Our experts
Angela Kim
Figure skating coach, Pilates, Contortion & FRC Specialist
Angela comes from an eclectic background: she began skating at the age of 6, and competed until age 18. She’s been performing ever since. She has held principal positions for Holiday on Ice, Disney on Ice, Royal Caribbean, Art on Ice, and Cirque du Soleil. Her long-standing success stems from years of experience working with the body in many different disciplines.
She discovered circus arts in 2006, and has been studying traditional Mongolian contortion and aerial acrobatics for over a decade. During this time, she also opened and co-owned a successful pilates studio called Studio Blue in Portland, Oregon. (This is where she began to develop the Balanced Skaters program.) After several years of coaching and running her studio, she began mixing circus with figure skating, putting her on the map as one of the few pioneering skaters to mix disciplines.
In 2015, Angela had two reconstructive hip surgeries from a genetic abnormality. Her knowledgeable physical therapists, trainers, and using Functional Range Conditioning (FRC) allowed her to regain her contortion abilities. Angela received her certification as an FRC mobility specialist soon after, and started to skate again. She began coaching full-time on and off the ice in Oakland, CA, and opened her second pilates studio, Pilates Loft Oakland. After 2 years of being away from performing, she received an offer from Cirque du Soleil to perform as an inline skater and aerialist in their new creation, Volta. During her time in Cirque, she continued to coach as well. She was asked to teach for Acrobatic Arts and was thrilled to be a part of a program that helped young dancers build strong, capable, and healthy bodies.
Angela saw a disconnect in the skating world and wanted to make a larger impact in reaching broader skating communities. She teamed up with Acrobatic Arts to create Balanced Skaters.
Mandy Yip
Dance & Curriculum Specialist
As the founder and CEO of Acrobatic Arts Inc, Mandy manages the staff and delivery of all training programs, and the Acrobatic Arts syllabus in over 4500 dance studios in USA, Canada, UK, Australia, South Africa and over 25 other countries. She heads the Acrobatic Arts examination program, and trains and certifies adjudicators to administer exams in studios around the world. Over 250,000 dancers participate in Acrobatic Arts classes on a weekly basis!
Mandy created the Acrobatic Arts training and certification program, and the Acrobatic Arts Curriculum, seeking advice and recommendations from industry experts in physiotherapy, artistic and rhythmic gymnastics, biomechanics, pilates, inversion, anatomy of movement, ballet, contortion, circus arts, and more to create the most comprehensive, researched program possible. Mandy also created the Acrobatic Arts App, My Acro App, the Acro Adjudicator App, and the AcroDance Preschool App.
A lifelong learner, Mandy has attended and achieved certification in countless courses, including contortion, hand balancing, inclusive learning, tap, jazz, gymnastics, and safe coaching, to name a few. Mandy currently sits on the advisory board for YPAD, and assists with the mission of keeping kids safe in dance through this organization. Mandy has taught thousands of dance teachers, and provided expert classes at Dance Teacher Summit (NYC), Dance Teacher Web Live (Las Vegas), Dance Teacher Summit (LA), Toronto Dance Teacher Expo, Calgary Dance Teacher Expo, Move It Dance Convention (London), Can You Dance Super Convention (Liverpool), Victorian Dance Festival (Melbourne), and CLI Studios (LA). Highly sought for clinics and workshops across North America, Europe and Australia, Mandy is known for bringing passion, technique and in-depth practical knowledge to engaging classes.
Luke Kirchgessner
Jump Specialist
Luke started skating at the age of 9 in the very small skating community of Albuquerque, New Mexico. At 14 he was offered an amazing opportunity to take trips to Colorado Springs in the summers, where he worked with elite coaches for the first time; Tom Zakrajsek, Eddie Shipstad, Christy Krall, Janet Champion, Ryan Jahnke, Damon Allen, Erik Shultz, and the late Kathy Casey. Seeing how they broke down jumps in such a detailed way fascinated him and inspired him to not only want to take his own skating to the elite level, but to someday be able to have the knowledge to coach elite skaters himself. Balancing his own skating and yet coaching a group of skaters at home, many opportunities to train outside of Albuquerque had opened up. Luke continued trips to Colorado as often as possible but was hungry to learn even more about all the different techniques and styles of other great coaches. As he progressed and started being recognized, several opportunities opened up and was able to train part time in California, Dallas, Phoenix, and Minnesota where he worked with Rafael Arutyunyan, Peter Oppegard, Ann Brumbough, Ben Shroats, Thomas Amon, Trudy Oltmanns, Peter Cain, and Ken Congemi. Learning technique from so many different elite coaches, his own skating progressed but ultimately his knowledge of different techniques and training ideas was growing to benefit his students. This had become very important to him and the goal of someday becoming a great coach. Luke competed through to the senior level, competing at sectionals twice at the junior level, and also making a final round in a jump challenge put together by Tom Zakrajsek where he competed against many of the United States best athletes.
