Daria (Dasha) Chamanskaia started her journey as an acrobatic entertainer when she was chosen at the age of six to train in the world-renowned Russian gymnastics program. From 1992 to1995 as a member of the Russian National Team, Daria dominated the sport as the seven-time national champion, and the world champion of the MMS International (Merited Master of Sport).
Making a controversial decision In 1995, Daria left her beloved gymnastics team to join the Moscow State Circus where she began adapting her skills to many new circus disciplines and two successful years of performing throughout Russia, Pakistan, and Kazakhstan. Always aiming higher, Daria tackled the cultural transition to America by way of Ringling Bros. & Barnum and Bailey Circus. Making her entrance riding the lead elephant on tour from 1998-2002, she entertained audiences with a featured acrobatic statue act, and was chosen to perform at the United States Pentagon. These accomplishments afforded Dasha her green card and along the way, two more seasons in other circus productions (George Carden Circus International, and The Royal Hanneford Circus) where she became skilled in character work, aerial rope, and aerial lyra.
The combination of Daria’s exceptional skill and stage presence landed her the lead role as Ariel in Tokyo Disney’s 2004-05 production of the Little Mermaid. From there she followed with two years working an aerial cloud swing act for SeaWorld Orlando. Daria’s residence in Orlando also secured her prestigious and diverse work opportunities with the acrobatic and aerial performance troupe, AntiGravity. With AntiGravity, Dasha gained new skills with aerial harness, aerial cube, and aerial carousel, while among many other shows, performing for the Latin Billboard Awards, and the King and queen of Malaysia.
By 2008, Daria was recruited by the world famous Cirque du Soleil to perform Chinese poles, and Russian swing in their touring show, Saltimbanco. Her relationship with Cirque du Soleil advanced to being cast in their Las Vegas production, the Beatles spectacular, Love, and four years with a variety of disciplines including aerial rope, harness, bungee, trampoline, dance and character work.
In 2012, having achieved exceptional fluency with English, studying liberal arts at the College of Southern Nevada, Daria made the bold accomplishment of becoming a United States citizen. That same year she also started a serious study of acting at BIH Studios. Shortly thereafter, she met another veteran and creator from Cirque du Soleil, Stephan Choiniere, and teamed up to perform an acrobatic duo that was featured in the annual New York City event, Broadway Bares – Winter Burlesque. Subsequently, they went on to perform this act for The Box – Theater of Varieties, NYC, and Cesar’s Palace Coliseum, Las Vegas for a convention performance with AntiGravity.
2013 brought Daria yet another prestigious opportunity: an offer to join the Dragone Company’s multi-million dollar water production, House of Dancing Water, in Macau, China. She finished the formational training with ease, learning new skills of diving, human chandelier and trapeze. Despite her qualifications for Dragone, Daria chose to return to Las Vegas where she resumed as a freelance performing artist, highlights being: aerial performer for Electric Daisy Carnival and Las Vegas Fitness Expo; temporary contracts for Celebrity Cruises; resuming work with Stephan Choiniere for the variety show, Cabarae, at Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort; and Cirque du Soleil as a bungee trapeze artist and fairy character for the show, Allavita, in Milan, Italy. Filling the space between performance gigs, Daria began teaching at Brown’s Gymnastics, and also started a lucrative side-hustle as a golf caddy in Las Vegas, including booking other caddies.
By 2018 Daria dove head-first into a soul-searching that eventually led to studying Kundalini Yoga at the RYK Yoga and Meditation Center in Las Vegas, and in 2020 completing her teacher training of 220 hours. Simultaneously, she immersed herself in the subtle-energy healing modalities of Reiki and Gong sound-therapy, having completed certification levels one and two with traditional Reiki master, Cosmin Mahadev Singh. Today Daria continues her spiritual education with the discovery of latent skills in chakra and aura analysis.
Consequently, Daria’s drive for the fullest adventure of life has matured into sharing the same through her new offerings as a teacher and healer. All the gifts of an illustrious career as a world-champion athlete and performing artist are brought to bear upon her new spiritual disciplines and her compassionate service for others.