Tag: n america

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.

Ceiling height:  approximately 40 feet tall

Address:           2702 6th Ave S 

Cost:                  $68 US for a 2-hour flying trapeze drop-in

E-mail:               info@emeraldcitytrapeze.com

Review: 

If you like the movie “The Greatest Showman”, you will love the decor in this school.  Although it’s located in an uninspiring industrial building (Canal Boiler Work), inside there are red velvet curtains on the second balcony and interesting props used as decoration.  This building often gets booked out for events.  It really is a beautiful old wooden building.  Just to show you that one can’t judge a book by its cover.

I booked the class online in less than 24 hours of my class and it was easy to use the system with my phone.  The staff who responded to my e-mail were quite prompt.  That is great because I basically made a mistake in booking the wrong date and she corrected the error in less than a few hours.  The online scheduling for private sessions can be a bit confusing.  It is best to book private sessions via e-mail at least a week in advance.

I love the teachers there as they are attentive and patient.  They really break down the foundation for beginners and made sure that you are taken care of.  They were very good at calming the fears on some of the students.  One of the students was about to burst into tears, but the instructors are very encouraging and manage to get her up on the trapeze. 

There is even a tv monitor that shows your performance after you finish your trick so that you can review it.  They even have a flow chart of all the levels and in each level, the tricks that you need to complete successfully before you can continue.  They taught me layout as I have never done it before.  It was a lot of fun learning this skill.  Although I didn’t get caught by the catcher in this session, hopefully, next time I will get caught.

Ceiling height:  approximately 23 feet tall

Address:           10901 Mausel St., Eagle River, Alaska 

Cost:                  $30 US for a 1.25 hour drop-in

E-mail:               CirqueBoreal@gmail.com

Rigging:

There are 4 silks hanging from the I-beam.  In each point, the I-beam is covered with cardboard.  The round sling is wrapped around the cardboard (to prevent wear and tear) and hooked with the standard carabiner-swivel-carabiner combination followed by a rescue eight with silks.  The floor is laminated wood but is covered with thin fold-up gym mats followed by crash mats.   Strongly recommend using one of the two thicker crash mats as the other crash mats are quite thin.  

Review: 

From the moment that I wrote to this school to taking her class, the owner has been amazing.  Stefany answered my e-mails quickly, made every effort to welcome me to her community and was very patient with my family when they came over to the studio to watch me strut my stuff.  This is a small school in which the owner is operating like a one-woman show where she wears the hat of an owner, admin, web tech, instructor and performer.  As if she’s not busy enough, she is also running for the House of Representatives.  What a lovely and inspiring woman!

Besides the drop-in, I would strongly recommend paying the instructor in cash at the facility instead of registering online.  It’s easy and less confusing for visitors who are staying temporarily.  Plus, if you are only attending classes one or two times then you don’t need to pay the AMAC membership fee.  I took two silks class and a drop-in.  The warm-up was nice and brief.  It included leg swings, arm circles, pushups, leg crosses, splits and pigeons.  Afterwards, there was 1 climb of bicycle and 2 climbs each for French (or standard) and Russian.   Cool down is optional and in your own time.  The class environment is less structural, quite social and relaxed.

The tricky part about drop-in classes or multi-level classes is that everyone is going at a different pace.  So, Stefany teaches different moves to different people.  This is great for the student as they are being challenged; tough for the instructor in relations to class management.  Although the class can take up to 10 people, I notice that not everyone will come in.  Also, there’s a tendency that a few people will be late, which does happen as traffic is unpredictable.  So, latecomers will have to do the warm-ups on their own.

At the time of writing, the school is looking for another location in Anchorage.  They do rent a place in Eagle River, but you will need to drive there if you don’t live in Eagle River.  The bus is not reliable and does not offer an evening service.