Maya Anavim was originally born in New York City, New York. While living there she took up dancing, and quickly fell in love with the style of Modern. At age five she joined the DanceWave Youth Company in Brooklyn New York, taking classes in ballet and modern for two years. After moving on from DanceWave at age eight she began taking ballet and modern at Creative Arts Dance Studio, shortly after joining their student modern company. After Covid-19 began she moved to Charlotte with her parents and two sisters and began taking silks at CC&Co., and fell in love with circus and the atmosphere at Charlotte Cirque and Dance shortly after. Maya is now thirteen years old and in seventh grade, and attends Northwest School of Arts as a dance and Ballet major. She looks forward to learning new apparatuses and continuing to be a part of the student company.

Mahalia Esposito Bio coming soon.

Emerson Kelley Bio coming soon.

Payton Kelley Payton has loved tumbling and performance as long as she can remember.  She started competitive gymnastics at the age of 6 and trained/competed until COVID impeded her progress.  In 2021, she discovered Charlotte Cirque and Dance and she has not looked back since. She began her training in Aerial Silks and Partner Acrobatics with her twin sister, Emerson, and since then she has participated in CC&D Creation Lab where she experienced dance, choreography, aerial silks and acrobatics.  She is eager to continue her cirque and dance training and especially looks forward to the performances.  This year she has quickly realized her enjoyment of dance and choreography and is excited to learn the many forms of dance while incorporating aerial silks and partner acrobatics.  Payton is now 14 years old and in 8th grade.  While not training at CC&D, she enjoys traveling with her family, snowboarding and home design.

Kiana Pieters has always loved movement, singing, dancing, and most of all—flying. She grew up in Mexico, always staying active and dabbling in dance and gymnastics. She fell in love with Aerial Silks the moment she first saw them, and from then on dreamt of one day being able to train and perform. Now, after graduating college in 2021, she is thrilled to finally be fully pursuing her life-long aerialist and cirque dreams. She trains at Charlotte Cirque & Dance Center, focusing on Silks, Lyra, German Wheel, and Contemporary Dance, and continues to enjoy learning and discovering new disciplines and skills. Kiana has experience teaching all ages and many subjects—from guitar and singing to animal care and horseback riding—and is honored to be able to share her passion for cirque with others. She hopes to bring joy and life to people everywhere, and she loves building others up and inspiring them to be their best on their own unique journeys.

Edie Pryll has been performing circus arts for six years. She began classes with CCDC in 2016 and has jumped at every opportunity to perform with them since. She is a senior at Myers Park High School and looks forward to continuing her circus career after high school. 

Lydia Schmidt has been dancing since age two, training in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Acro, and Contemporary. She discovered cirque training at age six and loved how it combined Dance, Acro, and climbing like a monkey. Lydia has performed with Elite Academy of Dance and Imagine Youth Theater in Pinehurst, NC. She appeared in the 2021 production of Clara's Trip. She has enjoyed performing in Charlotte festivals such as Festival in the Park and Fall for Matthews. Lydia hopes to someday learn flying trapeze and teeterboard. She is a fifth grader at Beverly Woods Elementary. When she is not doing cirque, Lydia likes to do crafts and play with friends.

Savanah Wilson is currently a senior at Ardrey Kell High School. They found their love for dance early on and joined the circus world not long after that. They grew up taking Tap, Jazz, Ballet, and Contemporary and then began the circus program at Caroline Calouche & Co. on the Silks apparatus. By the age of 13, they were certain that a circus based career was the right path for them. Savanah has studied a variety of circus skills including Aerial Silks, Lyra, Trapeze, Partner Acro, and Chinese Pole. Recently they have added loops and fire eating and spinning to their repertoire. Savanah plans to spend 1-2 years at circus school in the US with the hopes of continuing that education in Europe at a superior school. Afterwards, they dream of opening up their own performance company and school. With a strong love of teaching, they can’t wait to share their knowledge of circus and dance with others. Savanah currently teaches Silks, Trapeze, and Partner Acro at Charlotte Cirque and Dance Center, which has only made their love for teaching grow.  Over the years, Savanah has performed in many different productions. They played Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, Glinda in The Wizard of Oz, and many more, including last year's rendition of Clara’s Trip by Caroline Calouche & Co. They are more than thrilled to make their return for Clara’s Trip 2022!

Shay Yara is a high school Junior at Charlotte Teacher Early College. He was raised in the Charlotte theater community performing in various shows in the Charlotte area. He was a gymnast for 8 years and eventually retired to pursue circus arts at Charlotte Cirque and Dance Center. Shay fell in love with the Circus community so much he decided to pursue it professionally. He plans on graduating early as a junior to go to circus prep school hoping to eventually apply for circus universities abroad to get his BFA in circus. You may have seen him in last year’s performance of Clara’s Trip as a monkey or in Charlotte Cirque and Dance’s Wizard of Oz student production as the Wicked Witch. Shay couldn’t be more excited for this opportunity and thanks all his friends and family for their endless support!