Jessica Hentoff is the Artistic/Executive Director and founder of Circus Harmony. Ms. Hentoff has been teaching and performing circus arts for 50 years! She has been using circus arts to motivate social change since she founded the St. Louis Arches youth circus troupe in 1988. To expand youth circus opportunities for St. Louis youth, she created Circus Harmony in 2001.
Jessica is the only person to be a founding member of both the Big Apple Circus in NYC and Circus Flora in St. Louis. In 2009, Ms. Hentoff was named St. Louis Arts Innovator of the Year and Outstanding Arts Educator of the Year. Ms. Hentoff serves as a founding board member of the American Circus Alliance, on the steering committee of the Global Alliance of Circus Schools, and as youth/social circus advisor to the World Circus Federation. She was a judge for the International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo in 2012. In 2014, she was honored to be the first person to receive the American Youth Circus Organization/American Circus Educators’ Excellence in Circus Education Award. She is the 2020 recipient of the Youth Learning Institute’s Youth Development Practitioner Award.
Ms. Hentoff’s remarkable vision and use of circusarts has brought about ground-breaking and bridge-building programs such as Circus Salaam Shalom, Far East Meets Midwest, and Peace Through Pyramids. These trademarks of Circus Harmony are the embodiment of the organization's mission to help children "defy gravity, soar with confidence, and leap over social barriers, all at the same time."
Elliana has been in the circus since before she could even walk. Her first entry into a circus ring was on the back of an elephant at 2 months old! Raised in St. Louis, Missouri as a member of Circus Harmony’s elite youth troupe – the Arches – with additional education at the École de Cirque de Québec, she has performed and taught in Montreal, Israel, Dubai, and throughout America.
She has extensive experience in such disciplines as lira (solo and duo), static and flying trapeze, tumbling, hula hoops, bareback horse riding, upside-down loop walking, and more. In 2013, she toured as Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey’s youngest-ever female human cannonball.
Elliana currently performs her 30-minute one-woman show at the City Museum of St. Louis. Her performance style combines skill, technical precision, and wholesome entertainment values with comedy and Broadway-style musicality and showmanship.
Rosa is both an honored Artist and a citizen of Mongolia. While she has done and taught every circus act you can think of (including partner acrobatics on the back of a yak), her specialties are contortion and hand balancing. Rosa is world famous as a performer and choreographer of acts that are a creation of beauty, strength, creativity, and control of the human body.
Her acts have won accolades from around the world, including silver medals at the Monte Carlo International Circus Festival, the Paris Young Actors Festival, the Italian International Circus Festival, the Hungarian World Circus Arts Festival, and more.
Operations Manager, Wire, Physical Comedy, Aerials, Flying Trapeze
Briland fell into the Circus at Florida State University quite by accident. A friend was too nervous to audition alone, and Briland volunteered to go with him. Nine years later, Briland is still pursuing his passion of flying high.
While focused mostly on flying trapeze, Briland has also performed on the high wire, teeterboard, low casting, and as a clown.
After leaving the Flying High circus, Briland moved to St. Louis to work with the world famous Circus Harmony and their Peace Through Pyramids Project as a coach and head rigger. During this time, he also worked for Trapeze STL as a coach and performed his own one-man show.
Briland left St. Louis for a few years, and in the meantime worked with Flying Colors trapeze in Minnesota. He is excited to return with Circus Harmony to share his experiences, and to continue inspiring other performers to reach for the sky and to defy gravity and other limitations!
Frankie Watson was born in St. Louis Missouri. She has been dancing since age 2. With dance as her major she attended Carr Lane visual and performing arts middle school and Central visual and performing arts high school. After graduating in 2003 she went on to further her education receiving a BA in dance from Lindenwood University.
In 2008 Frankie moved to Los Angeles California where she signed with Clear Talent Group and had the opportunity to work with Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Kelly Rowland, Willow Smith, Cee Lo Green, Lil Momma, Nick Jr's "Fresh Beat Band, and more. In 2015 Frankie performed with the Black Rep in the musical "Tell Me Something Good." She recently spent a year serving as Director and Lead Choreographer fir Klassique Dance Academy in Anguilla, Caribbean and returned to St. Louis and Circus Harmony in 2023.
Cecilia was a student and performer at Circus Harmony in middle school and high school. She graduated with a degree in Comparative Race and Ethnic Studies from the University of Chicago, where she performed and taught aerials classes with the student group Le Vorris and Vox Circus.
