Our Instructors
Meet the Fabulously Talented Instructors at Mountain Air Dance
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Julia Andreas was first introduced to aerial in 2021 after she saw Mountain Air Dance perform at the Sweet Pea Festival. Instantly entranced, she signed up for classes the next day. Julia loves the strength and grace that comes with aerial arts and is excited to learn every apparatus. She extends that excitement for learning to her students, encouraging them to be creative and adventurous.
Before aerial, Julia was a competitive figure skater for the Washington (DC) Figure Skating Club. Her training included exposure to several dance styles, including ballet, jazz, lyrical, and modern. When not at the studio, Julia loves to hike, read, play games, and snuggle her two very silly cats.
Julia Andreas
Blair Bodie
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Blair Bodie is co-founder of BodiGram Dance Company. She graduated from Sarah Lawrence College with an MFA in choreography and received her BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in dance. She performed with Ground Zero Dance Co., Kelly Donovan and Dancers, Joey Liew, Dance Theater of Shannon, Number 9, Joe Goode Performance Group, Cali and Company, Zaccho Dance, and Cat Call Choir. She left her native home of Virginia to teach dance, pilates, and yoga in Malaysia; where she returned regularly to produce dance works and conduct yoga workshops. Outside of her graduate school studies in NYC, her local work focused on choreography for Clay Chapman’s up and coming theater group, The Pumpkin Pie Show, and building “.... And Dancers” collective. She left NYC, to establish herself in the San Francisco Bay area as a dance theater artist. She now lives in Bozeman, MT, where she is helping to build the contemporary dance scene with Collective Movement and raising two young adventurists and movement enthusiasts.
Star Gaitan
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Star was raised in Bozeman, but has lived in other areas of Montana over the last few years. After settling back home in Bozeman, Star began building her family with her husband Christopher. She is a proud mother of three and loves spending her time caring for her family.
Star was first introduced to aerial at the age of sixteen and she quickly grew to love the art of dance. She was drawn to the confidence and strength that she experienced when performing aerial. In 2018, Star began teaching classes and has enjoyed seeing the Mountain Air Dance community grow and spread joy to many.
She enjoys flexibility training and learning exciting drops. Her primary passion has been for the silks; however, she has also worked with hammock, lyra, trapeze, and cube. Star has performance history with Mountain Air Dance and Levitation Nation, based out of Kalispell.
Clara Griffen
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Clara Griffen is a lifelong resident of Bozeman, Montana, where she has embraced the beauty of the outdoors and the vibrant local community. She is currently a student at Montana State University, pursuing a paired major in Business Marketing Management and Computer Science. Clara’s love for the outdoors fuels her passions for skiing at Bridger Bowl, hiking, and adventuring with her dog.
Since 2015, Clara has been involved with Mountain Air Dance, where she discovered her passion for aerial arts. Her favorite apparatus is Silks, but she loves exploring Lyra, Hammock, and other aerial apparatus’. Clara became an instructor in 2021, sharing her skills and enthusiasm by teaching students of all ages. She finds great fulfillment in mentoring young dancers, fostering creativity, and inspiring others to find confidence through movement.
Lauren King
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Lauren came to aerial from a partner acrobatics background. She has loved the transition from partnering with people to partnering with an apparatus. Aerial excites her because it is physically demanding but also a space to explore gracefulness, and new ways to move her body. One of the things she appreciates most about Mountain Air Dance is the culture of mutual support. The community of movement artists that gather in MAD's space has a backbone of positivity and passion. When not in the studio, you might find Lauren hanging out with plants, crafting, or reading.
Jenn Kotila
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Jenn started in the world of aerial in 2013 on silks & static trapeze in Bellingham, WA. After years of learning different apparatuses on and off, she learned that aerial helped her anxiety in ways that other therapies have not. She then became more serious about her aerial training in 2017 on silks in Bend, OR.
Jenn has an athletic background, playing volleyball consistently for 16 years. Aerial was her first experience of any sort of dance or acrobatic type classes, & she fell in love! She thrives on conditioning to help safely strengthen your body, & enjoys seeing each student’s progression in every class.
Jenn is a clown at heart, she has a goofy sense of humor while teaching and training. She believes that aerial arts has the power to help mental health in so many ways, and is focused on learning more about that aspect of the art.
She is trained on sling/hammock, silks, lyra and static trapeze.
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Robyn started practicing aerial dance in 2014 in San Diego, CA. She immediately fell in love with aerial silks and has been training ever since in studios in San Francisco, Seattle and New York. When Robyn moved to Bozeman, she was delighted to find a tight knit aerial community at Mountain Air Dance where she started teaching. While silks will always be her first love, she has expanded to training on hammock, Lyra, and rope. Outside of aerial, Robyn works in web security, loves dogs, the outdoors, and all things coffee.
