The AYCO Board of Directors

David Hunt, President
David Hunt has been involved with circus arts for the past 11 years, though he started juggling 20+ years ago.  He has worked with several small productions between New York, New Orleans, and San Francisco including Circus Von Amberg, San Francisco Circus Center's Pickle Circus, Velocity Circus, and Zoppe Family Circus.  His involvement and commitment to youth circus began with his involvement as the co-founder of the New Orleans School of Circus Arts (2000).  He has coached youth throughout the Bay Area in a number of settings including the SF Circus Center.  He is currently a resident artist at two schools with the Prescott Circus Theatre, serves on the Advisory Committee for Prescott and continues to train and perform slack wire.  He has served AYCO as a member of the Board since 2005.

Kevin George, Treasurer

Jackie Davis, Co-Secretary, Newsletter Co-Editor, Office Administrator
Jackie Davis is a founding member of the American Youth Circus Organization and a practitioner of its mission “to promote the participation of youth in circus arts.”  Jackie teaches Movement Education at the Pine Hill Waldorf School where she directs the school’s annual “Hilltop Circus,” a curricular circus education program for all 7th and 8th graders, founded in 1996.  Jackie enjoys working coactively with high schoolers in “The Flying Gravity Circus,” (1999) a touring company whose mission is to assist other schools, via performances and day-long workshops, in creating their own circus education programs. She is a member of the American Alliance of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (AAHPERD) and its New Hampshire chapter which granted her the 2007 Middle School Physical Education Teacher of the Year Award. In 2008-2009, Jackie will take a leave from the AYCO board to pursue a Master’s in Education at Harvard University to deepen her work in youth development through circus arts education.


Rick Davis,  Membership Director, Webmaster
A founding member of AYCO, Rick's 30 year career has taken him to Ringling Brothers Circus, Broadway, DisneyWorld, The White House, and tours of 15 countries. He is the author of 3 books, and currently conducts circus school residencies for Circus Smirkus. He is also the founder and director of SchoolShows.com, the largest directory of school assembly performers.

John Whitfield, AYCO Store Director
Longtime juggling teacher and Founder of California Juggling and Circus Arts.

Peggy Ford
Peggy Ford is the Program Director of Circus Center in San Francisco. There she oversees the Clown Conservatory, the School Tour, San Francisco Youth Circus , Summer Camp, the Circus Apprentice Program and all outreach programs. Peggy¹s career in Circus spans 30 years, performing, teaching, writing , directing and developing circus programming. She toured as a clown with Ringling Brothers.( a million years ago) and was the Artistic Director of Make*A*Circus for 7 years. She shares a tattoo with another AYCO board member.

Warren Bacon
Warren Bacon is a former professional circus aerialist and acrobat who now teaches for youth circus programs and, through his company, Which Way Is Up? Consultants, designs, builds, and installs circus apparatus as well as specialty rigging systems for circuses, theaters, dinner shows, parks, and specialty displays such as a real motorcycle in a dealership. He holds a master's degree from Florida State University in molecular genetics and began his circus career with the Florida State University Flying High circus.

Orlene Gentile,  former President
Singing and dancing since age 3, Orlene Gentile started her work as an educator by teaching Filipino folk dance in 1990. She cut her teeth as a variety entertainer on the streets of India, Vietnam and the back woods of Thailand. She has taught circus, gymnastics and dance since 1999. Together with her husband, Carlo (see below) she has been teaching and directing circus programs for the past seven years. In 2002, they founded Fool Time Circus, an ensemble of teachers/performing artists dedicated to building confidence and expanding life choices through recreational circus arts. Both are graduates of the San Francisco Circus Center’s Clown Conservatory and currently teach acrobatics and circus skills with The Prescott Circus Theater. Most recently, they developed a foot juggling act in Wuqiao, China with which they toured the Midwestern and Eastern USA on the Zoppé Family Circus.

 
Kevin O'Keefe, Founder and former President
Kevin founded AYCO because he is committed to circus as a means for creating community. AYCO such as it is would not exist were it not for the steady leadership, guidance and integrity of his wife and partner Erin Maile. Kevin O'Keefe is the artistic director and founder of Circus Minimus. Since 1985 the programs of Circus Minimus have touched the lives of 100,000 students and their families. Programs include The Circus Kids Create, Circus Minimus Afterschool Programs, and CM Integrated Curriculums like Circus Around the Globe. For twenty years in every imaginable location Kevin has toured the world with The One-Man Circus in-a-Suitcase. In collaboration with Erin Maile, Kevin invented CircusYoga for Kids and Families TM. In 2001 the IJA awarded Kevin O'Keefe, for an Educational Excellence Award for his work with Circus Minimus and AYCO. If there is a life after this one he would prefer to return as Peggy Ford's pet bearded dragon.