OUR MANAGEMENT
Anaïs Guimond
Owner & CEO
When this former bungee-trapeze performer plunged into entrepreneurship, she entered unfamiliar territory. A Quebecer who had been seduced by the Cirque du Soleil at an early age, Anaïs started training in circus arts in 1994. She performed hundreds of shows as a circus artist in Canada and the United States before moving to Nova Scotia in 2001. She then opened Atlantic Cirque in 2002 in a province and a language that were both new to her. Although her specialty was relatively unknown to Atlantic Canadians, it didn’t take long for the local population to be captivated by this unique art form. Today, Atlantic Cirque offers 45 classes to 250+ weekly participants, aged six months and up, as well as camps, workshops, birthday parties, professional development and corporate team building programs. In addition, the company’s artist agency has been providing entertainment services since 2003 for corporate events, galas, private functions, fundraisers, commercials and more. In August 2017, with three children at home and the youngest starting school in the fall, Anais made the decision to take on a side-venture and joined Rodan & Fields as an independent consultant for their skincare products (aguimond.myrandf.com/ca). She continues to oversee the daily operations of Atlantic Cirque and enjoys balancing motherhood and entrepreneurship.
Awards Nominations
BDC Entrepreneur of the Year 2011 Halifax Business Person of the year 2015
CYBF Best Female Entrepreneur of the Year 2010 RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur 2011, 2012, 2016 & 2019
Awards Nominations
BDC Entrepreneur of the Year 2011 Halifax Business Person of the year 2015
CYBF Best Female Entrepreneur of the Year 2010 RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur 2011, 2012, 2016 & 2019
Vanessa Furlong
Entertainment Agency Coordinator
Vanessa Furlong has decided what she wants to be when she grows up: Everything.
With a heavy performance background beginning at age 5, Vanessa pursued a degree in Music and Theatre from Bishops University in Quebec. Unsatisfied with the lack of a musical theatre program being offered there, Vanessa raised the issue with faculty and went on to produce their first ever musical. It sold out every performance. Vanessa then created a musical theatre program in collaboration with New Brunswick's Interaction Children's Theatre Company, spending four years developing shows and mentoring youth in positive artistic growth. Vanessa chose Halifax as her home next, training in circus arts, film arts, traveling internationally with ECMA nominated group Three Sheet, and pursuing yet another passion: health and wellness. Seven years as an advocate and support worker for people with disability and special needs has helped Vanessa marry her passions to her skills… To enable ALL people to realize that they too can be everything when they grow up. She joins the team as our Entertainment Coordinator in the fall of 2014. She can be reached directly at entertainment@atlanticcirque.com
With a heavy performance background beginning at age 5, Vanessa pursued a degree in Music and Theatre from Bishops University in Quebec. Unsatisfied with the lack of a musical theatre program being offered there, Vanessa raised the issue with faculty and went on to produce their first ever musical. It sold out every performance. Vanessa then created a musical theatre program in collaboration with New Brunswick's Interaction Children's Theatre Company, spending four years developing shows and mentoring youth in positive artistic growth. Vanessa chose Halifax as her home next, training in circus arts, film arts, traveling internationally with ECMA nominated group Three Sheet, and pursuing yet another passion: health and wellness. Seven years as an advocate and support worker for people with disability and special needs has helped Vanessa marry her passions to her skills… To enable ALL people to realize that they too can be everything when they grow up. She joins the team as our Entertainment Coordinator in the fall of 2014. She can be reached directly at entertainment@atlanticcirque.com
Trevor Seyforth
Open Gym Coordinator
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Trevor grew up in the Annapolis Valley, in Nova Scotia. Born with a disability called cerebral palsy, although he always had an interest in fitness, it took him a while to feel comfortable working out at the gym in front of people, so he began his fitness journey only about 7 years ago. Being active has had a very positive impact for him. He has given him a lot of confidence. He even received fitness awards! Trevor trained in the Paralympic for 3 years doing shutout and discus for 2 years before expanding to wheel chair racing for 1 year. He then went to Acadia University to study and graduated with a degree in Kinesiology. He has recently moved to Halifax to expand his fitness knowledge and motivate others. We are thrilled to have him join our team as our Open Gym Coordinator and new student in circus arts!
