Ceiling height: approximately 17 feet tall (if your classes were in Arcadia)
Address: Arcadia: 943 NW 50th Street
Cost: $50 to $60 per workshop
E-mail: goldie@apexaerialarts.com
Rigging:
In the main room of Arcadia, the ceiling of the studio looks like it can hold a decent production. Although the class used up to 8 rigging points, I believe it can also offer more points. During class, there are two reinforced beams that are supporting the rigging points. The other beams are used for lighting or storing some equipment or not being used. There are pulley systems that are anchored to the ground and to the wall. I’m quite impressed with the extensive rigging, but they do have an entertainment rigger that is part of their staff. The floor is laminated wood but there is a short supply of decently thick mats. In the smaller room, the flooring is concrete with thin gym foam mats. The mats in this room are the fold-able thin mats. There are two reinforced beams with 4 rigging points. The pulley system is anchored to the ground. Unless you have been practising aerials for a while, it is best to stay with a thick mat (make sure you put a yoga mat underneath wooden flooring to prevent slippage).
Review:
This is a new festival that started in December 2017. Normally, I usually wait for a few years for an organization (Apex Aerials) to fix the kinks and gain more fluidity in running the festival. However, I couldn’t resist because a lot of my favourite aerialists (Emiliano Ron, Jenn Bruyer and Dream Frohe) were teaching this event. It will be a perfect opportunity for me to meet them in person instead of being in awe of their videos.
In one week, I learned so much. It was a wonderful experience for me because the teachers were amazing. Emi is a tactile teacher who is good at spotting. He will move your body to get where you need to be. He doesn’t do many warm-ups or stretching. So, it is important to come early and stay later to do what your body needs to do. Jenn is a versatile teacher. I thought I was going to die in her intermediate class, but I found that her movements make you think a lot. If you figure it out, it feels effortless to do her stuff. As for Dream, it was a joy to watch her move on a double-pointed hoop and even though, I only took one workshop (her 3-day workshop was cancelled), I look forward to taking her classes in the future. Even though the latter two do a good warm-up, you do need to stay behind to do a proper cool down. I am happy with the arrangement as they definitely packed in a lot of new material. If you are a seasoned aerial student with at least, 1 to 2 years of experience, this will be a good festival. Even though I’ve been practising aerials for over a decade, I was certainly, skill-wise, an average student in the class. As a beginner, I don’t recommend to travel down here for the sole purpose of attending this event. Perhaps, they may offer more beginner workshops in the future, but it definitely is good to take the time to read the workshop description.
The festival starts on the 2nd Saturday of December and supposedly ends on the following Sunday, December 16 (but the climactic show is on the night before. For me, it’s weird, but it’s just a minor detail). Since the festival is quite new, it looks like the average number of students were about 8. It’s great because you either share a rigging point with one person or you have the apparatus to yourself. However, it also means that there is a higher class cancellation rate. Of course, this happened to yours truly. Luckily, I was flexible enough to have optional classes and Seattle has so many circus-like excursions (i.e. ifly, Emerald City Trapeze Arts and Teatro ZinZanni) that it is possible to take the time to explore outside of the festival.
At first, I thought Arcadia was located only in the industrial/residential area. However, about 10 minutes walk north-east of Arcadia, you will find that it’s a university town filled with shops and restaurants.
Overall, I really enjoyed my time in Seattle. Make sure you check out the Goldstar Seattle website. This website provides entertainment coupons in Seattle. It helped me save a bit of money and get to know the entertainment scene in Seattle.