Jen is a founding member of A-WOL Dance Collective. She wears many hats at A-WOL, but she absolutely adores her role as an artistic director and company member. As a lover of collaborative creation and the exploration of combining floor work with aerial movement, A-WOL brings completion to her life! Her background and training include Pendulum Aerial Arts, Polaris Dance Theatre and a number of amazing choreographers and instructors in the western states including Mary Hunt and Jayne Persch. She also enjoys teaching aerial, dance and aerial yoga and her most recent endeavor includes her Aerial Yoga Teacher Training, Soulaira, that she co-founded with Jessica Baker in 2014. In Jen's spare time she maintains her registration as a dietitian, runs a sheet metal company, attempts multiple coffee dates with her husband each week and is raising her two children, Rustin and Sienna. 

Alicia is a native Oregonian and has been dancing since the day she was born on this soil. Alicia holds a degree from the University of Oregon in Communication Disorders and Sciences and Psychology. She is quite busy at A-WOL holding many positions including Co-Director of the Company, Director of Circus Rose (A-WOL’s entertainment company) and Gym Rat. She has trained many dance disciplines including jazz, modern, hip hop, ballet and contemporary movement. Since becoming an aerialist in adulthood, she has become a very passionate instructor and has trained with some of her favorite creative athletes such as Alex Allan, Deena Marcum Selko, Serenity Smith Forchion, Susan Murphy, Valerie Morris, and Elsie Smith. Her focuses include dance, partner acrobatics, rope, fabric, and lyra but she welcomes on any new apparatus when challenged to do so. Alicia’s favorite aspect of A-WOL is the fusion of dance, acrobatics, and aerial included in productions.

Angela grew up in dance studios and on gymnastics floors, but her real passion was jumping rope. She performed and traveled as part of a jump rope team all through middle and high school. This is how she realized her love of the stage! Years later she took up partner acrobatics and aerial dance. As an adult she has found that these art forms feed her soul in a way that nothing else can. So much so that she has chosen the path of teacher and coach as well as performer. She performs as an acrobat with Tempos Contemporary Circus and is honored to be in the air as part of A-WOL Dance Collective!

Kim is originally from Eugene Oregon and fell in love with dancing at a young age. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in dance from the University or Oregon in 2014 where she spent her time performing in multiple shows, teaching, and touring with the University of Oregon Repertory Dance Company as a lighting designer. Kim served as a board member for a student organization called Dance Oregon, helping to provide opportunities for dancers outside of the University setting. Her continued studies include the winter American Dance Festival, Joe Goode's summer dance intensive, AWOL Dance Collectives’ adult professional aerial training program FlyCo, and studying the gaga movement language at the Suzanne Dellal Centre in Tel Aviv, Israel. In her free time she enjoys a good pun, hiking, skiing, spending time with her husband, and pulling pranks on her closest friends.

Beth, originally from Portland, Oregon, started taking classes at A-WOL in 2014 and began performing with the company in 2020. When it comes to dance she loves watching old Hollywood tap dancing the most. You will also find Beth coaching at A-WOL for Aeros, FlyCo and our adult recreational classes.

Jessie has been with A-WOL for over 8 years. She has performed as a guest artist in Art in the Dark four times, 2026 will be here first year as a company member performing. She grew up in Southern Oregon, spent many years away, and then moved back to Oregon to raise her daughter. She specializes in aerial dance, but her favorite type of dance to watch is really talented salsa dancers. The thing Jessie loves most about performing is that in those moments on stage, in the air, the rest of the world melts away. All of life’s little stresses and chores are gone and she is absolutely focused on what she is doing and what or who she is holding onto. It’s an experience she doesn’t get to replicate in her everyday life.

2025 was Tia’s second year swinging from the trees in A-WOL’s Art in the Dark! Originally from the very rectangular state of Colorado, Tia’s background was anything but square. She grew up flipping, dancing, and soaring through the air, training in gymnastics, power tumbling, trampoline, and dance. As a professional, she has left her sweat mark on many stages, trapezes and trampolines, performing and teaching with companies like Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Do Jump! Extremely Physical Theater, Polaris Dance Theatre, POV Dance, SubRosa Dance Collective and A-WOL Dance Collective.When she’s not defying gravity on stage, Tia runs Trampoline Town, a circus studio in southwest where she teaches aerial arts, trampoline, and acrobatics to the next generation of circus stars. She’s also a founding member of Portland Dance Film Fest, serving as Director of Operations. Tia shares her colorful world with 2 energetic kids, 2 demure cats, 1 loyal dog, 1 chill lizard, and 1 very supportive husband.

Makena first performance with AWOL was in 2022 in the show Glass Shadows. Originally from Canby, Oregon, she danced at Allegro Dance Studio during her childhood. She specializes in ballet and contemporary, and loves learning and progressing with aerial dance. Makena’s dancing is inspired by the music’s story. To her it is the job of dancers to portray what the music wants. When that story is found, both the dancers and the audience can feel it!

Amy Russell was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she studied and danced competitively. She continued her training at Western Michigan University, where she graduated from the Lee Honors College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in dance and a minor in entrepreneurship in 2018. Amy has also received training from artists at the Pillow Project, METdance Company, SALT Contemporary Dance, and the American College Dance Festival, where she has presented choreography. She has performed and worked with artists like Brendan Duggan, Adam McGaw, Slowdanger, AWOL, and Katie Burks, as well as performed at the theme park Kings Island.

Katterin, also known as Exotickat, first encountered A-WOL in 2021 and first performed with A-WOL in the After Hours show. In 2022, she was invited back and debuted her first flying pole act. She performed in Art in the Dark: Drop of a Hart in 2023 and is back again this year for Art in the Dark. Originally from Lima, Peru, Katterin started her dance journey with ballet and contemporary dance and soon discovered pole dance. She loves dancing in heels—it's one of her favorite things that pole has given her! Right now, Kat’s pole teacher, Belen Serra, is a huge inspiration with her enviable discipline and strength. Additionally all of Katterin’s castmates are pure, raw inspiration for her!

Jess has been fascinated by how the body moves through space since childhood, beginning her dance journey in a small studio near the Ozarks at age 8. She later found her way to yoga, where she developed a deeper sense of embodiment and connection that continues to shape her movement today. Her background also includes acro yoga and flow arts, with a special love for hula hoops as a playful extension of her dance roots. After first encountering aerial at A-WOL’s Art in the Dark in 2019, Jess felt an immediate pull to the air. She began training soon after, and after a pandemic pause, returned with a renewed dedication that led her back to the stage after a 10 year break. She performed in A-WOL’s Spring Soirée in 2025 and is honored to now be an apprentice in the company for Art in the Dark 2026. In 2022, Jess began highlining, deepening her relationship to balance, presence, and trust, threads that weave through all of her movement practices. Alongside her work as a massage therapist/bodyworker, she approaches movement as both art and lived experience. Outside of the studio, Jess can often be found exploring the Pacific Northwest in her camper van with her dogs, embracing the outdoors and any opportunity to play or frolic.

Stanislava, originally from Kyiv, Ukraine, has loved performing from a young age, participating in school plays and exploring acting, singing, and a variety of dance styles. Theatre and performance have always been an important part of her life. Her dance background includes classical ballroom dance and Spanish flamenco. After discovering aerial arts, she found the perfect combination of everything she loves: artistic expression, athleticism, and physical strength. A self-described adrenaline enthusiast, Stanislava is especially drawn to vertical aerial apparatuses for their height, dynamic movement, and thrilling drops. As an alumna of AWOL Dance Collective’s adult professional aerial training program, FlyCo, she is honored to be part of Art in the Dark 2026.