At 22 he stopped competing and began touring in professional ice shows all over the world. At this time, he had fallen in love with the performance aspect of skating as well and had the opportunity to work with some of the worlds most well known choreographers who opened his eyes to art of skating and movement. Now at 24, is back in Albuquerque where he has been coaching full time. His overall mission and goal is to provide the skaters with the upmost knowledge and appropriate progressions to achieve their goals. He believes that the base of technique and specific practice habits with a hyper focus on the specifics of axis control and off ice conditioning is most valuable. Over the years he has developed a system filled with set exercises, shaping drills, and specific repetitious habits that set the skaters up to be most successful. Furthermore, knowing fresh in his mind what many of the challenges that arise amongst developmental athletes are, he has an eye for bad-habit fixes and confidence-building techniques. Growing up in a small skating community with limited recourses, he has made it his personal goal to not only educate the skaters he coaches, but to expand this further with Balanced Skaters.
Yebin Mok
Following a successful competitive career (including two-time US Intermediate & Juvenile National champion, member of US international Team at Senior and Junior level, 2002 Golden Spin of Zagreb silver medalist, two bronze medals on the ISU Junior Grand Prix circuit, and placed fifth at the 2003 World Junior Championships), Yebin went on to perform as a Principle Skater in a number of major productions created by Holiday on Ice, Beitak productions, Wheeler productions, and BIFF LTD.
While working with a variety of world-renowned choreographers and directors, she established herself as a leading principal skater with trademark grace and flowing lines.
Widely regarded as one of the most beautiful skaters in the business, Yebin is deeply respected in the professional skating world and was a top-3 finalist of Young Artist Showcase and winner of the industry’s Virtual Skate Off competition. In addition to her choreographic successes, she was the co-creative choreographer for “The Creative Spirit of John Curry” production by BIFF LTD.
Yebin is now an international-level coach who now passes on her passionate love for beautiful skating to the next generation of elite skaters.
Matej Silecky
Matej Silecky was a Skating Professional on ITV's Dancing on Ice (2020 Netherlands, Semi-Finalist; 2018 UK Runner-Up). He is the 2012-13 USFS Collegiate Junior Men's Champion, USFS Nationals Competitor Championship Pairs and Ukrainian National Team member. He is a triple gold medalist, USFS and Skate Canada, in Freestyle, Pairs and Moves in the Field (Elements) and is currently completing partnered dance tests (Pre-Silver+2).
Matej is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, where he was Team Captain of the Cal Figure Skating team and developed and taught a college course on the interdisciplinary aspects of figure skating. Matej has also performed in numerous shows with Woodstock Ice Productions, Ice Dance International, Ghiaccio Spettacolo (Italy) & Ice Theatre of New York, among others. He regularly coaches and choreographs for skaters of all levels.
He is the USA Country Manager for Graf Figure Skates and is USFS Coach Compliant + PSA Basic Accredited.
Nobahar Dadui
Nobahar Dadui is an artistic movement and flexibility coach located in Toronto, Canada.
Nobahar has appeared in Holiday on Ice, Royal Caribbean cruise ship entertainment, and she most recently originated the role of ‘Crystal in Cirque Du Soleil’s first on-ice production. She has worked alongside Kurt Browning, Ben Agotso, Elvis Stojko, and Sandra Bezic.
Nobahar’s expertise was refined in the Theatre & Dance program at George Brown College. This experience exposed her to styles such as ballet, jazz, contact improvisation, hip hop, and pointe. She continues to pursue her passion of artistry and movement, specializing in increasing body awareness in athletes and developing techniques for spins and flexibility.
Nobahar is dedicated to sharing her experiences and wisdom with athletes seeking their peak potential. She believes through mediation and body awareness athletes can have a much more balanced lifestyle on and off the ice.
“Breathing is the essence of Life.”
Danil Berdnikov
Danil Berdnikov is from the city of Samara in Russia. Danil was a part of junior national team and competed within Russia until he completed high school. Danil then decided to move to Moscow to continue his education and to join Stage Entertainment Russia for an opportunity to begin performing as an ice skater.
Performing for an audience, Danil fell in love with skating in a new way, so he has continued to skate professionally for the past eight years. Over the course of his professional skating career Danil had a privilege of working for Willy Bietak Productions and Wheeler Productions in the US, Stageworks Worldwide Production in the UK, Holiday on Ice Productions and Dynamic Shows Entertainment in the EU, Stage Entertainment Russia.
Ice skating has brought Danil many different opportunities, including the chance to travel the world and do what he truly loves.
Max March-Steinman
Plyometric Specialist
After a decade of teaching science, Max March-Steinman (he/him) shifted careers to pursue circus arts and movement coaching. He earned certification from AFAA in Personal Training and Group Exercise Training, is a USA Track and Field Level 2 Jumps Coach, and carries seven years of experience in the field. As a coach, he has worked with athletes around the world, and dedicates himself to a rigorous, scientific approach to training. Whether instructing one-one-one or in group workshops, Max brings a cross disciplinary expertise to his work to make student athletes feel empowered in their progress.