Marz Aerial Youth Program

Nikki is a founding member of Marz Aerial Circus and has been dedicated to aerial training since 2016. Her skills span across Lyra, Silks, Sling, and unique apparatus like Tippy Lyra and Aerial Heart. Nikki has performed at various local events, including New Bern Civic Theatre, Mumfest, Dickinson After Dark, New Bern Pride Prom, and the Trent River Raft Race.

She enjoys the creative process of designing costumes and experimenting with makeup to enhance each performance. Outside of aerial arts, Nikki is a PADI certified mermaid and scuba diver, with a special love for diving with sharks. When she’s not in the air or underwater, she enjoys spending time with her Goldendoodle, Banx.

Marzanne is the owner of Marz Aerial Arts & Fitness and, as pictured in her all-time favorite costume, a performer with the Marz Aerial Circus. She has trained as an aerialist around the world since 2014, starting out with Aerial Silks during a production of Big Fish her senior year at McLean High School in Fairfax County, Virginia. She came to North Carolina in 2015 to study Industrial & Systems Engineering at NC State, and graduated and moved to New Bern full-time in 2020. She started at the Studio in 2017 while on Co-Op with Moen, where she worked as a Material Flow Engineer until the Spring of 2025, leaving her fleet of robots behind to pursue her passion for Aerial & Circus full-time. She teaches Aerial Silks, Lyra, Trapeze, and just about everything in between!

Jess is a founding member of Marz Aerial Circus and is the Circus's Performance Director. An aerialist since 2018 and with a dance background, she primarily works on lyra and sphere and can sometimes be seen on the cube. Jess also performs with silk fans and wings. She loves creating aerial and ground choreography for solos and group numbers. Her routines are often described as "delightfully unexpected" by her circus mates -- she continues to take that as a compliment.

She has performed at New Bern Civic Theater and for Mumfest, Dickinson After Dark, New Bern Pride Prom, and Trent River Raft Race. She has also had guest appearances on stage with Purple Marble Circus.

Mabel has been training at the studio since June 2024, and became obsessed with all forms of aerial arts and fitness right from the start. She feels most confident on the Aerial Lyra and Aerial Sling, though she also trains on Silks, Trapeze, and more!

A middle school chorus teacher by day, she sees her time at the studio as a necessary form of self-care to maintain a healthy work-life balance. Mabel has been teaching music since 2019, and is excited to have the opportunity to share her love of music with her students at school and her love of aerials with students at the studio!

Miriya began her undying romance with aerials in January 2023. She is forever grateful for the sense of community and confidence the circus world has given her. She has had the opportunity to perform at the New Bern Civic Theatre, the Great Trent River Raft Race, and the Carolina Circus Festival. While her favorite apparatus is Lyra, Miriya also practices Sphere, Sling, Silks, and Pole. She also dabbles in Silk Fans, Poi, Hoop, and Fire Arts. When she is not spinning in the air, she can be found reading copious amounts of books, baking, or watching spooky movies with her husband and puppy.

Cassie is a drafter and mom of two with a passion to fly. Aerial fell in her lap as a way to lose weight, gain strength, confidence, and a type of therapy. Starting the passion on Aerial Sling in 2021 at Mandala Yoga and Aerial Center in Swansboro. She then began teaching Aerial Sling in the spring of 2022 at Mandala. Later, her curiosity in multiple aerial apparatuses brought her to begin training in Silks and soon after Lyra; where she found a home training at Marz Aerial Arts & Fitness. She loves doing drops and always into leveling up moves.