#30 - Take a Trapeze Class.....

It never occurred to me until my brother pointed it out last Saturday, but the fact that riding a unicycle and taking a trapeze class both appeared on my 50 Things to Do list might indicate an unhealthy obsession with the circus. He didn't exactly call it "unhealthy." He merely asked if I had also considered taking up lion-taming.

I have been fascinated with trapeze artists as long as I can remember. It couldn't have been from the circus; I don't remember EVER going to the circus, at least as a child. Maybe I saw them on television, I don't know. I wanted to be ANYWHERE that was up THERE, above the crowd, above the treetops, above everything. I climbed trees, I sat on top of the house, I jumped out of airplanes.

When I originally put this item on my list, I said I wanted to take a class at Canopy Studio, a place in Athens where they teach lessons. But they (at least to my knowledge) are more focused on aerial dance and other forms of flying, and when I read that a new company had opened that focuses on outdoor trapeze, I knew that's where I wanted to go. I didn't want to sign up for an 8-week workshop, I just wanted a single lesson. Or two.

I paid for the Warrior Princess' daughter to go with me, because that way I had an excuse. It was her birthday present, so she couldn't say no. I told her I hope when she's 50 that she will have to find 14-year-olds to do things with.

Getting ready. In the background are Kaz and Shane, co-owners of the facility. 

This girl was a natural.

This girl was NOT a natural.

The trapeze was great fun, but I was not physically prepared for it. It didn't require the upper-body strength I anticipated, but they really, really wanted me to swing my feet up, between my hands, and over that bar.

Yeah, that did NOT happen.

I was able, on the second try, to swing my legs OUT and AROUND and put them over the bar, but it was still not graceful. Or pretty. Or easy.

It wasn't at all scary standing on the edge of the board waiting to jump off. I guess the safety net made it not as scary as I thought it would be. It DID, however, require a very unnatural starting position: standing with my toes over the edge of the board, reaching out but keeping my upper body straight, poking my stomach OUT over the board. All these years I've been trying to hold my stomach IN.

I had fun, I did fly, and I might go again. Because I felt like I didn't get it "right" the first time. My upper body and abs are sore, as I figured they would be. I have no idea how I got the bruise on the outside of my right thigh. When I went to bed last night, I kept playing and replaying the jumps (I think I made 4. Or maybe 5.) over and over again in my head, trying to figure out where it went wrong.

And it wasn't THAT wrong. I didn't break anything. I'm probably not going to have a career as a trapeze artist, but it isn't too late for the Warrior Princess' daughter. She was gorgeous. She (and most of the others **ahem**) actually got to do a "catch," transferring from the trapeze to being held by Shane. That in itself should have been an incentive for me to do a better job. Just seeing him in tights and that tight shirt should have done it. But I digress.

They have a free show on Nov. 6th, and I may go see that. I just love watching anyone fly.

I have some video, and as soon as I edit it properly and get it uploaded, I'll share it with you. After a long, long, LOOOOOOOOONG day on Grand Jury duty, I'm not up to it tonight.