I've Joined the Circus

I bet you have seen people do aerial silk before.  They look something like this

Its a little like ballet and rock climbing had a baby.   It looks wicked cool and I've always wanted to try it.  When I heard that right after circus school there was a class for aerial silks I ran home to change into outfit #3 (swimsuit with running shirt).

The teacher (Anna) had a thick rope of white hair that she had pinned into a bun that was as big as her head.  She wore a leotard and tights and, despite being roughly half my height, was a little intimidating.  She looked like a ballet instructor only with muscles on her muscles.  She spoke with a heavy Italian accent and welcomed me to the class.  I got my own silk to share with the other new student.  Our first job was to learn how to climb the silk.

  I run my 20 miles a week and I even do push ups when I remember and I feel like it (which is almost never).  I'm no Schwarzenegger but my body and the body of the aerialists look roughly the same--like we could be in the same species (compared to gymnasts who clearly have nothing to do with whatever Nordic background I have...I think vikings just ate people who look like gymnasts there by eliminating that gene from the pool).  My point is, walking up to the silk I wasn't even thinking "I've got this" because I so clearly had this.

I wrapped my foot around the silk just like our instructor.  Then I grabbed the silk and went to pull myself up with elegance.  I didn't move.  I just made I kind of lurching sound.  "Not bad" said Anna in a supportive voice, "really not bad"  I raised my eyebrows thinking "What could possibly have been worse?"

Only after a full 30 min was I able to climb up half the rope and that was only after I learned how to take a break while climbing (you just wrap the silk around you and relax...pretty cool really).  Then Anna started to teach us how to do a basic flip.  To do this, you tuck your knees into your chest and then slowly raise them above your head and hook them in the silk.  Or, in theory that is what you do.  What I did was throw my legs up and try to grab it with my ankle.

I would sometimes catch my ankle but then I would drop to the mat (still a mere 6 inches down)  "You are being too scared" Anna observed.  "What?" I said laying in a pile of red silk on a sweat drenched blue mat.  "It is good to be a little scared," she continued "but to be good you need to not have emotion.  You caught your foot.  You shouldn't give up because it wasn't perfect.  You should work with it"

So I took a deep breath and committed to working with what ever happened on that attempt.  You know what, I caught my ankle and I did a flip.  I wish I could say it got easier after that.  But it didn't.  As I type this my pinky finger is sore from gripping the silk.  My arms are sore from trying to heft me around and I have two blisters that have ripped open.  I spent most of the remaining 90 min lurching and struggling and beating up my body.  But you take what you've got and you work with it.

So I'll be back next week.  Not because I show any talent for this.  But because I want to work with what I've got.