Mission Statement
Salem Aerial Dance Company (SADC) aims to bring the joy of aerial and dance arts to our community. Our commitment is to create a safe space for all where people can explore their creativity, strength, and artistry. Proper technique and anatomical alignment is practiced in classes, helping our students reach their goals. We believe in a collaborative learning environment where students feel seen and heard. Our goal is for classes to be fun and engaging.
Staff
Kim Choeychan
Owner, Artistic Director
Kim earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in dance from the University of Oregon in 2014. Kim has performed professionally in Portland for over 7 years, most notably with AWOL Dance Collective. She has taught at acclaimed studios such as AWOL, NW Dance Project, and Allegro Dance Studio. Her continued studies include AWOL’s pre-professional training company (FlyCo), aerial rigging workshops with Brett Copes, teacher training programs through Paper Doll Militia, and training with Batsheva dance company.
Kim loves to share her passion with others, bringing over 15 years of teaching experience to the studio. She seeks to find a balance between students enjoying their craft, and fostering continued growth. One of her favorite moments in life is witnessing her students have ‘aha’ moments.
When she is not in the air, she enjoys spending time outdoors with her husband and baby.
See a video of her performing with AWOL Dance Collective
Video Courtesy of thesquarepdx
Andee Fischer
Co-Artistic Director
Andee has been dancing since she first discovered the little tap-tap sound made by her tiny patent leather shoes on the linoleum. Since then, she's studied Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Hip Hop, Modern, Contemporary Lyrical, Musical Theatre, Irish, Lindy Hop, West African, Hula, Pole, and Aerial. Andee studied Dance at Western Oregon University and has been choreographing and teaching professionally for over 15 years and is thrilled to be a part of the Salem Aerial Dance Company family.
Lela Utter
Aerial/Dance Instructor
Lela has done multiple sports throughout her life, including water polo, swim team, and a bit of baseball and volleyball. Her absolute favorite is dance. She danced with Inspiration Dance Company (IDC) from ages 4-17, but then the studio tragically closed. There she found her passion for dance, focusing mostly on ballet and modern dance, but also studying some jazz and partnering. After IDC closed she loved to dance too much to quit and that's when she found Salem Aerial Dance Company and started learning on the silks and lyra. She immediately fell in love with it. Lela has assisted with both IDC and SADC. She officially accepted a teaching & performing position with SADC last summer and loves sharing her passion with others!
Rosella Cogar
Aerial/Acrobatics Instructor
Rosella has been in dance/acrobatic sports since she was 3. She started with ballet and tap, and at age six, Rosella decided she wanted to try gymnastics and loved it! She did other activities like swim team, softball, volleyball, and musical theater, but gymnastics won her heart. She was a competitive gymnast at Athletic Edge for seven years, and in 2019, she suffered a significant injury that prevented her from returning to gymnastics. After a couple of years of rehab and physical therapy, her orthopedic told her she could return to a sport that wouldn’t further stress the injury. After some investigation, she found an aerial studio in Molalla. She had always wanted to be an aerialist, so she jumped at the opportunity. After two years of commuting to Molalla, she was delighted when Kim opened her studio in Salem. She was ecstatic to join the performing company and has been at SADC ever since.
Destiny Hemry
Aerial Instructor
Hi I am Destiny. I did competitive cheerleading for many years when I was younger. As I got older my love for fitness grew. I currently am a gymnastics instructor. I teach a wide age range and skill levels of children. I also teach group fitness to adults. With teaching so much I wanted to find something that I could do for strength and fun. I became interested in aerial. At the time there were no aerial studios near me and that is how I started pole. I love pole. It has been the best thing for me mentally, physically and socially. I was so excited to discovered Salem Aerial Dance Company. Aerial fabric and lyra has given me new challenges to overcome physically and mentally. I love building my strength while learning new skills and creating art.
Sophia Callis
Aerial Instructor, Administrative Assistant
Ever since I was able to walk, I would be dancing. I danced anywhere and everywhere, whether there was music or not. I did ballet at 3 years old for a year and fell out due to loss of interest. By age 9, I had tried an aerial silk class at Center Stage and fell in love with aerial. At the same time, I also took hip-hop class there for a year. Since Center Stage didn’t have any classes in the summer, I tried a summer camp at Aerial Revolution, which introduced me to the world of aerial. I ended up switching studios and attended there for two years. I learned fabric, trapeze, lyra, and hammock. Later on I had decided to take a break, which at the same time my parents decided they wanted a change of area. Moving from El Cajon, California, to Salem, Oregon, in 2020 made my couple-week break into 4 years. Once I found out that there was an aerial studio opening in Salem, I was so excited. Becoming a teammate at Salem Aerial Dance Company has given me the chance to do aerial again and build upon my strengths. Throughout these past years, I’ve always enjoyed my time at SADC and have been able to find a true team of people. Recently, I have found my heart for teaching aerial. I enjoy teaching because I get to teach kids amazing tricks that deal with creativity up in the air. I think aerial is such a unique art, so being able to teach and share my knowledge is special to me. I’m very thrilled to start my teaching journey and to keep learning more about aerial arts as the year progresses.
A special thank you to our volunteers and supporters that make our productions possible:
Nathaniel Pierce, ETCP rigger
Jon Chayse and James Kohn, rigging team
Danielle Baca, creative vision support