- April 5, 2025
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Jack Carter and Kiana Farrell demonstrate a partner acrobatics move. The pair works with Michelle Carter at Cloudbreak Circus, an acrobatics business in Atlantic Beach. Photo by Paige Wilson
Palm Coast residents Rachel Pladdys and Grace Myers demonstrate an aerial hoops pose. Photo by Paige Wilson
Diana Lemon, Sal Ggebbia, Kevin Dykes, Steve Woodin and Rich Lacey entertain with a drum circle. The group plays in Flagler Beach every Monday. Photo by Paige Wilson
Palm Coast resident Nancy Kern (left), who teaches Kai dance, enjoys hoop dance with Palm Coast instructor Angela Young. Photo by Paige Wilson
Palm Coast resident Rachel Pladdys spins around with butterfly wings. Photo by Paige Wilson
Mark Klos shows his rhythm skills. Photo by Paige Wilson
Palm Coast Arts Foundation Events Director Barrie Michaels shows off her silk skills. She also owns VertiFit Aerial Arts. Photo by Paige Wilson
Mikel Barkan came from Orlando to juggle at the Flow Fest. Photo by Paige Wilson
St. Augustine resident McKenzie Lamberson teaches double hoops. Photo by Paige Wilson
Hula hoops, aerial silks and juggling workshops turned the lawn outside Palm Coast Arts Foundation into a circus of sorts — all focused on getting your body moving.
PCAF held a Flow Fest, the first of its kind in Northeast/North Central Florida, on Saturday, Jan. 6, to engage local families in unique forms of physical fitness that incorporate art.
A combination of body movement, fitness and arts, the Flow Fest included 12 workshops ranging from aerial silks, a drum circle, hula hoop dance, partner acrobats, juggling and more.
“We have a lot of young families here, so we need to be able to provide things that are going to engage the families in the community — the children in the community — and introduce movement art and other ways to play,” PCAF Event Director Barrie Michaels said.
Casandra Tanenbaum, the inventor of Flow Fest, said the festival is all about embracing movement arts to engage your body. Tanenbaum started Flow Fest in Lake Worth in 2011 and has held many statewide and national fests at locations including Austin, Texas; Chicago, Illinois; and Seattle, Washington.
“Not everyone wants to go to a gym and get on a treadmill,” Michaels said. “These are ways you can really get your body moving and have a lot of fun.”
Arts instructors traveled to Palm Coast from Jacksonville, St. Petersburg, Miami and Greece to lead the workshops at the festival. A full day of workshops was $25, or guests could participate in individual workshops for $10 each.
Money from admission will go toward the PCAF’s twofold mission of introducing arts and culture to the community and educating locals in those subjects.
Visit palmcoastartsfoundation.com and flowfests.com.
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