Carolyn Ailsa
Known as Twisted Nymph, Carolyn is a cabaret circus practitioner with 15 years of experience in the cabaret and circus industry. She has mainly trained contortion under Allison Schieler, Hannah Finn and Claudia Hughes and loves trying classes with others to experience different techniques. Carolyn taught pole and burlesque before apprenticing with High Top Circus to develop her aerial and flexibility instruction skills and now teaches regular classes at The Pole Lab (Brighton). Carolyn has attended numerous workshops and conferences on flexibility teaching, anatomy, injury awareness, and healthier bodies in the aerial arts and is committed to professional development and is forever continuing to learn!
Carolyn specialises in working with adults who wish to increase their strength and flexibility for pole and aerial arts and finds students with hypermobility come to her searching for safe ways to train their flexibility and strength. She completed her practice-based PhD exploring female experience of aerial circus in 2020 and applies this knowledge to her teaching. With a varied background in the arts and academia, she approaches her teaching with inclusivity, research informed practice, interdisciplinarity and kindness at the core.