Nathalie Yves Gaulthier, founder of Le PeTiT CiRqUe® and international show creator has been working with youths since 1984 when she founded the company at age 14. She has been a renowned force and advocate in the circus, film/tv, and live entertainment industry for over 20 years. 

She is the brains behind the studio and creates shows nationally and internationally and is often a circus/athletics or youth consultant/acting coach on film/TV sets and is the mastermind behind the internationally acclaimed and multi-award-winning Le PeTiT CiRqUe®.  Nathalie has recently worked with Ellen Degeneres (Gap Kids ad campaign with her Le PeTiT CiRque® as the new faces), privately trains Britney Spears in flexibility/tumbling, assisted directors James L Brooks, David O’Russell as a youth specialist/acting coach and created shows for the Dalai Lama, Dubai, the Sultan of Brunei, and numerous shows around the world. 

She has won numerous awards, including BEST DIRECTOR at the National Youth Awards 2016. A highly successful talent agent for 20 years, Nathalie began her first kids' talent agency when she herself was just a kid at 15 years old. She launched numerous young Oscar/Emmy nominated stars in Hollywood shortly thereafter and has been known as “the kid it girl” in the entertainment industry ever since. 

As a former columnist writer, Nathalie was the youngest journalist ever contracted to a newspaper at age 17 and had her own Entertainment Column for 4 years in Montreal’s THE CHRONICLE Newspaper. She was subsequently nominated for several journalism awards. She has also received nominations in: Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 Business Awards, Heart of Gold Award, Journalism Awards and can be found in the Canadian and International/World Who’s Who Publications and is listed in the “1000 Most Influential People of the Century” book and has been on the cover of numerous publications and international television appearances. 

Nathalie is also a talent booker for circus acts internationally and has cast numerous shows, productions and aided in casting for CAVALIA. 

Known as one of the most multi-talented international choreographers/artistic directors in the industry today, Arthur Gourounlian is entrancing the world of dance with his visionary artistic skills combining Contemporary, Hip/Hop-Funk, Popping, Robotics with, Tap, Ballet, Ballroom, and Jazz. Armenian born, Arthur launched his career in Belgium before moving to the United Kingdom to become one of regions most sought after dancers. Arthur has performed or toured with everyone from Bananarama, Beyonce, Pink, Pussycat Dolls, Girls Aloud, Will Young, and Duffy to Kylie Minogue, Cheryl Cole and Leona Lewis. It wasn't long before Arthur stepped out of the background as a dancer and into the principle role of Choreographer for established and emerging musical artists in the United Kingdom, Europe and United States. Recognised as the “Energised Expert”, Arthur takes a leading role in casting, coaching, movement directing and choreographing music videos, world tours, viral media campaigns, and trade/fashion shows. Clientele include renowned shoe designer Christian Louboutin, Diesel, Jean Paul Gaultier, Esprit, Mary Kay, Walker Crisps and CocaCola Corporation. As a media personality, Arthur has appeared on television and in motion pictures, fashion shows and advertising campaigns. Appeared in Britain's Got Talent, The 2010 Wella World-Wide Campaign, World Music Awards, television appearances include Children in Need, Celebrity X Factor, Brit Awards and The Royal Variety Show. Whether it’s New York, London, Paris, Milan or Hong Kong, Arthur uses his abilities and instruments of the trade to get your message across to a global audience. He approaches all projects or clients with his trademark extraordinary energy and motivation.

Lisanna Paloma began her career as an artistic gymnast at an early age, including competition as a teenager at the highest level of competitive club gymnastics, both nationally and internationally. She received a full athletic scholarship to Northern Illinois University, where she competed on the university's gymnastics team while completing a degree in graphic arts. Lisanna's strong technique and talent has led her to perform numerous disciplines in addition to her solo rope act, including Chinese Pole, Aerial Silks, Cerceaux, Pole Dance, Cloud Swing, Bungee, Tumbling, Harness Work, Dance, Character Work, and Stunt Acrobatics.

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She has delighted audiences with her energetic performances in shows with famed singer MeatLoaf, with Sea World San Diego, Cirque Italia, the Grand Sierra Resort, the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, Q Productions, and various galas throughout the States for Arbonne, UCLA Pauley Pavilion, and International All Star Games.

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Joining the creation of  Cirque du Soleil's LIGHT in Las Vegas, Lisanna and fellow castmates worked closely with veteran Cirque du Soleil artist and flourishing Artistic Director Hassan El-Hajjami "Haspop." 