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OUR INSTRUCTORS (coaches vary every term)
Jason Ayoub
Instructor (Juggling, Acrobatics, Rope)
When you're at Atlantic Cirque, you can often find Jason lifting people high in the air, juggling or flipping on the trampoline. Jason has been involved in circus arts since 1998 and is a former Cirque du Soleil artist, he attended the National Circus School in Montreal from 1998 to 2001 as a full time student for their professional program. He also has prior experience coaching provincial-stream gymnastics. Jason performed trampoline and teeterboard for two years before he decided to go South, where he worked as a flying trapeze instructor at Mexico's Club Med. His also worked for three months in creation for Cirque du Soleil's show, Love, which opened in Las Vegas in 2006.
Anastasia Burinskaya
Aerial Instructor
Anastasia is originally from Minsk, Belarus. She started with gymnastics when she was 4 year old, then moved on to acrobatics when she was 10. At the age of 14 she fell in love with circus and it became a big part of her life. Anastasia specializes in aerial, silks in particular; but also works with aerial hoop, aerial hammock, hula hoops, aerial straps, fire, human statues, and more. She performed all across Belarus, Italy and Germany, and now throughout the Maritimes with Atlantic Cirque. Anastasia participated in many different festivals throughout the years, and in 2017 she received 2nd place with her silks performance in "Golden Section" (Zolotoe Sechenie) cirque festival in Moscow, Russia. In 2019, she moved to Nova Scotia and joined Atlantic Cirque as a professional artist and instructor.
Meaghan De L'Eveille
Cirque Instructor (Cyr Wheel, Cerceau)
Meaghan is another import to Halifax. She grew up in Ontario, where she has been involved with musical theatre and competitive sports since the age of five. Starting with dance and baseball, she did her first performances with a local children's musical theatre troupe in 1998. In 2001, Meaghan progressed to a more professional level, and has since been in a wide variety of shows, including Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dream Coat, and Les Misérables. In 2003, she moved to Nova Scotia and decided she needed a change of pace! She spent the next few years participating in competitive cheerleading and soccer, and eventually found a way to combine her love for performing with her intense athletic abilities... circus! In the summer of 2010, Meaghan began learning circus arts, and quickly realized that this was her niche!
Vanessa Furlong
Theatre & Performance Instructor
Vanessa has a strong performance background, she began at the age of 5 in musical theatre and expanded to film, dance, direction, choreography, orchestral conducting and later on got into circus arts.Vanessa has a degree in Music and Theatre from Bishops University in Quebec. She became the director of Bishops U's first ever musical, and delivered it to a sold out audience. Vanessa also created a musical theatre program in collaboration with New Brunswick's Interaction Children's Theatre Company, spending four years developing shows and mentoring youth in positive artistic growth. Vanessa chose Halifax as her home next, training in circus arts, and traveling internationally with ECMA nominated Three Sheet as the lead singer. Vanessa feels truly at home with the Atlantic Cirque family and looks forward to years of sharing the magic of theatre with all involved.
Jayden Gigliotti
Assitant-Instructor
Jayden is a professional contemporary circus artist training in object manipulation, specializing in juggling. Five years ago, he began performing at fundraiser events, talent shows, showcases, and other local events in his hometown of Creston, British Columbia. Shortly after he began to juggle and unicycle in productions such as Carousel, Annie, and Cinderella with his local theatre company. In 2013, he attended a circus workshop in Las Vegas where he was greatly inspired by the professional artists he worked with. His passion for the performing arts began backstage and grew from the elation of juggling on stage. In 2015, Jayden moved to Halifax, where he completed his Bachelor of Arts Honours degree in Theatre Studies from Dalhousie University. Earlier this year Jayden became a member of Atlantic Cirque’s performers where he is further developing his juggling skills. Jayden has taught at a number of summer camps as well as working with individuals on their jugging and unicycling skills. He looks forward to teaching and inspiring a new wave of circus artists and helping them along their circus journey.
Sara James
Cirque Instructor
Sara has always been active and a climber, from the age of 2 all she wanted to do was go do "monkey bar business" at any playground she could get to. She started ballet at 3, soccer at 4, gymnastics at 5, and was introduced to Atlantic Cirque at the age of 9, it was a fit for her and she soared through the class ranks. In February of 2012 at the age of 11, Sara was the youngest cast member selected for the 10-year anniversary show Decade. Sara's favourite apparatus are the silks and the hammock. Sara love the babies and hopes to continue to coach them and be with the school for many years to come.
