About In the Wings

In the Wings aerial was created by Fallon Voorheis-Mathews in early 2018. Fallon has spent her entire life moving. Starting with ballet at 2 years old, moving on to gymnastics at 3 and returning to dance in her teenage years. She danced throughout college and found aerial in 2010. She was immediately hooked as it combines all of her passions and having roots in the circus creates a sense of inclusiveness. After spending several years creating and performing with other companies, she decided she was ready to start creating her own performances and started In the Wings.

In the Wings is a group of professional aerialists and dancers. We fuse traditional aerial arts with technical dance seamlessly. Our passion is creating work that resonates with other artists, dancers, and audiences.

The Company

Fallon Voorheis-Mathews

Founder & Artistic Director

Fallon is the founder and artistic director of In the Wings. She is a proud Colorado native and has been involved in gymnastics and dance since early childhood. After injuries prevented her from pursuing her gymnastics career, she studied dance under Tony Coppola at Mesa State College. Fallon was introduced to aerial dance in 2010 and instantly fell in love with the art form. She started her training at Frequent Flyers as a member of the apprentice company and spent 6 years with Iluminar Aerial where she wore many hats including Assistant Director. Over the years, Fallon has studied with many different companies and artists including Tanya Burka, Annabelle D’Artois, Daniel Sullivan, Ukoiya Mastin, Elsie Smith, TSNY-LA and the Imperial Flyers High Flying Trapeze Club. She has also enjoyed collaborating with her old friends at Frequent Flyers during ADF and with new friend, Susan Murphy of the Marsh Studio. Outside of dance, Fallon is a dedicated GI nurse who enjoys sneaking away to Paris whenever possible, cleaning up French and American Bulldog drool, and murder mystery nights with friends. She is grateful for all the support from her friends, family, and colleagues, and appreciates her husband for helping her pursue her dreams. She’s forever grateful and blown away by the dedication and talent that The Wingettes have displayed this season and excited for many more!

Ashley Sonnier

Asst. Artistic Director

Ashley is looking forward to this upcoming third season for In The Wings Aerial as a Company Member and Assistant Artistic Director. She started dancing at the age 3 in tap, ballet, and jazz at Dance Stop Centre in Louisiana. While attending McNeese University to pursue a degree in Accounting, she joined Lake Charles Civic Ballet and became principal dancer.  After college, Ashley moved to Houston, Texas for an accounting job and had her first taste of the aerial arts. In 2016, she moved to Colorado and started pursuing dance and aerial arts more passionately. She has trained and performed with Gravity Aerial Arts, Iluminar Aerial, and MOTH.  Ashley is also a performing member of Thrive Ballet and Davis Contemporary Dance Company.

Naomi Graff

Instructor, Core Company Member, Choreographer

At the age of 12, Naomi Graff fell in love with aerial arts after seeing a trapeze performance in Sea World. Since then, she’s performed with Frequent Flyers Productions, took the art form to Nepal and performed on a bamboo rig, and has produced her own show: Open Up (pictured here.) Through Frequent Flyers she was casted as the Queen of Hearts from Alice and Wonderland, and has created countless solos, duets, group work and a handful of aerial skills. She specializes in aerial silks, trapeze, and lyra, but loves to do anything that gets her upside down! 

Julie Young

Core Company Member

Julie Young has been training in the aerial arts since 2014 on a variety of apparatuses with a focus towards Aerial Silks and Loop Straps. Other circus arts that she regularly enjoys are fire poi, clowning, tennis racquet contortion, juggling, flower sticks, and acro yoga. Her aerial & circus arts journey started in at Cirque Indy in Indiana, then trained at Aerialogy in Bloomington, IN. An opportunity took her to Hawaii for a few years where she dove deeper into teaching and training, and then the circus call brought her here to Colorado in 2022. She has been teaching aerial silks and dance/acting improv since 2019 and is currently an instructor and the the Artistic Director of Fort Collins Circus Center. In her spare time away from aerial arts and performing, Julie is a visual artist and spends her time painting murals and original artworks and tending to her happy plants at home.

Christine Jackson

Core Company Member

Christine decided to try out aerial silks back in 2018 and quickly became hopelessly addicted to all things aerial… and she wouldn’t have it any other way! Christine believes that aerial is the perfect blend of physical strength, puzzle solving, and artistic creativity. Christine has trained and performed primarily with Aircat Aerial Arts in Boulder, but enjoys taking workshops and classes all around Colorado so she can learn new pathways and movement styles from a variety of teachers and performers. Christine loves choreographing and performing acts and especially enjoys playing with musicality and character work in aerial performance. This is Christine’s first season as a company member with In the Wings, and she is so grateful to be a part of this amazing group.

Leah Grandstaff

Company Member

Leah (aka LeahTard Wedgie) began pushing her boundaries and exploring strength and grace through aerial acrobatics training & performances in 2013. Discovering herself through this modality inspired her to share this movement art with others. Leah completed her first teacher training through Aircats in Boulder, CO in 2016 & has been enjoying coaching immensely ever since. Her teaching philosophy is founded upon the conceptual understanding of aerial movement as well as encouraging her students to honor their authentic selves by identifying strengths, accepting limitations, and exploring areas to cultivate growth. She teaches aerial classes at Aerial Cirque over Denver, Aircats in Boulder & offers private lessons at LeahTard’s Creative Sanctuary in RiNo. She has been a cast member of the Phantom Circus since 2016 & is thrilled to join In the Wings this year for their third season! Leah specializes in fabric, but enjoys exploring sling, lyra, dance trapeze & has most recently developed a deep love for duo-trapeze. Leah spends her free time training in various circus arts, spending time with her son & daughter, & enjoying palate-pleasing food!

Nicole Londraville

Company Member

Nicole was working as a scientist in the Boston area when she took her first aerial class in 2011. She was instantly hooked and began dreaming of running away and joining the circus. In July 2015 Nicole was admitted into Esh Circus Art’s Professional Preparatory Program. She spent two and a half years in the program training at night and working by day. In 2017 her hard work paid off when she was accepted into the New England Center for Circus Arts (NECCA) Protrack Program. Without hesitation she quit her “real” job and moved herself, her husband, dog, and two cats to Brattleboro Vermont. There she spent the next two fabulous years training under the tutelage of NECCA’s world class coaches. Nicole graduated from the second year of the program in June 2019 with a major in aerial rope and minor in cyr wheel. After graduation Nicole moved to the Denver area. She currently teaches aerial and cyr at several studios and has performed with a number of local circus company’s, such as MOTH Poetic Circus and Rainbow Militia. This is Nicole’s second season with In the Wings and she is excited for the creative potential of mixing dance with her traditional circus background.