About Us

What Are We?

We are a group of performers trying to spread our love of circus and fire arts with communities all across the country. Our performers met during our time at Vassar College, putting on numerous shows there and in the Arlington community. A Different Spin began performing professionally in 2006.

The current hub of activity for A Different Spin is centered in the Northeast, specifically the Boston area. Previous members of the group that currently reside in Oakland, CA join forces with those in Boston from time to time. All of us love to travel and are committed to putting on the best show we possibly can; wherever you are we can offer everything you need in a top quality entertainment troupe.

To find out more about where we are and what we're doing, visit us on Facebook or our myspace account. You can also read our bios below to find out more about our individual skills and talents! And if you want even more, check out the origin story of A Different Spin.

Member Bios

Michael "Mooch" Mucciolo
Staff Spinner, Juggler, Glass Walker, Magician, Flyer, Total Goofball

Before and during his time at Vassar College, Mooch had been involved in musical theater (actor, singer, dancer, assistant director, orchestra, stage band), jazz ensembles (tenor saxophone), drama (director, actor, stagehand) as well as the co-founder of Slampants---a five-piece rock band from Westchester County---but it was in the first months of his freshman year at the College that the circus arts world was opened up to him.

He had had no prior circus training but soon found that the appeal to learn the circus and fire arts was so great that even months of slow progress could not stand in the way of mastering a new skill. Through four years he was able to own many skills including contact juggling, fire staff, club juggling, glass walking, ball juggling, partner and group balancing, torch juggling, as well as card and coin magic.

An active and energetic member of the Vassar College Barefoot Monkeys (the Circus and Fire Arts group at the college), Mooch helped write, plan and perform in around 100 performances ranging from circus shows aimed at entertaining children at community events like the Arlington Street Fair to spectacular fire shows complete with anywhere from two to twenty performers complemented by live and/or electronic music.

With his good friend Alex Corby he tried his hand at street performing in New York City the summer before their senior year. The experience helped prepare Mooch to lead the Barefoot Monkeys his senior year and lend even more knowledge and support to the veterans and new members alike.

Mooch, like the other members of A Different Spin, is proud of the positive impact his passion has had on Vassar's circus and fire arts club and is confident that, as the organization did during his years there, it will continue to grow in its successes. To him, there seems no limit to what A Different Spin can do to bring the sheer joy and excitement of the circus and fire arts to people from all walks of life. With that in mind, Mooch worked to expand A Different Spin by bringing Jeremy Warren, Tim Ellis and Ricky Hawkins into the group and start new endeavors on the east coast.

 

 

Jeremy Warren
Staff and Poi Spinner, Juggler, Acrobat, Fight Choreographer, Diabolist, Glass Walker, Tarot Reader

Jeremy Warren realized his talent for throwing things in the air when, at the age of four, he managed to throw a full-sized baseball into his own eye. The trajectories and related physics are still being worked out, but early tests have implied a new corollary to the theory of relativity.

Jeremy graduated with a degree in psychology and has spent his entire school and professional career proving that the mind is a strange and wonderful thing. Cardboard piñatas, river rafts, pie fights, and sandwich samurai are just a few ways that Jeremy has tried to make the world a more interesting place.

As a performer, Jeremy tries to stay competitive in as many skills as he can so that acts and shows can be flexibile. His unique skill is in fortune telling, using Tarot cards to entertain rather than to deceive. He believes that live performance groups like A Different Spin are more important today than ever before in a culture that gets so much of our entertainment from television and the web.

Most recently, Jeremy worked part-time for the National Circus Project, teaching children circus skills and helping them develop their own performances.

 

 

Ricky Hawkins

Juggler, Contact Juggler, Staff and Poi Spinner, Unicyclist, Ragamuffin

Having graduated from Vassar College with a double major in Studio Art and Italian, Ricky was left with two choices: run off to Europe to become the next Michelangelo or join the circus.

Ricky has spent the last five years honing his skills and teaching children aged 8 to 15 the various circus arts. At college, he was a leading member and president of the Vassar College Barefoot Monkeys and helped the group expand from on-campus performances and branch out into the community, eventually performing everywhere from Christmas parties to Renais- sance Faires. In an interview with a New York newspaper, he was once quoted as saying that their club mission was to "help stem the tide of anti-juggling prejudice that is sweeping the nation".

Needless to say he has found a new home with A Different Spin, even if they don't let him talk to journalists anymore.

 

 

Tim Ellis
Juggler, Acrobat, Poi Spinner, Balance Flyer, Clown, Singer/Muscian, Hooligan

Tim grew up in Philadelphia, home of the Declaration of Independence, Quakerism, and the Philly cheese steak. He graduated from Vassar College in 2007 with degrees in Drama and Music Composition (and yes, he has already prepared himself for a life of poverty, thank you).

Tim has always been interested in tumbling, juggling and circus arts; it was clear from an early age when he learned to walk and somersault at roughly the same time, and continued picking up other skills along the way. At Vassar, he continued to delve into the circus arts with juggling, fire spinning, acrobatics and partner balancing. He has performed with Vassar College's Barefoot Monkeys at numerous events for children and adults alike, with Elias Repka at the Orangeville Busker's Festival and the Zero Gravity Circus Festival in Toronto, and with Theater MAMA on the streets of Philadelphia to promote Cirque du Soleil's 'Kooza'.

Tim has also been an avid performer, musician and theater technician for many years. He has played such roles as Orlando in Shakespeare's 'As You Like It' and Tobias in Sondheim's 'Sweeney Todd'; performed in St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome with the Vassar choir; was president of his a capella group, the Vassar Devils, producing two audio CDs and countless live performances; and has spent endless hours as a theater technician at Vassar, in Philadelphia, and most recently at the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival.

A man of the world, Tim strives to bring fun and laughter into the lives of everyone he meets. Or, barring that, he'd settle for an Olympic medal in some event or another. (He's not picky).