My Experience Learning Trapeze & Silks

The first time I remember doing trapeze was at Circus Camp when I was five. Circus Camp is exactly what it sounds like, a week-long day camp in the summer that focuses on all things circus: juggling, trapeze, silks (two pieces of fabric hanging from the ceiling), unicycling, hand balancing and more. The juggling and clown activities have never been my thing. I went to Circus Camp every summer for three or four years, where I learned skills on the apparatuses I mentioned and started learning to juggle.For my 8th birthday, one of my presents was private trapeze lessons at Circus Arts Institute, which is the studio of Carrie Heller, who started Circus Camp. I was so excited for these lessons. Eventually, I worked up to taking an hour and a half class, a private lesson, a two and a half hour lesson at another studio, and three hours of troupe practice on Sundays. Eight hours a week was way too much for me. I am currently taking a private lesson once a week, which is much easier than doing hours and hours of stretching, conditioning, and aerial. Since my days at Circus Camp, I have learned to do trapeze, spanish web, silks, hammock, and I can sort of juggle

Doing trapeze, silks, hammock, and spanish web is almost impossible to describe without having a picture or a frame of reference. If I tried to explain trapeze, I would describe it as a bar about four feet up in the air with two ropes attached to the bars and attached to the ceiling. Doing tricks on trapeze is basically wrapping yourself up in it and posing. Silks are two pieces of fabric hanging from the ground. To do a drop on the silks, one would start by climbing up the silks, turning upside down and wrapping yourself in the silks the exact right way so that when you let go, it catches you and looks pretty instead of falling. I asked my current teacher, Hilary Riall, to describe trapeze or silks in three words and she responded with “control, coordination, strength.” I couldn’t agree with her more!

Sometimes, I’ll lack control, coordination, and strength. However, I have only fallen once from the trapeze. At Circus Arts Institute, the safety precautions are very important. No one is allowed on an apparatus without a certified spotter near them making sure they don’t fall. What is crazy about the time I fell is that I had two spotters instead of the required one, and yet I still fell. I was doing a trick called fallback half angel, which involves leaning back and letting go with one hand and and one foot while simultaneously hooking the other foot and other hand on the bar and rope. My foot slipped and I let go with my hand, which lead me to falling on my face on the ground. The ground was carpeted, which I am thankful for to this day. My nose had bruised, swollen, and bled a little bit. My mom and I both thought I had broken my nose and I was so scared. We immediately went to Urgent Care and they said it was not broken. Aerial can be dangerous, but it is worth it. I think it is worth it because it is one of the most exhilarating things I do.

Trapeze has taken me to some neat places. A few years ago, I was a part of AYCO (American Youth Circus Organization) and performed at two meetings/performances. I performed in Seattle in 2012 when I was 9 or 10. I also performed in Chicago in 2014 when I was 11. Performing is nerve wracking. Doing trapeze in front of hundreds of people is really scary when you’re a kid. I was also a part of a performance troupe in Atlanta. It was me and a few other girls my age. I have been in both troupes, one in Dunwoody and one in Decatur, which allowed me to perform at festivals.

The circus community is a very eclectic but close one.  Each person is different from everyone else, but everyone has circus in common. It is a really amazing community to be immersed in. In the circus community in Atlanta, there are very few people. There are not circus competitions that I know of, so competition between studios is not present.

I think trapeze and silks are some of the most amazing things a person can do. The rush of completing a drop on the silks or mastering a new trick on the trapeze is amazing. And it looks so cool! My favorite trick on trapeze would have to be Montreal knee hang. I’m not sure if that is the correct name, but it’s basically crossing the ropes of the trapeze behind your back, pushing the ropes down to your knees and hanging. My favorite trick on silks is candy cane, which is when both feet are in a foot knot and then roll up. I think the only way to end this piece is with what my instructor Hilary said, “I think everybody should run away to the circus.”

By Mckenna Ching