Amy Macdonald
Cirque Instructor
Amy has always been involved in some type of artistic sport. She started dance at the age of 5, moved on to gymnastics at 9 and went back to dance at 13. It was through dance that she discovered cirque by taking an acro class, where she learned some contortion tricks and how to combine them with a contemporary style of dance. Wanting to learn more she took a beginner class at Atlantic Cirque and was immediately drawn to it, taking as many classes as possible. Now she is a member of junior troupe and hopes to continue performing and teaching for many years to come.
Marina Macdonald
Assistant-Instructor
At the age of 6, Marina had an interest in taking gymnastics classes but she couldn’t find a gymnastics club with available space. In her pursuit for gymnastics, she stumbled across Atlantic Cirque. She thought that she would join circus arts until she could find a spot in gymnastics, but circus was just too good to give up. It was the perfect fit! Circus arts allowed her to explore ways to be creative with choreography, create stories and even combine it with her love for music. She poured her heart into every training session and performance, and you can now see her perform with Atlantic cirque’s Junior Troupe at various events throughout the year. She specializes in dance-trapeze and hula hoop and is excited to teach join the team as an assistant-coach and share her love of everything circus with students.
Zoey McPhee
Assistant-Instructor
Zoey was born with the gift of imagination and an adventurous spirit, always eager to perform for family and friends the various stories she created. It wasn’t surprising that her journey led her to the Circus Arts. Zoey first began her journey in the performing arts at the young age of 9 when she took Jazz, Ballet and Tap. As much as she enjoyed learning various dance skills she felt the desire to do more bold and challenging acrobatic moves, so she moved on to gymnastics, on her third year she joined competitive gymnastics. However, after spending a year competing she felt the repetitiveness limited her freedom of expression and she took it upon herself to look into circus arts. This is where Zoey found her passion and after 3 years she has never looked back. Always appreciative of the skills she learned previous and how it contributed to her success and love for circus arts Zoey has and is now able to express herself freely and able to do what she truly loves. You can find Zoey performing with Atlantic Cirque's Junior Troupe at various events around Halifax or hanging from the silks or hammock at Atlantic Cirque.
Camille Nicholson
Assistant-Instructor
Ever since she can remember, Camille has always been climbing something; monkey bars, trees, hills,
bookcases, and even repelling with her family at the early age of 6. With lots of enerygy to spare, she tried
different activities but none really seem to stick with her, until she discovered circus arts. Since 2010, Camille has attended a wide variety of classes at Atlantic Cirque and it is where she found her perfect fit. In 2019, she decided to share her passion with others by becoming an assitant coach. These days you can find her on class learning new tricks on her favourite apparatus, the aerial cerceau or teaching children during a weekly class or a birthday party.
bookcases, and even repelling with her family at the early age of 6. With lots of enerygy to spare, she tried
different activities but none really seem to stick with her, until she discovered circus arts. Since 2010, Camille has attended a wide variety of classes at Atlantic Cirque and it is where she found her perfect fit. In 2019, she decided to share her passion with others by becoming an assitant coach. These days you can find her on class learning new tricks on her favourite apparatus, the aerial cerceau or teaching children during a weekly class or a birthday party.
Rileigh Pugh-Toole
Cirque Instructor
Born in Halifax Nova Scotia, Rileigh has always been very active. She began gymnastics at 1½ and continued that until the age of 9. During this time period she also studied various forms of Dance from the age of 3 to 13. Rileigh was also a competitive swimmer and a sprint Canoer for many years and has always loved training. Rileigh fell in love with circus after having 2 birthday parties there and decided to join her first class a few years later. Rileigh was selected for Ecole Nationale de Cirque intensive summer camp in 2016 and that was a big turning point for her and that experience lead her to become a part of Atlantic Cirque’s junior troupe and advanced class. Rileigh enjoy’s Acrobatics, Stilts, hand balancing and Straps. Rileigh hopes to continue coaching and performing with Atlantic Cirque for many years to come.
We also have various instructors available for PRIVATE LESSONS
You want a chance to join our amazing team?
Visit the job opportunity section and send us your resume!
Visit the job opportunity section and send us your resume!