The Girls
KC Van de Merkt captivates an entire audience’s dreams with her provocative hoop presence that explodes when she performs. Her funky hooping incorporates 12 years of hip hop and classical ballet experience with a totally unique style. Having traveled internationally to perform with her hoop, she has graced audiences from the west coast ( Seattle to Los Angeles) to the Midwest, Canada and the down-under, hooping all the way. Her training includes Dance Theatre of Elgin, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Joffrey Ballet, Ball State University , and several International Dance showcases. While traveling through Australia, KC fell in love with an exotic dance medium: fire. She currently performs with Chicago’s fire arts collective, Spunn, using hoop, poi, and fans. KC’s dance is truly an experience to be remembered. Her hooping exhibits passion, focus, intensity, and the ideal amount of playfulness. Her movements are smooth, sly, and syncopated where need be. KC can draw people in and then send them soaring with heart-stopping excitement that they’ll never forget. She’ll flow straight through the bedroom of your mind and leave her imprint on the wall.
Liz is a burrowing reflection of the earths four elements in powerful harmony. She spirals with a hoop and dresses the stage with flags in Hoop Steady. Also a performer in Spunn, she flows with poi, curls up with the staff, stretches with fans, plays with rope dart and handles some fire palms. Truly of many talents, Liz has hand picked her Australian-originated passion effortlessly. Her grace is playful and honest as she persuades her audience to dance along with her. She is folded in the world of the arts, but also cannot deny her true organization talents that she now travels nationally for. She creates the community in business; finds play in organization and can bring everyone together to let them shine in what they are best at. Liz has been an incredible performer and business woman who can clearly find her way to the top.
Elana’s hooping can be compared to virgin ears hearing the French language spoken for the first time; she mesmerizes a crowd with fluent, romantic, and sensual movements, leaving people in wonder. The Russian hoopstress was born in Odessa, Ukraine, where her interest in performance arts was sparked at an early age. Elana’s passion for movement arts began to reveal itself in her teenage years at raves where all she could do was dance. Her exotic beauty glides effortlessly across a stage with natural flexibility and poise. Her coy performance personality compliments her intense stage presence; everyone stops to watch when she steps up. Elana performs with Spunn, a Chicago based fire collective, using dance hoop, fire hoop, poi and more. First introduced to fire dancing in Barcelona, Elana’s light has burned brightly since. Her love of fire art is a passionate and consuming obsession. She is embarking upon other movement arts such as yoga and bellydance in order to strengthen her style and bring a new spin (no pun intended) to her performance. An audience cannot help but stop and watch, entranced as Elana ropes them in with her European charm.