I took my first (and only) trapeze class at the beginning of August. A friend of mine wanted to do something memorable and I agreed to join her in this endeavor. I’m not afraid of heights, but when I found myself leaning out over the ground, asked to leave the safety of my platform, I experienced a brand of terror I didn’t even know I had in me. I think it took me a full 30 or 40 seconds to jump off, even with my instructor’s continuous yell of “Hep!” But as I left the platform and experienced gravity pulling me down and that wonderful little bar swinging me up, my terror was replaced by exuberance and pure glee. I knew I had to bring my co-workers back for this.
Ariana and Dan are the two of the most game people I know, and they agreed to help me put together this audio postcard. Dan climbed, in full recording equipment, to the top of the platform and made easy friends with Lizzie, the flyer instructor, while Ariana strapped into the harness and let her own terror be recorded. She was a trapeze natural, and (ahem) leapt off on the first cry of “Hep!” She soared through the air and back again hanging by her knees, and even managed to do the back-flip dismount. Check out how perfectly straight she was during her swing on the video below. Ariana Pekary: producer today, perhaps circus performer tomorrow… but I hope not: I’ll need her around if I decide to go back for the high wire class.
Here’s a link to TSNY: Washington DC’s website; they also offer classes in Los Angeles, Boston, and New York.
Ariana Pekary reaches for the bar 
…how the professionals get down
And here’s a video of Ariana’s second successful flight, this time with a backflip dismount:
-Cristy Meiners