Our Instructors

Meet the fabulously talented Instructors at Mountain Air Dance!

Michael O'Reilly

  • Michael O'Reilly's passion for circus and aerial arts began very early in his life. He has been jumping, flipping, and flying since he was a young boy. At the age of 12, with the help of a crafty father, he rigged his own version of a trapeze bar above a trampoline in his backyard and there was no going back. He is a self-taught gymnast and acrobat with an early background in dance and various performance art forms.

    Michael became serious about aerial arts in 2009 when he first took a class from Cathy at Mountain Air Dance. Michael was her student for about a year before moving away. Since then, he has continued to focus his training and push himself to literal new heights as an aerialist with the help of various instructors and performers in Montana, Washington, and Arizona.

    Michael is also a Montessori preschool teacher and greatly enjoys being able to share aerial arts with children who love to fly as much as he does! He is so grateful to be a part of the troupe at Mountain Air Dance and can't wait to help fellow flyers reach their highest potential. See you in the studio!

Hana Boss

  • Hana Boss began her aerial career in California at the age of 13 years old and since then has been training as an aerialist and instructor. Her passion for aerial dance shines during her intensive training and on stage in front of a variety of audiences. Hana has found her calling through her love for silks, Lyra, and hammock, all in which she trains weekly. She has had the opportunity to share her passion with organizations like the Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation, BASSH, Loa Tree, Four Sisters Vineyard, Lucidity Festival, Christmas Stroll, Juicy Entertainment, and Kids Helping Kids Foundation. Hana has also performed in the entertainment industry alongside Kenny Loggins, Parachute, Gavin Degraw, and Katy Perry.

    Hana is currently a student at Montana State University studying for a B.S. in K-8 Education. She is a dedicated instructor at the local Bozeman studio, Mountain Air Dance and some of her other interests include art, singing, and exploring nature. She wishes nothing more than to keep pursuing her wishes to inspire others, defy gravity, build confidence, fitness, and offer an artistic outlet.

Cecilia (Ceci) Whyel

  • Cecilia is an artist, teacher, performer, and choreographer with over 27 years of training in a wide variety of movement styles. Cecilia is from Massachusetts and graduated Cum Laude from Elon University with a BA in Theatre Studies and a dance minor. She also completed one year in the MFA Dance program at the University of Oregon. Cecilia has had the opportunity to perform in a variety of spaces, including but not limited to the American College Dance Festival (ACDF) Regionals in Missoula, MT, the ACDF Nationals in Washington, DC at the Kennedy Center, The Marsh Studio, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, and The Lakewood Cultural Center. Cecilia previously performed with DAMAGEDANCE, BRIAH Danse, Iluminar Aerial, and In the Wings during her time in Colorado. Her dance training has heavily influenced her teaching style as a health and wellness professional (ACE CPT, ACE GFI, RYT 200). Cecilia is honored to teach contemporary and aerial dance in Bozeman at BDA and Mountain Air Dance. When Cecilia is not dancing, she's most likely hitting the trails or whitewater rafting with her family.

Cathy Stone Werner

  • Cathy Stone Werner is a gymnast turned modern dancer who loves to fly! She graduated from Texas State University in 2000 with a B.S. in Dance and then went on to complete the M.F.A. program in Choreography at the University of Colorado in 2003. Cathy has taught and performed with Frequent Flyers Productions, an innovative aerial dance company in Boulder, Colorado; as well as Wicked Sister Dance Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

    Cathy founded Mountain Air Dance in 2009; Montana's first aerial dance company. Her classes, workshops and performances have thrilled Bozeman and surrounding communities ever since. Cathy continues to learn new styles and approaches to teaching, performing and choreographing wherever life takes her and has a love for sharing aerial arts with her community.

    Through the melding of modern dance, gymnastics, yoga, pilates and aerial arts Cathy has created her own choreographic and teaching style that moves dancers through the vertical space on the stage and creates strong healthy dancers. She believes in the healthful benefits of dance and strives to pass her knowledge and love for the art on to future generations.

Rita Ramsey

  • Rita Ramsey fell in love with aerial after taking her first class with Mountain Air Dance shortly after moving to Bozeman in 2018. With a previous background in rock climbing, she loves the combination of strength, grace and musicality that come together to make aerial so unique and engaging. Rita is currently attending MSU for her second degree in K-8 Education with an Art Teaching Minor, while also working as a nanny and aerial teacher for Mountain Air Dance. In her spare time, she loves to create art, work on house and garden projects, and move her body in the great outdoors, be it climbing, yoga, skiing, or mountain biking.

Robyn Lundin

  • Robyn started practicing aerial dance in 2014 in San Diego, CA. She immediately fell in love with aerial silks and has been training ever since in studios in San Francisco, Seattle and New York. When Robyn moved to Bozeman, she was delighted to find a tight knit aerial community at Mountain Air Dance where she started teaching. While silks will always be her first love, she has expanded to training on hammock, Lyra, and rope. Outside of aerial, Robyn works in web security, loves dogs, the outdoors, and all things coffee.

