Ceiling height: Various heights (depending which room you are in)
Address: Circus Oz: 50 Perry St, Collingwood, Victoria
Cost: $425 for a 3-day weekend in Easter
E-mail: tim@gravitydolls.com
Rigging:
The rigging can change as rooms have various different truss systems. All of the riggings is done via a pulley system. The anchor points are usually on the walls. There are enough crash mats for all the rigging points. There are a few riggers around to sort out any set-up or changeovers.
Review:
If you ever want to simulate what it feels like to be a student in a professional circus program, this festival would be a good festival to try it out. You pay for one fee and you can take as many classes as you can as long as it is available. The price is worth it if you decide to take at least, 3 sessions per day and it’s even better if you paid the early bird price of $375 before mid-November. It is awesome that it caters to all levels, from beginner to experience.
Group warm-up starts at 9 am and another one after lunch. Classes start from 9 am to 5:15 pm. There is a partner massage session after the end of the day. There are 4 sessions per day. Each session lasts for 1.5 hours. There are 6 to 7 classes to choose per session. Although the festival maximum is 70 students, there were 60 students attending this year. That is a decent number of people considering that this festival is advertised via Facebook, word of mouth and e-mail listing.
This festival rents the space at Circus Oz during the Easter weekend, which works out great as Circus Oz doesn’t run classes on statutory holidays. When you register online, you’re only allowed to register half of the sessions. The other half needs to be registered by walking into the class. If there’s room, then you can sign up.
Honestly, here’s my advice for attending a buffet-style type of festival:
1) know your limits: if you are planning to do a full day, make sure you register 1 or 2 non-aerial sessions (i.e. flexibility and dance) or take a few intro aerial classes per day
2) bring your lunch (you only get about 1 and 15 minutes to eat)
3) bring your own massage ball and foam rollers because you really need to do a proper cool down. By the time I finished the festival, I really need a massage because even though, I took extra care of rolling, I couldn’t move my body very well on Easter Monday.
Overall, this festival has been really good at training my endurance and stamina. Most of the teachers were really good at breaking down new material and such. I really appreciate the little extras that they added: free talks on Friday (shoulder health) and Saturday (mental care for a performer) follow by an instructor performance on the last day (Sunday). The price of the show is included in the Aerial Festival ticket.