Beginning Aerial Retreat

Lily is an aerial silks and rope instructor known for empowering beginner to strong intermediate students to explore and embody their own unique movement styles in the air. With a background in contemporary, jazz, and modern dance, she has been teaching technique and creative movement since she was 16 years old. Discovering aerial arts later in her career ignited Lily’s passion for exploration and creation in the air. Her personal aerial practice is rooted in a profound love of movement and a deep connection to the body, which directly translates into her teaching philosophy. Lily’s mission is to guide each student towards a deeper connection with their bodies, facilitating authentic self-expression within the aerial arts. Lily has spent the last two years under the mentorship of Kerri Kresinski, esteemed founder and head coach at Sweet Retreats, as a coach for the Aerial Residency program. She and Kerri developed the dance curriculum within the Circus Residency Program, equipping aerialists with concrete tools and confidence to express themselves on the ground. Drawing from a diverse range of dance styles including modern, ballet, jazz, hip-hop, and Gaga, Lily’s approach has transformed her students’ relationship to floor movement. Fueled by her deep love of vertical apparatuses, Lily’s classes blend essential aerial concepts with a sophisticated understanding of theory, offering students of all levels engaging, challenging, and fulfilling learning experiences. You can expect technique, drills, theory, choreography, and creativity from her classes. She is adept at identifying individual student challenges and skill gaps, providing targeted guidance and progressions to facilitate growth and mastery. Her warmth and energy create an inclusive and supportive learning environment where every individual feels welcomed, supported, and seen. You can find Lily on Instagram @lilacandthebee.

Kerri is an aerialist, dancer, choreographer, and coach. She has been performing and teaching acrobatics, dance, and aerial arts for over 20 years. Her life’s work, as an artist and teacher, has been to develop and deepen her study of the body—physically, emotionally and spiritually.  She has learned that anything is possible with patience, discipline and a positive attitude.  She is truly a unique performer, engaging, thrilling, and moving audiences with her skills, style, and heart.

Kerri has always been the most passionate about movement.  She started my dance lessons when she was 3 years old and over the next 25 years studied theater, acting, music, circus acrobatics and aerial arts.  Her professional career as a multi-disciplinary performer brought her to shows and festivals all over the world.  She feels that the body is the gateway to the higher powers for healing, transformation and expression. Technique and physical strength didn’t come naturally to Kerri’s body, but her insatiable appetite for understanding the body helped her to figure it out.   She has developed techniques using active flexibility, strength, and physics to work with physical movement and goals. Kerri’s technical expertise comes from working with students of all ages, shapes, sizes, and challenges. She loves to figure out the best route for each individual, celebrating successes big and small.   She has learned that anything is possible with patience, discipline, self-awareness, and a positive attitude.. Kerri’s knowledge of anatomy, physics, injury prevention, creative problem solving, and realistic goal setting makes her one of the most masterful coaches of her time. Kerri teaches her students how to own their practice. Focusing on fundamental elements of technique, anatomy, and the physics of movement, her students learn how to train. Kerri goes beyond teaching skills and sequences. She teaches how to identify, alter, and create your own skills and sequences, and best of all how to fully embody the movement of each skill in the most satisfying way for the doer and the viewer. Technique, balance, stability, mobility, movement pathways, creativity, 360 degree movement, musicality, originality, intentional movement, elements of surprise and awe, and a deep connection to humanity is what you will get if you work with Kerri. She is truly one of a kind. It is Kerri’s life’s purpose to support people in finding joy in their lives and make choices that serve them physically, emotionally, mentally, and energetically, to reduce stress and allow space to wake up all that is possible in this life.  When we climb into our bodies with curiosity and joy, we cultivate self awareness that can open us up to creating a life that is better than we could have ever imagined. You can find Kerri’s performance videos here and Circus Fit free online tutorial videos here.  Find Kerri on Instagram @SweetCircusKerri.