Lisanna is currently performing with Cirque du Soleil's TORUK-The First Flight. The company's newest arena-touring production, inspired by Academy Award-winning filmmaker James Cameron's AVATAR, thrills crowds throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Chanel Pepper is a Los Angeles based performance artist and instructor. Her specialties include: aerial, dance, fire, and character work. Her training began at age 3, with a focus on the styles of ballet, tap, jazz, and hip hop. Chanel's dance background has proven to be an integral element within her aerial work. Since beginning her career as an independent artist, she has had the opportunity to travel all over the world to perform for live stage shows, private parties, corporate events, television, and more. Some credits include: SpaceX, Heineken, WarnersBros, Google, SkinWars, and so many more.

Chanel is experienced in silks, hammock, lyra, trapeze, as well as a multitude of specialty apparatuses.

"The uniqueness of an individual in their greatest strength. It is my goal as a performer, and an instructor to honor that. How can we hone in on our distinctive qualities, while challenging the parts of ourselves that we have yet to discover."

Amara Defilippo is a former elite gymnast and division 1 athlete from Torrance, California. She obtained a full scholarship to the University of Arkansas and majored in Kinesiology.
      After college she joined CIRQUE DU SOLEIL, where she was a high achieving performer and artist coach with over 9 years of experience. She was apart of the creation process for the show “Amaluna” and helped develop the first uneven bar act in Cirque.
      More recently, Amara helped with the creation of “Under the Same Sky.” A new show for Cirque, before the pandemic hit.
      Amara has performed for over 4.5 million people during her 2,500 shows at Cirque, covering 19 countries and 44 cities around the world.
      Amara is experienced in uneven bars, tumbling, aerial straps, bungee, harness work, and dance.
      Currently, she is the new act creator/choreographer and assistant to LPC’s CEO, Nathalie Yves Gaulthier.

Autumn Lotus ( Performance Artist, Aerialist, Dancer Choreographer) is a 7th generation native of Santa Barbara. She grew up dancing and doing gymnastics. By the age of 12, she was a level 10 Elite gymnast and in her early twenties she began her rigorous aerial dance training. Since then, she has been BLESSED with the opportunity to perform, Dance and FLY all over the world. She has performed with a wide variety of artists such as Cirque, Lucent Dossier Experience, The Grammys, Oscars, Toyota, Lexus, Roger Waters, Coachella, Snoop Dog, P-Diddy, Taylor Swift, Natasha Bedingfield, Cindy Lauper, Outkast, the Roots, Ringo Starr, American Idol, Martin Gore, Zen Arts ,Lucidity festival and many more. Autumn is a single parent to her son, Dakota Lotus who is a star on a new Disney TV series “Coop and Cami” and an LPC singer. Autumn has a deep PASSION for the HEALING arts. She has devoted her life to UNITING healing with movement, finding flow within the body and weaving stories to create connection to heart. Her mission is to INSPIRE her students and audience to use their gifts to find BALANCE within themselves, and then share the LOVE that they CULTIVATE with the community!!  She has a deep love and passion for telling story through movement.

Tanya is the head of Le PeTiT CiRqUe Las Vegas from our Las Vegas Training facility at Trapeze Las Vegas. She has been part of the circus and entertainment world for over 30 years. Her performance career started with stunt waterskiing. Her love of performing let her to the wonderful world of circus. She has performed for audiences, such as Warner Bros., NASCAR, KQED, USAA, the Television Critics Association Press Tour, American Express, Bechtel, the California Kidsfaire, the Crucible's Fire Arts Festival, Circus Waldissima, Treasure Island, Macy’s, ISF Event Empoweresque and the Boise River Festival. Tanya can be seen in multiple movies, tv, and music videos, as well as the flying and double trapeze music video for a novel/screenplay "House on Black Lake".

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Tanya has been coaching for over 20 years and assists Gaulthier on international tours including our new Norway Circus Balance affiliate. She is experienced on trapeze, lyra, hammock, silks and specializes in speciality apparatus. Tanya has coached gymnastics and is safety certified as well as trained extensively in rigging with Braun Productions .

Gelsey Laurie is originally from Riverside, California where she grew up intensely emerged in the dance world.  She performed in professional ballets as a child into teen years and landed her first job at 16 dancing at Disneyland. Around this time is when she started training aerial arts and fell in love with it.  Dedicated training continued as Gelsey moved to NYC to chase the Broadway dream. There she was hired for Celebrity Cruises to open their newest ship The Reflection. After life at sea, she joined the National Tour of the Broadway hit show Rock of Ages and toured North America and Singapore. Immediately following she was accepted into Cirque du Soleil’s database, took part in creation for Cirque Eloize in Montreal, Performed her solo act in various Vegas shows and toured in Germany as a specialty act. Gelsey joined Cirque du Soleil's resident show LOVE  in Las Vegas as the aerial straps soloist in 2016 and completed 3 years flying high to The Beatles. She recently left Las Vegas to come here to LA to pursue a career as a stunt woman, and couldn’t be more thrilled to be joining the Le Petit Cirque family!

