JUDY FINELLI– Circus Skills and Juggling

Judy Finelli (Circus Skills & Circus History Specialist) co-founded the San Francisco School for Circus Arts (now CIRCUS CENTER) with Wendy Parkman. She was Artistic Director of The Pickle Family Circus from 1987 through 1990. She received a BFA in theater, film and television from NYU School of the Arts in 1970. Judy married Hovey Burgess, one of the seminal forces behind the New Circus Movement in America. They appeared in the Circo dell 'Arte, the Electric Circus, at Carnegie Hall (Lucio Berio concert), at theater for the New City, Artpark and in the 1974 International Mime Festival in La Crosse, WI. Judy's other circus credits include Merlin's Magic Circus, Circus Vargas, and The Pickle Family Circus. TV credits include Sesame Street, the Leon Bibb Show, Helluva Town, the Mike Douglas Show, and a KQED documentary about The Pickle Family Circus. She also appeared in Robert Atlman's film "Popeye". Judy has taught at NYU School of the Arts, Juilliard Drama School, ACT Summer Training Congress, The National theater School of Canada, Dell 'Arte School of Mime and Comedy, Brandeis College, Sarah Lawrence College, National theater of the Deaf, SUNY Binghamton, The Bathhouse theater and Ringling Clown College. Prior to founding the S.F. School for Circus Arts, Judy visited the Government School for Circus and Variety Arts in Moscow and Lecoq's Le Central in Paris to observe classes. She was a past President of the International Jugglers' Association.

DOMINIQUE JANDO – Circus Arts and Clown Conservatory

Dominique began his involvement with the performing arts more than four decades ago in his native France, when he first stepped into a circus ring as a clown at the legendary Cirque Medrano in Paris. After studying graphic design and film editing, he pursued an artistic and administrative career in both the theater and the circus. In 1974, as General Secretary of The Paris Cultural Center, he participated with Alexis Gruss in the first professional circus school, Le Cirque a l'Ancienne, which eventually became the French National Circus and is considered the catalyst of the "New Circus" movement.


KEMIN XIA – Acrobatics

Xia Kemin began learning acrobatics as a young boy in his native city of Shangai, China, with the Shangai Red Acrobatic Troupe. He later moved to Nanjing, where he became a member of the internationally renowned Nanjing Acrobatic Troupe, with which he performed all over the world as a clown, juggler, and acrobat. In the US, he was featured with the Troupe in "The Big Apple Circus Meets The Monkey King" at The Big Apple Circus in 1987. Xia moved to California in 1992 to join the teaching staff at CIRCUS CENTER. He has also performed his comedy-juggling act, “The Happy Chef” in venues throughout the bay Area.


JENNINGS McCOWN – Flying Trapeze

Jennings was introduced to circus while attending Illinois State University, which then had then a small campus circus troupe. He caught the “circus bug” and, upon graduation, spent the next three years traveling and performing with various small circuses throughout the US. He had a two-year career at Club Med, teaching circus skills and flying trapeze – which eventually led him to CIRCUS CENTER, where he joined the teaching staff in 1999. Jennings teaches flying trapeze and trampoline, and performs with Xiaohong Weng a spectacular hand-to-hand balancing act that has won over audiences throughout the Bay Area. 

Master Trainer Lu Yi pulling lines for a student attempting a difficult trick.

Staff

Michael Kesselman
Executive Director

Kathy Parks
Financial Manager

Nancy Weiland
Director of Operations

Peggy Ford
Dean of Students

Jeni Johnson
Director of Academic Affairs

Ruth Mankin
Education Consultant

Abraham Dover
Director of Special Projects

Texas “Kelly” Holly
Administrative Assistant & Summer Camp Director

Tonry Hughes
Payroll/Accounts Payable Administrator