Welcome
The Sky Box provides support and opportunities for aerial performers and operates New York City’s only dedicated aerial theater, in conjunction with the House of Yes. Created in response to the growing needs of the NYC aerial community, The Sky Box aims to provide aerialists with a comprehensive array of resources to enable top-notch performance from inception to post-production. The Sky Box/House of Yes theater houses a 30’ aerial truss with limitless rigging possibilities. We can proudly say that we run the full gamut of all the things that are circus. We host countless classes teaching circus skills and dance, provide opportunities for emerging aerialists to perform, put on full length circus-theater productions, welcome guest instructors, showcase traveling acts from all over the world and most importantly have fun facilitating all this.
Meet the Instructors
Nicki Miller
Silks and Sky Box Variety Shows
Nicki Miller is an actress and aerialist. At Sky Box she works as a performer, producer, manager and teacher. She has her undergraduate degree in Acting and has spent several years of working as a personal trainer. Because of these backgrounds, Nicki’s class combines mindfulness of how to use ones body with performative intention on the silk. Nicki enjoys being creative with aerial and how it can be used beyond circus for theatre and storytelling and encourages this type of unconventional approach to how her students personalize their own style when learning aerial tricks.
Anya Sapozhnikova
Silks and Airtime
After opening The Sky Box, Anya discovered her passion for teaching. She teaches aerial silks to a mixture of levels multiple times a week. She enjoys not just the aspect of teaching death defying, impossible looking stunts to complete beginners (kidding!) but also loves exploring different ways of thinking about performance, the stage, the act itself, and circus in general.
Maia Ramnath
Silks and Rope
Maia Ramnath has performed with a variety of modern dance and aerial choreographers, as well as directing and choreographing several full-length concerts as co-founder/director of Constellation Moving Company, aka The Moving Company. Besides here at the Sky Box, her aerial work has been seen at Streb Lab for Action Mechanics, Webster Hall, Theater for the New City, and the Brooklyn Lyceum. Her technique class moves between silk and rope, according to student interest and to the skills being worked on, exploring the similarities and differences in the way each apparatus uses timing, momentum, and the relationship of the body and the apparatus in space for safety and efficiency of movement. She is a believer in establishing a solid base of technique as a foundation for creative innovation.
Elena Delgado
Lyra and Silks
Elena Teresa Delgado is an aerial and burlesque performer specializing in lyra, rope, and aerial silks. She recently appeared as an aerial dancer and choreographer in the original aerial theatrical productions “Home” and “Modern Times,” both produced by The Moving Company. She has been training and performing in and around NYC since 2008, and has been a very happy member of THE SKYBOX community since it was founded. Elena’s classes emphasize performance; drawing on her eclectic background in musical theater, critical studies, and visual arts she helps her students tap into their creativity and achieve their own unique style. Her beginning silks classes combine safe technique, anatomical awareness and musicality in order to produce FUN! Her contemporary lyra class covers the foundations of this awesome apparatus with an additional focus on transitions, experimentation, and spinning really, really fast. Elena’s students benefit from her firm belief that everyone is a circus star in the making!!!
Jen Kovacs
Silks
Jennifer Kovacs is a contemporary dancer, aerialist, and circus performer. She has performed with a variety of choreographers in the United States and internationally; including Joe Alegado, Jordann Baker, Lynn Barr, Jana Hicks, Sean Roschman, Anya Sapozhnikova, Maia Ramnath, and Nejla Yatkin. In addition to being a performer and aerial instructor, Jen is an ACE certified personal trainer, and specializes in Active Isolated Stretch. In the open level silks class students will learn dramatic drops and creative tricks. Focus is put on artistry and personalization. A portion of class is spent on conditioning. In the basic level class students will learn basic wraps and keys, how to climb, and how to invert.
Lisa Natoli
Silks and Rope
Lisa Natoli attended the Alvin Ailey certificate program before finishing her degree at the University of Iowa in 2000. Lisa moved back to New York where she has performed with Amy Kail, Dawn Poirer, Jill Sigman,Jody Sperling, Kelly Hayes and Katy Orthwein. As an aerialist Lisa has performed with Above and Beyond Dance, ImaginAerial, Helium Aerial Dance, and Kevin O’Connor. Lisa has also performed her own choreography at Above the Belt, CBGB’s Gallery,Cleveland Public Theater, Irondale Theater, MonkeyTown, The Skybox and S.L.A.M. Lisa is a frequent solo performer at the resident program Floating Kabarette at Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn. Lisa's Company, Lisa's Bright Ideas has been putting on evening length shows since 2008.
Juanita Cardenas
Static Trapeze
Juanita studied trapeze in Buenos Aires at La Arena. Now based in NYC, she has become a key player in the Sky Box aerial community as a performer, and instructor. This static trapeze class is open to all levels of experience. We will begin with 10 to 15 minutes of active warm up followed by aerial conditioning and learning of tricks. The trapeze is a generous element if you are generous to it, give it love and you will fly. You will be hanging, flipping and swinging having all kinds of fun in the air.
Benn Mendoza
Handbalancing/Contortion and Silks
With a background in gymnastics and dance, Benn has over 12 years of professional acrobatic experience. After training in Mongolian Contortion with Serchmaa Byambaa in San Francisco & hand balancers across the world, as well as having won gold at World's in Osaka on the first US Men's Rhythmic Gymnastics team in 2005, Benn's unique approach to flexibility focuses on getting the most results out of an adult body & acknowledges the requirements of different body types, ages & natural flexibility ranges. Benn also brings aerial experience spanning over a decade to the new aerial fabric class at the Sky Box. Benn began his aerial training in San Francisco and pursued his advanced education in Montreal, but has traveled all over the world from Tokyo to Cape Town and everywhere in between performing and training, picking up little bits of aerial flavour from the varying acrobatic communities at every opportunity. The resulting melange is a class that focuses on working with the vocabulary the aerialist already has and finding new variations and transitions to creating interesting, visually effective sequences and combinations, as well as teaching new drops, tricks and transitions. "A good contortion coach has to be an empath. In order to get the most results, you have to feel when you can push someone further and when to back off." - Benn "Just bring pain threshold & determination. I'll do the rest." - Benn