Kinetic Arts Tucson

Cat is a born and raised Tucsonan who discovered acrobatics when a friend introduced her to Kinetic Arts Tucson in 2019. She had never considered herself an athlete, but always an artist, and aerial was the perfect way for her to be both.

Katie developed a love of dance as a teenager after reading about the life and career of famed dancer, Martha Graham. Her love of dance transformed into a passion for performing as she danced with a local troupe as a young adult. Expression through movement became a life-long focus. In 2010, Katie found a new niche as a fitness instructor. She took her dance experience into the fitness industry as a cardio dance instructor. As a certified personal trainer, Katie spent the next several years helping people improve their strength and overall fitness level leading group fitness and cardio dance classes. In 2014, Katie discovered a form of fitness which allowed her to combine her passion for dance and performance with her love of fitness after taking her first pole class. From there, she began to also train on the areial hoop (Lyra) which quickly became her favorite aerial apparatus. Today, she continues to train as an aerial artist. Katie is excited to share her passion and knowledge with KATstudents.

Yazi is a unique individual who was born and raised in bend Oregon. Her interests range from a wide variety including yoga, hula hooping, hiking, and going on adventures. Growing up she has always had a passion for trying new things and challenging herself.

A sister of 5, Yazi is a very outdoorsy person who loves to go chasing waterfalls while hugging trees along the way. Always willing to try new things is what got her into pole. She not only loves to challenge herself but to others as well. During her experience in Tucson, she has grown as a dancer and realized she wants to help others exceed their personal goals for pole dancing and find their own flow.

Courtney’s relationship with physical fitness began at a very young age, growing up in the gym her parents owned and operated.  She is dedicated to living actively, her interests beginning with ballet at four and expanding outward exponentially. Courtney found her affinity for yoga as a young adult.  She became an ardent student, reaping benefits both on and off the mat. She was particularly captivated by the mind-body connection she developed as a result.

Courtney completed her training at Awakened Life School of Yoga in Amorgos, Greece in 2016.  Subsequently, she has been instructing various forms of yoga, Pilates, stretching and barre classes in our community to individuals ranging in age from toddlers to the elderly.  She genuinely enjoys inspiring others to improve wellness and assisting the achievement of long-term health initiatives.

Maggie moved from Germany to Tucson in 2019 and immediately fell in love with the beautiful desert landscapes, the friendly Arizonans, and the charming Kinetic Arts studio.
After struggling to find the right type of sport that would hold her interest for a long period of time, she tried pole dancing in 2014 and was instantly fascinated by the ballet-like shapes and movements.
Having little athletic background until then meant that she had to build strength from the ground up, to keep failing at tricks for a long time but also to learn the discipline to keep trying.
For Maggie pole is the perfect dance to improve grace and flexibility, to overcome fears, and of course to practically be able to fly. 
Pole helped her to better understand her own body, connect with like-minded people in a welcoming community, and artistically express her emotions through movement.
Over the last few years, she participated in several competitions and a multitude of live performances in Germany. 
She loves to develop and teach choreographies that focus on flow and emotion, and to see her students make progress and build their self-confidence.

Linda has had a long relationship with movement. After dancing for about seven years as a child and teenager, she developed a love for weightlifting at 21 but soon felt that something was missing. When she discovered pole dance in the summer of 2019, she finally felt like she found an art and workout that perfectly combined graceful movement and strength. She has been obsessed with pole ever since.

 After struggling with PCOS and an eating disorder for most of her youth, Linda has made it her mission to spread self-love and positivity and to help other people gain confidence, no matter where they are in their fitness and body-image journeys. Her goal with Kinetic Arts Tucson is to help people embrace the unique things their bodies and minds can create through her knowledge of performance, acting, and now pole!

 Linda is thrilled to join the amazing KAT instructor family and can’t wait to learn as much as she can from her students! When she’s not at the studio, you can find her at The University of Arizona, where she studies Film Production, Psychology, and Theatre.

Leah Chevalier began her mind/body/consciousness journey as a professional modern dancer and teacher, performing in the capacity of both company members and as a project dancer touring nationally and internationally in both solo and ensemble work. Her work as a dancer has been reviewed in the Village Voice and the New York Times. With  training steeped in dance, anatomy, and kinesiology, and arts management culminating in  

Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts in Dance from Rutgers University. During her time as a  dance teacher taught and choreographed throughout the US from pre-school-aged and at  University level. She has worked with dancers who continuing their studies to Juilliard and at after school programs experiencing dance for the first time.  

Leah is PMA-CPT in Pilates with many years of Pilates, dance, and movement in her background. She first studied Pilates in New York City, in her training in classical modern dance at the Alvin Ailey School and Martha Graham School. Since that time, she has studied with Peak Pilates, Power Pilates on the West Coast and with Pilates  Movement, Gramercy Pilates, and the Movement Salon in NYC, where she both studied and received her comprehensive Pilates apparatus and mat training on scholarship. 