Jenn Kotila

  • Jenn started in the world of aerial in 2013 on silks & static trapeze in Bellingham, WA. After years of learning different apparatuses on and off, she learned that aerial helped her anxiety in ways that other therapies have not. She then became more serious about her aerial training in 2017 on silks in Bend, OR.

    Jenn has an athletic background, playing volleyball consistently for 16 years. Aerial was her first experience of any sort of dance or acrobatic type classes, & she fell in love! She thrives on conditioning to help safely strengthen your body, & enjoys seeing each student’s progression in every class.

    Jenn is a clown at heart, she has a goofy sense of humor while teaching and training. She believes that aerial arts has the power to help mental health in so many ways, and is focused on learning more about that aspect of the art.

    She is trained on sling/hammock, silks, lyra and static trapeze.

Clara Griffen

  • Clara Griffen has enjoyed growing up in Bozeman, Montana. Clara is a Junior at Bozeman High. In her free time, she enjoys hiking with her dog and skiing at Bridger Bowl. Clara loves music and has played violin for seven years, practicing piano in her free time. She began her passion for Aerial with Mountain Air Dance in 2015. Her favorite apparatus is Silks, and she loves getting to learn all the other apparatus’ including Lyra and Hammock. Clara began assisting classes a couple of years ago and became an instructor in 2021. The opportunity to share her love for Aerial Dance through teaching brings her great joy.

Star Gaitan

  • Star was drawn to the confidence and strength that she felt from learning aerial. She enjoys flexibility training and learning exciting drops. Her primary passion has been for the silks; however she has work with worked with hammock, lyra, trapeze, and cube. Star has performance history with Mountain Air Dance and she has also performed several times with Levitation Nation based out of Kalispell.

    Star was raised in Montana and has lived in bozeman since 2008. She took her first class with Mountain Air Dance when she was sixteen. She has enjoyed developing her skills as a dancer and as an aerial instructor. She wants to continue pushing her abilities as a performer. She enjoys the challenges of teaching aerial and sharing her passion with students.


Lauren King

  • Lauren came to aerial from a partner acrobatics background. She has loved the transition from partnering with people to partnering with an apparatus. Aerial excites her because it is physically demanding but also a space to explore gracefulness, and new ways to move her body. One of the things she appreciates most about Mountain Air Dance is the culture of mutual support. The community of movement artists that gather in MAD's space has a backbone of positivity and passion. When not in the studio, you might find Lauren hanging out with plants, crafting, or reading.

Kat Stephens 

  • Kat first started taking aerial classes at MAD in 2014. After falling in love with the craft she practiced a range of apparatus including silks, lyra, static and high flying trapeze, pole, and acrobatics in Montana as well as Seattle. She has received other certifications for Elemental Hoopdance and the Certificate Program at the International Dance Academy of Hollywood. From her trainings she became a traveling performance artist where she specialized in dance, fire arts, flow arts, aerial, and stilt walking. Highlights of her career included working for Insomniac Entertainment, and performing at large scale music festivals such as Imagine and Paradiso. In 2017 she began training with MAD and Moksha Aerial Studio to become a teacher. Her passion for teaching lies in helping others find their love of movement and connection to personal expression. She hopes to incorporate more dance, aerial yoga, and mom and me classes to the MAD program.

    Outside of the studio Kat founded Katalyst Holistic Life Coaching where she works in nutrition, herbalism, spirituality, counseling, yoga therapy, and Reiki. She is a student at Sacred Roots Massage School and Breathing Deeply Yoga Therapy. She teaches yoga, pilates, and dance to all ages. When she's not dancing Kat spends her free time with her kids, traveling, or being in the outdoors. She loves tea ceremonies and tarot.

Teen Apprentices

Ava Wallis

  • Ava Wallis was born in Columbus, Ohio in 2007. After that, she moved around frequently until she was nine years old, when she moved to Bozeman, Montana. Ava enjoys many sports and activities such as climbing, football, playing piano and guitar, hanging out with friends, mountain biking, hiking, camping, and skiing. Most of all though, she loves aerial dance! Ava began taking aerial classes when she was ten years old and now she is fifteen and teaching classes of her own! She loves spending time with her students and helping them to love aerial dance.

Molly Nelson

  • Molly Nelson has been an apprentice at Mountain Air Dance since the beginning of 2022. She has danced with MAD since she was seven, and can’t wait to continue her dancing career! Molly grew her love for dance after years of practice and working with so many amazing instructors. She feels lucky to be teaching with some of the people who have taught and inspired her. She loves teaching and connecting with others to help make learning fun!

Josie Sproles

  • Josie Sproles is an apprentice at Mountain Air Dance. When she decided to try silks 4 years ago, she instantly knew she had found something she loved. Josie hopes to continue silks her whole life and eventually teach skills to students of all ages. In her free time, she likes to dance, read and play with her dogs.