Tim Storms started gymnastics at the tender age of 4, martial arts at 12, and circus arts at 15. He performed as a clown and juggler throughout high school and college, studying under world juggling champion, Scott Burton. He learned clowning from world-renowned clown, Lloyd Brant, and went on to found his own performance troupe, The Oddballz. Tim earned a degree in classical and musical theatre, conjunctively studying all types of movement, including stage combat, mime, and dance. Using the vast array of skills he’d acquired, he directed, choreographed and acted in hundreds of productions, including plays, films, and professional ballets. Tim ventured to Los Angeles, and became a professional actor, stuntman, and fight choreographer. While training Laurence Fishburne for THE MATRIX, he began specializing in Hong Kong style wire-work and Wu Shu kung fu. Combining all those various, but similar movement styles inspired him to create his own school, The Academy Of Movement Arts And Sciences. Tim’s passion is finding the synergy of all the different movement and performance styles he has studied, and conveying that passion to his students.

Kristi Monson grew up performing and teaching a variety of solo and partner dances, practicing several martial art forms, and writing and performing her own music on guitar and piano. With over 10 years of professional aerial acrobatic performance and coaching experience (including tissu, hoop, hammock, cube, chains, straps, rope, and trapeze), Kristi is known for her aerial contortion, intense drops, seamless transitions, strength, and grace. She is an active member of Cirque du Soleil's cast database as both an aerialist and vocalist. She's performed for several TV shows (including being featured by Cirque du Soleil in the Netherlands), celebrity parties, corporate events, and concerts - including performing for Nelly Furtado and Enrique Iglesias at the Staples Center, and Disneyland - both in the park, as well as VIP events. Her passion and discipline for circus arts is driven by love and shared with love.  As a dancer, her fascination with injury prevention, rehabilitation, body alignment, and correctiveness led her to become trained and certified as a Pilates instructor, in addition to training in physical therapy, and several types of therapeutic massage and bodywork, as well. Her dance performance, athleticism, and biomechanics experience served as complementary disciplines along with her work as an aerialist.

In addition to her circus background, Kristi has extensive experience working in marketing, sales, and graphic design. These combined skills make her a powerful contributor in showcasing the magic of Le PeTiT Cirque to the world.

James MahKween is from Atlanta, GA. He graduated with a BFA in Musical Theater from American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) and the creator of REFLECT Dance Co. After graduating, MahKween has been setting and reaching goals. He has performed with Lula Washington Dance Theatre, JazzAntiqua, and Kouman Kele African Dance and Drum Company, and BrockusRed. Recently, he has been developing his own dance company “Eternity Dance Theatre”. His choreography has been shown at NAACP ACT-SO 2014 & 2015, Highways Performance Space, DANCESCAPE, DanceSpot LA, Tri-Art Festival, Sol-Cal Dance Invitational, Carnival Choreographers Ball, and HHII Dance Festival. MahKween has also produced his own showcases REFLECT and Love Inclinations.

In Mongolia, contortion is a traditional art form that has been passed on for generations. This is why they have the best training programs for contortion.  Otgo Waller is a professional contortionist as well as the creator and owner of Flexible Body Art LLC technique and school.  Otgo grew up in the shadow of the holy mountain Bogd Uul near the Mongolian capital city of Ulaanbaatar.  When Otgo was 7 years old she dreamed of becoming a contortionist, and by 13 years old Otgo was one of the best contortionists in the world.  

In 1980, Otgo graduated from the Mongolian State Circus, specializing in Contortion Art.  She also appeared on Mongolia’s postage stamp as one of the most prestigious contortionists in Mongolia.  In 1991, the Ringling Brothers & Barnum Bailey circus discovered Otgo and she immigrated to America.  After arriving in America, Otgo’s career exploded.

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Otgo was featured on the NBC, Discovery Channel, SyFy Network, PAX Network, MTV, “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” “Donny and Marie Show,” “ Ripley’s Believe it or Not,” and E Network’s “Talk Soup.”  She has also been a featured performer with Cirque du Soliel’s “O” Show, the NBA halftime shows, NHL halftime shows, NCAA halftime shows, and Britney Spears “MTV Video Music Awards.”

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Otgo Waller’s choreographic works have been featured at the 2010 Winter Olympics Opening and Closing ceremonies, The International Contortion Convention, and the San Diego Circus.  

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After performing for many years, Otgo began to teach the art of contortion and flexibility. Otgo created her own training technique to help every individual become more flexible. Otgo has trained people of all ages and levels.  Her most notable clients include Olympic athletes, top professional contortionist and circus artists, international high fashion models, competitive body builders, and national level ice skaters.