Who we are

Versatile Arts was started by one person but runs through the enthusiastic participation of many! Here are some of the folks you will find when you come to the Cathedral for classes or open gym.

	Beverly Sobelman, Director, Instructor, Impresario Three of the things Beverly loves to do: performing, teaching, and putting on shows. How lucky she is to have a job where she gets to do all three. You can learn more about her in the Sept 2010 issue of O Magazine!
	Sandy, Instructor Sandy loves challenging herself.   The more impossible something looks, the more she wants to learn it.   She loves working on the rope and is slowly learning to love the tissu, too.
	Lauren, Instructor Lauren (aka the Sling Maven) has been learning aerial since January 2008. She has dabbled in dance for most of her life, and more recently studied Wushu and Tai Chi Chen. Her apparatus of choice are the sling and static trapeze. She quite enjoys teaching, because she wants to share her love of aerial with everyone, and also because she is, at heart, very bossy. (Lauren is currently enrolled in the intensive circus arts program at NECCA in Brattleboro, VT but comes back to Seattle when she can to offer workshops and private lessons.)
	Tamara, Instructor Tamara the Trapeze Lady started her aerial experience as a dancer with famed Seattle choreographer/dancer/inventor Robert Davidson. Her subsequent exploration took her around the country for classes and workshops at the SF Circus Center with lots of famous and talented people. She began teaching aerial dance in 1995 at her own studio in Pioneer Square and has performed around the U.S. and Canada as well as Spain, Portugal, and Thailand. Tamara has been teaching circus style aerial at Versatile Arts for the last year, while continuing her own neverending journey of skill building with the amazing array of talented instructors that Beverly has sponsored at V.A.
	Courtnee, Instructor Courtnee Papastathis brings 8 years aerial experience to her teaching at Versatile Arts. She performs as Zita the Aerialist, known for her powerful and edgy aerial acts. Courtnee’s focus in teaching aerial is ushering beginners into the world of aerial expression. Once over that threshold, focus becomes character development, choreography, transitions and storytelling through use of aerial skills.
	Nancy, Instructor Nancy Neyhart, AKA “Hoop Girl” has been an aerialist for 7 years, with early training in corde lisse, circus trapeze, rings, tissu and lyra. Even with years of studying various apparatus, Nancy’s first love remains her true love – the lyra. She is drawn to its symmetry, its ability to spin and simply for the physical challenges it presents. In the spring of 2008, soon after the arrival of her son, Nancy began teaching lyra. She has taught at the Circus Arts Institute in Atlanta under the guidance of Carrie Heller, author of “Aerial Circus Training and Safety Manual”, she had her own private students in Avondale Estates, GA and she is excited to be teaching lyra at Versatile Arts. Nancy also enjoys teaching students brand new to the aerial arts saying, “My most treasured aerial trophies are the accomplishments of my students.”
	Kim, Instructor Kimberly fell madly in love with aerials during her first class, and quickly started showing up at the studio any time Beverly would let her in. She loves working to find a marriage between burly and pretty, anything that is really really fast, and proving to students that they can do things they never imagined they could. .
	Michele, Adjunct Instructor Michele is a physical therapist, Pilates instructor, and certified strength training specialist. She has been teaching and performing aerial arts nationally for since 2005. With an extensive background in human anatomy and kinesiology, she specializes in aerial silks, single and double point sling (aka hammock), and rope. Michele has been on the Versatile Arts staff since 2010, offering sling, conditioning, rope and tissu classes as well has private lessons. Her advanced knowledge in injury prevention, body mechanics, neurodynamics, conditioning techniques, and alignment enables her to help students acquire fitness goals and aerial skills that they never thought they could. Currently relocated to Austin, Texas- Michele is committed to frequent visits to Versatile Arts to teach and train. Learn more about her at Michelefrances.com.
	Elizabeth Rose is the founder and co-artistic director of ticktock, an unabashedly experimental post-modern aerial circus and dance company based in Seattle, WA. Originally from Austin, TX, she began her modern dance training with Darla Johnson in 1996. She spent ten years performing and studying in New York and L.A. before settling in Seattle in 2008, where she has worked with Manifold Motion, the Aerialistas, the Atomic Bombshells, Lily Verlaine, the Seattle Erotic Art Festival, the Moisture Festival, avant cellist Zoe Keating, Mezzo Lunatico for Teatro ZinZanni, Can Can Productions, and was invited to the prestigious Theatre Makers Residency at the Smoke Farm in 2011. Elizabeth is passionately committed to advancing the art of aerial movement beyond the realm of feats and tricks to a place that demands the fullest awareness of the body in performance. Keep up with her at lizaroseaerial.com and with her company at ticktockdance.com.
	Amy Turner Clem originally hails from Chicago, IL where she grew up studying dance and gymnastics. She attended the University of Illinois on a dance scholarship and received her BFA in 2000. After graduation, she headed out to Seattle where she began performing with LeGendre Performance and Crispin Spaeth Dance Group. In 2005 she started working with Amy O’Neal and Zeke Keeble’s locust, performing nationally and internationally until the company disbanded in 2010. She now performs with O’Neal’s AmyO/tinyrage, Ellie Sandstrom’s SANDSTROMMOVEMENT, and continues to hone her aerial skills on whatever apparatus strikes her fancy. She has taught ballet, modern, tap and hip hop for the last 17 years at universities and studios throughout the U.S. and is thrilled to begin teaching dance and aerial work at Versatile Arts.
	JennQ is perpetually motivated by physical learning and development. A long time rock climber, she is the co-owner of Vertical Girl (which you’ll find for sale at Versatile Arts); Vertical Girl exists to enhance the climbing community and support women who aspire to climb. Learn more at: VerticalGirl.com. She has been exploring movement through the aerial arts since 2008 through static trapeze, tiny ring, and tissu.