Leah began her yoga practice 1993, as a dancer, she was amazed at by what the training offered physically — practicing yoga on the East Coast with Dharma Mittra and Jivamukti and Ashtanga yoga on the West Coast. Leah has E-RYT from Yoga Alliance. She has spent 15 months at a yoga retreat based on the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda by to deepen her own meditative and yogic practices as a retreat facilitator and yoga teacher.  

After retiring in 2001 from the performance, she received formal training in Ashtanga yoga. In 2003, she found a spiritual home within the Tibetan Buddhist Mahayana tradition.  She received refuge from her root teacher Yangsi Rinpoche of Maitripa, in Portland,  Oregon. Her interest is the link between Mahayana Buddhist teachings, yoga, and life. In  2010, she received certification from Living Yoga in Portland, OR, to share yoga with underserved communities. In 2013, she was attaining 200hr/ 500-hour E-RYT from Yoga  Alliance. She is never far from her practices in meditation, mantra, pranayama, yoga, and  Pilates in service to family, heart family, and her community. 

Brenna 

Anna was born and raised in Tucson, which she loves and will always come home to, no matter where she might travel. Her biggest passions are the environment, writing, biking, animals, art … and of course pole, which she started in 2015 and has been hopelessly addicted to ever since.

Pole has made Anna a lot more outgoing. She loves meeting new people and spreading the word about how this art and sport has changed her life. Building strength and flexibility through pole sport—and learning tricks she'd have never thought she could do in a million years—has made her infinitely more comfortable with her body and more confident all around. And now she's excited about the sexy side of pole, too—despite some bad club experiences in the past, trying exotic pole with people she loves and trusts (and has a blast with!) has turned everything around. In the studio, she's either barefoot or in 8-inch heels.

Pole has also helped her physically and psychologically recover from an accident in which her left leg was run over by a semi truck. Sometimes that leg still hurts, but she can forget about it when pole gets her off the ground and flying in the air instead.

She's still learning about all aspects of pole, but that’s one of the best things about it, in her opinion: "You never stop growing because pole is a process, a neverending story that’s usually exciting, sometimes hard, almost always fun, and fulfilling without fail.

“I hope you join me on my journey by starting your own.”

Rori's love of fitness came at an early age. From doing Richard Simmons videos and “Sweatin' to the oldies” with her mom, to rock climbing and surfing, she always loved to stay active. This busy mama of two runs a food truck, an aspiring graphic design business, and teaches little ones to swim. Her favorite part of the day though? Pole class, of course! if you could wear hats while hanging upside down, Rori would be wearing them all! Knowledgeable, personable, and full of energy, Rori has a passion for helping people to realize their goals and stayoptimistic despite any obstacles that may come their way. When she's not spotting a student, creating a campaign, or helping our wonderful clients, you can find her crafting magical creations, watching her husband and son on the baseball field, or choreographing cool pole routines with her daughter.

Mary Owen is from Raleigh, North Carolina. She is an elementary school teacher here in Tucson. She loves wind, dirt, rivers, deserts, woodlands, bugs, absurdity, artistic self-expression, self-discovery, overcoming shame, and humor. She spends most of her days hiking, backpacking, singing in a band, pole dancing, lazing in a hammock or pool, and whining about the apocalypse (jk). 

She started her pole journey at Kinetic Arts Tucson and has stayed with the KAT family for the past two years. She is thrilled to be teaching so that she can help others find the inner and outer strength that comes with training pole skills. She is passionate about allyship and advocacy and is committed to bringing those welcoming, non-judgemental values into her teaching. 

Valerie was born a fifth-generation Tucsonan—nurtured by our towering mountains, supple soils, and the sweet smell of creosote.  Always an adventurer, Valerie found ways to get out and experience the world, leaving home at the age of 16.  Throughout her early journey, she found much about human civilization challenging and painful. It was when she planted her first garden that she finally connected with a profound source of hope that sustains her to this day. This set Valerie on a path to explore growing food, living in community, permaculture, ancestral arts, and wilderness skills.  Aerial acrobatics and dance emerged in Valerie’s life in 2011 through balancing in Douglas fir trees and tying a sheet to the top of a barn rafter and rolling herself up in it.  She then continued on to find aerial silks, acro yoga, break dancing, and now pole. 

 Finding pole has been a kind of homecoming for Valerie, uncovering places of belonging within herself she had not known before.  The same way a pea plant knows to spiral up the trellis, the movements and experiences of pole feel innate and deeply natural.  It is a spiritual practice where she can find her center and test her boundaries.  She is greatly honored and excited to share a pole with her community not only as a practitioner but also as a teacher.

 No matter what Valerie is up to, she hopes to be contributing to a regenerative human culture that will support the restoration of the waters of her birthplace and a world free of borders.