Master Lu Yi brings over 50 years of experience to ACROSANCT. For 33 years he was associated with China's celebrated Nanjing Acrobatic Troupe, first as a star performer then as its Director. His company was the first Chinese group to perform in Western circus productions. He was the youngest Vice President of the Chinese Acrobatics Association. He judged international circus competitions in Paris, Monte Carlo, and China. In 1990, Master Lu Yi moved to the US to become the Artistic Director at Circus Center (San Francisco). He was recently awarded the first AYCO Circus Education Lifetime Achievement Award.
After earning a degree in Computer Science from MIT, Ayla focused on her true passion: the performing arts. Alongside ten years of ballet training, Ayla completed a Professional Feldenkrais® Training Program, then found one of the oldest and deepest methods of artistic training: Chinese acrobatics. For six years, Ayla studied acrobatics under Master Lu Yi at the Circus Center (San Francisco). In 2010, she volunteered as the Executive Director of Circus Center to bring financial stability to the organization. She co-founded ACROSANCT with Master Lu Yi to realize his dream of making American acrobatics the best in the world.
jory bell is CTO of miselu, which develops music interfaces and instruments to enrich the experience of creating music with iOS devices. Previously, jory was co-founder and CEO at OQO Inc, which created the ultra-mobile (handheld, 3G-connected) PC category as a precursor to today’s era of smartphone ubiquity. Prior to OQO, jory held design roles at Apple Computer and IBM Research. Before his work on consumer products, Jory worked at MIT (from which he holds 3 undergraduate degrees) developing oceanographic instruments for climate change research. He co-founded ACROSANCT with Master Lu Yi and studies acrobatics daily.
Master Lu Yi brings over 50 years of experience to ACROSANCT. For 33 years he was associated with China's celebrated Nanjing Acrobatic Troupe, first as a star performer then as its Director. His company was the first Chinese group to perform in Western circus productions. He was the youngest Vice President of the Chinese Acrobatics Association. He judged international circus competitions in Paris, Monte Carlo, and China. In 1990, Master Lu Yi moved to the US to become the Artistic Director at Circus Center (San Francisco). He was recently awarded the first AYCO Circus Education Lifetime Achievement Award.