Testimonials

May 2, 2022: Quoted with permission: "It's Penelope Carr, mom of Sarah Carr - WCAAF 1st Annual All Around Champion 2013. I know that it's been such a long time, I hope that you are doing well. We are doing well. Sarah has been performing professionally for almost 6 years now. Can you believe it? She'll be 24 in September. She started on a cruise ship in Florida, then Beatles Love at the Mirage, and she is currently working in Absinthe at Caesars Palace. I think that having the WCAAF competition results on her resume really helped her land her first job when she didn't have a lot of professional experience. " ------------------ Nov. 14, 2014:  Sarah Carr competed in the 1st Annual West Coast Aerial Arts Festival (2013), awarded the Overall Winner,  1st Place in Silk and 1st Place in Lyra - Amateur Division (ages 13-17). Her first experience competing in aerial, this motivated her and boosted her self confidence. Sarah started training at twelve in Las Vegas, Nevada, and exclusively training with lyra until after three months later, she began taking silk classes as well. Together, her mother (a retired professional dancer) and Sarah develop new routines, adding more advanced moves and drops to her repertoire. Sarah also takes ballet, hand balancing and contortion, and she dabbles in hula hooping when she has free time.  Sarah has performed at Circo Etereo's productions and has nothing but gratitude for the opportunity and the experience, which has encouraged her to continue her pursuit of performing professionally. The Circo Etereo have set a standard as to what Sarah should expect from her future endeavors as a performer, and Sarah looks forward to performing with them again.  When Sarah isn't training, she attends college classes through a local State high school program, earning credits toward a degree in computer science.

Mariah Wise has been training and performing in aerial arts since 2013. She specializes in aerial hoop and aerial silks. Mariah began her training at the age of 13 with Metro Movement Aerial Arts. She is currently training with Circus Arts and Antigravity. Mariah has also trained with École Nationale de Cirque during their Summer Camp for two years in a row. Mariah was honored to compete for her first time at the West Coast Aerial Arts in 2014. She was awarded 1st in her category, 13-17 amateur Lyra. Mariah also competed last year, 2015, and won not only 1st in her category again, but also 1st overall. Mariah would like to thank West Coast Aerial Arts for everything.

"I felt that the scholarship was very helpful and it encouraged me to take more classes. The scholarship also allowed me to take different classes and let my knowledge expand. For example, I added the trapeze class that I have always wanted to try.  I feel very honored to be the first batch of ambassadors for AAA. It motivated me to train harder and work to meet the potential AAA saw in me. I will post information about our events and overall school on social media. (Mostly, Instagram because I do not have any others). The benefits of being an AAA scholar is being given opportunities that I wouldn't have had otherwise. For instance, I took the summer intensive, which I most likely would not have been able to take without the scholarship."

The scholarship program has allowed me to achieve more than I could have ever dreamed. Sponsoring scholarship students through Aerial Arts America, the generosity of the Ruby Karen Project, has allowed me to take private lessons and participate in workshops at the West Coast Aerial Arts Festival. Learning from amazing and renowned instructors has excelled my training. The scholarship audition process helped me meet new students from many studios and challenged my skills as an aerialist. I highly suggest to any young students to apply for the scholarship, I believe the extra training helped to excel my performance abilities and allowed me to reach new goals. Also, I suggest taking as many workshops as possible, learning from a variety of instructors is important for young performers to experience. As an inspiring performer I saw that each instructor had their own unique style and exposed me to multiple aerial apparatus (silks, hoop, hammock, trapeze, and more).

"An outstanding opportunity for sharing new information, new techniques and building new relationships.  Clearly made me focus and realize just how important even the simplest of techniques is and how it impacts the outcome of a performance or a trick.  It made me get serious about aerial. Being part of the larger community is a beautiful thing!!!  The camaraderie is fantastic!  Everybody is supportive for all – young and old.  One gets to share ideas, methods, techniques, observe other artists / competitors and their creations.  Set new expectations and future goals higher – always raising the bar!  Participating or not, I like getting to know new people, visiting with friends I don’t get to see often, making new friends and participating in the workshops presented by guest instructors.  Just fabulous!"