Robyn Lundin
Molly Nelson
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Molly Nelson has been an apprentice at Mountain Air Dance since the beginning of 2022. She has danced with MAD since she was seven, and can’t wait to continue her dancing career! Molly grew her love for dance after years of practice and working with so many amazing instructors. She feels lucky to be teaching with some of the people who have taught and inspired her. She loves teaching and connecting with others to help make learning fun!
Rita Ramsey
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Rita Ramsey fell in love with aerial after taking her first class with Mountain Air Dance shortly after moving to Bozeman in 2018. With a previous background in rock climbing, she loves the combination of strength, grace and musicality that come together to make aerial so unique and engaging. Rita works full-time as an art and German teacher at CJ Middle School here in Bozeman, along with instructing for Mountain Air Dance. In her spare time, she loves to create art, travel, work on house and garden projects, and move her body in the great outdoors, be it climbing, yoga, skiing, or mountain biking.
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Coming soon!
Reggie Rawlings
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Josie Sproles has been an instructor at Mountain Air Dance for four years, and has loved every second! She started dancing at a very young age, but found a true passion in aerial. She hopes to pass along a love for dance within her students, helping to grow their skillset, confidence and technique. She loves to watch this translate onto the stage and through performance! In her own time, she loves to ski, run, and spend time outside.
Josie Sproles
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Kat first started taking aerial classes at MAD in 2014. After falling in love with the craft she practiced a range of apparatus including silks, lyra, static and high flying trapeze, pole, and acrobatics in Montana as well as Seattle. She has received other certifications for Elemental Hoopdance and the Certificate Program at the International Dance Academy of Hollywood. From her trainings she became a traveling performance artist where she specialized in dance, fire arts, flow arts, aerial, and stilt walking. Highlights of her career included working for Insomniac Entertainment, and performing at large scale music festivals such as Imagine and Paradiso. In 2017 she began training with MAD and Moksha Aerial Studio to become a teacher. Her passion for teaching lies in helping others find their love of movement and connection to personal expression. She hopes to incorporate more dance, aerial yoga, and mom and me classes to the MAD program.
Outside of the studio Kat founded Katalyst Holistic Life Coaching where she works in nutrition, herbalism, spirituality, counseling, yoga therapy, and Reiki. She is a student at Sacred Roots Massage School and Breathing Deeply Yoga Therapy. She teaches yoga, pilates, and dance to all ages. When she's not dancing Kat spends her free time with her kids, traveling, or being in the outdoors. She loves tea ceremonies and tarot.
Kat Stephens
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Ava Wallis is a junior at Bozeman High School who has been working for Mountain Air Dance for five years, and attending their classes for eight. She loves lifting, rock climbing, playing piano and guitar, singing, hiking, spending time with friends and family, and so much more! But most of all, Ava loves to dance!! Recently she has become a member of the new Select Youth Performance Company. She is very excited to keep dancing and to help her students find a love for dance just like she has.
Ava Wallis
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Cecilia is an artist, teacher, performer, and choreographer with over 27 years of training in a wide variety of movement styles. Cecilia is from Massachusetts and graduated Cum Laude from Elon University with a BA in Theatre Studies and a dance minor. She also completed one year in the MFA Dance program at the University of Oregon. Cecilia has had the opportunity to perform in a variety of spaces, including but not limited to the American College Dance Festival (ACDF) Regionals in Missoula, MT, the ACDF Nationals in Washington, DC at the Kennedy Center, The Marsh Studio, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, and The Lakewood Cultural Center. Cecilia previously performed with DAMAGEDANCE, BRIAH Danse, Iluminar Aerial, and In the Wings during her time in Colorado. Her dance training has heavily influenced her teaching style as a health and wellness professional (ACE CPT, ACE GFI, RYT 200). Cecilia is honored to teach contemporary and aerial dance in Bozeman at BDA and Mountain Air Dance. When Cecilia is not dancing, she's most likely hitting the trails or whitewater rafting with her family.
Cecilia (Ceci) Whyel
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Cathy Stone Werner is a gymnast turned modern dancer who loves to fly! She graduated from Texas State University in 2000 with a B.S. in Dance and then went on to complete the M.F.A. program in Choreography at the University of Colorado in 2003. Cathy has taught and performed with Frequent Flyers Productions, an innovative aerial dance company in Boulder, Colorado; as well as Wicked Sister Dance Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Cathy founded Mountain Air Dance in 2009; Montana's first aerial dance company. Her classes, workshops and performances have thrilled Bozeman and surrounding communities ever since. Cathy continues to learn new styles and approaches to teaching, performing and choreographing wherever life takes her and has a love for sharing aerial arts with her community.
Through the melding of modern dance, gymnastics, yoga, pilates and aerial arts Cathy has created her own choreographic and teaching style that moves dancers through the vertical space on the stage and creates strong healthy dancers. She believes in the healthful benefits of dance and strives to pass her knowledge and love for the art on to future generations.