She is thrilled to be back at Circus Harmony teaching aerials, and is currently pursuing her Masters in Social Work at Washington University Brown School.
The St. Louis Arches are the premier youth performance troupe from Circus Harmony, St. Louis’ only social circus school. Circus Harmony uses the teaching and performing of circus arts to motivate social change.
The Arches are currently comprised of young people 8 –to 19 years old from throughout the St. Louis area along with guest Arches form Germany and Puerto Rico! These acclaimed and accomplished young people appear year-round in their ’home ring’ at City Museum as well as at events throughout St. Louis and beyond. The Arches perform a wide variety of circus arts including acrobatic, aerial, juggling, and balancing feats of skill and daring.
In 2007, the Arches started their first Peace Through Pyramids partnership with a Jewish/Arab youth circus in Israel. This past summer, the St. Louis Arches are formed a new partnership with the Social Circus Program of the National Circus School of Puerto Rico! Alumni form this group can be seen touring the world with Cirque du Soleil, 7 Fingers, The Flying Wallendas, Circa Contemporary Circus from Australia and other companies.
These young people show that when you concentrate on what connects you instead of what divides you, together you can create something amazing!
Kathy has over a decade of work experience in operations management and fundraising for non-profit arts organizations including The St. Louis Children's Choirs, the Arts & Education Council of Greater St. Louis, Moonstone Theatre Company, and the St. Louis Christmas Carols Association. She briefly worked in the box office for Circus Flora many years ago, and found a love and appreciation for circus arts.
Kathy is a graduate of Webster University with a combined degree in History and International Relations. She has a deep love for St. Louis and is committed to using the performing arts and education to build bridges across our differences.
Kellin uniquely combines object manipulation, acrobatic dance and quirky comedy. Kellin Quinn is a local, national and international award-winning juggler who graduated from Ecole Nationale de Cirque in 2018.
In addition to being an alumni of Circus Harmony and the St. Louis Arches, Kellin was half of legendary The Awesome Brothers (with his brother Keaton Hentoff-Killian) and has performed with Quartour Stomp, Circus Flora, Flynn Creek Circus, Empire Circus and at numerous Juggling Festivals.
Kellin was featured as the juggling mad scientist in Circus Flora 2013 production of “A Trip to the Moon” and as the young King Arthur in Flora’s 2012 Camelot-based “The Wizard.” In December 2021, Kellin was voted the #7 juggler in the world by other jugglers.
In addition to his creative, comedic, and captivating one man show, Kellin and his partner, Danielle Saulnier perform together as Doop.
Kyran Walton
Circus Harmony performed at Kyran’s school around the time that he was 8 and he immediately begged his mom to sign him up for classes. Kyran became fairly advanced in contortion, hand-balancing, juggling, acrobatics, trapeze, unicycle, wire, banquine, and hand-to-hand. Kyran performed in over 1,000 shows from St. Louis to Monte Carlo, Israel, Puerto Rico, New Orleans Jazz fest, Washington D.C, New York and many more.
He is currently a student at Ecole Nationale de Cirque where he is majoring in straps and partner acrobatics. Kyran and his long-time Circus Harmony partner, Oliver Layher, perform as the KO Duo and will be graduating from ENC June 2022!
Oliver started with Circus Harmony when they were teaching at his Waldorf elementary school. He enjoyed it so much he started attending Circus Harmony where he was performed diabolo, partner acrobatics, aerial acts, unicycle, juggling and more. Oliver was part of the elite St. Louis Arches youth circus troupe and performed with them at the Smithsonian 2017 Folk Festival. He and his hand-to-hand partner, Kyron Walton also had the honor of performing in Monte Carol in front of Princess Stephanie on World Circus Day 2018.
He is currently a student at Ecole Nationale de Cirque where he is majoring in dance trapeze and partner acrobatics. Oliver and his Circus Harmony partner, Kyron Walton, aka the KO Duo will be graduating from ENC June 2022!
Laura Lippert
Laura Lippert is an aerialist, actor, dancer, acrobat, performance artist, and teacher. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has described her work as “a spectacle so mesmerizing, it leaves the audience in awe.”
Laura has toured around the world, bringing a beautiful mélange of both traditional and contemporary technique to her audiences. Today, Laura continues to push herself to explore the new and the unusual while maintaining a strong foundation in the traditions of her trade. Her performances are skillful, amicable and generous; she demonstrates old-school technical mastery, profound artistry, and a deep sense of fun, all at the same time.