Air flair
by Mindy Messenger
the Daily, November 16, 2004
On the outside, a small plaque with crumbling letters reads "Building 67". At night, a horizontal row of grime-covered windows are illuminated from inside by honey colored light and the charged movements of obscured figures.
Inside, a collection of burlesque oddities are stashed along the sides of the former naval garage. A massive, grotesque skeleton hangs from the ceiling, greeting the door in a slight sway each time a gust of wind enters behind visitors. Empty beer bottles are boxed neatly and tucked away. A false guillotine perches above eye level atop an imposing structure.
"I got a new boom box." Lara Paxton says as she retrieves a cassette tape. "No more Hello-Kitty."
"Fuck Hello-Kitty!" someone declares, immediately instigating giggles from the group of women clustered together at the edge of a mat.
Paxton begins the tape and soon sultry Indian chords thickened with heavy drums and wind instruments fill the garage. The seven women dance across mats with energy that matches the upbeat music. Behind them, three ropes dangle from the ceiling.
It's not long before three of the women climb the ropes by fluidly arching their backs and pulling their wrapped legs upwards. As they climb to the ceiling, each woman gathers the slack rope below and loops it around her. In half a drum beat, all three drop downwards together, stopping mere feet above the matted ground.
Meet the Aerialistas, Paxton's newly formed troupe of aerial artists.
Paxton is a well-known aerialist who first became interested in trapeze arts when Tamara Dover (aka Tamara the Trapeze Lady) invited her to an open "flying session" held by Robert Davidson, the former trapeze arts director for the UW School of Drama master's program. From there, Paxton attended Davidson's intensive three-week summer course for trapeze arts and she then traveled around the world and US to attend various classes and workshops.
Paxton is most noted as the Artistic Director and cofounder of Circus Contraption, an edgy vaudeville collective that formed in Seattle in 1998. Building 67 in Magnuson Park currently houses Circus Contraption and all of their props, but also serves as a classroom for Paxton's aerial class, Trapezius.
Paxton has been teaching aerial arts classes for three years now, and has collected a number of dedicated students during that time. She had wanted to start a troupe made entirely of aerialists, but due to professional demands hadn't found the time until September of this year.
"It wasn't until Seattle Center approached me in the fall about doing a full-length aerial piece for Winterfest that I formed the Aerialistas." Paxton explains. "Now was the perfect time to start the group as there's typically a lull in the circus schedule."
Kate Leroux, a UW alumna who graduated in 1996 with a double major in Comparative History of Ideas and Drama, was asked to join the Aerialistas when she showed incredible skill during Paxton's aerial classes.
"It's my passion." Leroux says regarding aerial arts. "I find myself laying in bed, thinking about new moves I want to try. I dream at night about soaring high on the fabric. For the first time in my life, I've found a physical activity that I seem to pick up naturally and easily."
A lot of people make the mistake of considering what the Aerialistas do merely trapeze work.
"When a lot of people think of the trapeze, they think of flips in the air and landing in a net. We do what is called static trapeze, which means we aren't leaping through the air." Paxton says, noting the difference between the trapeze arts made popular by Ringling Brothers and the aerial arts employed by the Aerialistas.
"[As an aerialist], there are four different items you might use called apparati." says Jessica Smith, a Freshman in Chemistry who took classes from Paxton with five other students from her high school. Smith and her fellow students spent a year of intensive training learning aerial arts to prepare for their high school musical, Barnum.
These days, aerial arts are a hobby for Smith. She tries to attend Paxton's classes once a week, or at most once every two weeks. However, she frequents less often because of her university classes.
The different apparati used in aerial arts are: the "tissu", a long piece of fabric; the rope; the trapeze bar; and the hoop, a metal hoop larger than a hula hoop. Smith's specialty for Barnum was the hoop, a technique that was based more on balance, grace, and flexibility rather than strength.
"I used the hoop because I didn't have as much arm strength to pull myself up—I can pull my weight only so much. [The hoop] has a lot to do with hanging by a split, so you have to have a very good split." Smith says.
When Smith performed in Barnum, her hoop was raised fifteen feet in the air. She and the other aerialists in the show were working without a net or wires connected to their bodies, but for insurance reasons the school required mats to be placed below them on the stage.
"I've fallen practicing on a mat three feet below me." Smith says when asked about the dangers of being an aerialist. "But in performance, when the hoop is raised fifteen feet in the air, I've never fallen."
"There are more chronic injuries in this line of work." says Paxton, referring to the fact that most injuries are not caused by falls. "It's usually things that develop slowly over time, like a sore elbow or a sore shoulder."
A number of Paxton's students work with computers during the day, so if they don't warm up their bodies properly before practice, tendentious may develop. To prevent from these sorts of injuries, Paxton not only has her students warm up before class sessions or practices, but also makes sure they understand why they need to warm up.
"They need to know what part of the body we're warming up, and what parts are typically injured during practice." Paxton explains.
Her students also begin learning basic tricks on the ropes low to the ground with a mat under them and a partner for spotting. As they become more skilled, they can work their way higher up the rope and without a spotter.
Paxton has found that most injuries happen when students are pushing themselves too hard, like practicing when fatigued or attempting tricks they're not ready for.
In preparation for the upcoming show, current practices for the Aerialistas focus on learning and perfecting the moves choreographed by Paxton.
"We start by learning the aerial tricks and basic steps." explains Leroux. The Aerialistas then fine-tune their moves by deciding intricate details such as "how an arm should move, or a toe should flex."
Currently, the group has three rehearsals a week—each three hours in length. In December, they plan to increase the rehearsals to four a week for three or even four hours in length.
Despite the intensive training, Leroux and the others love what they're doing.
"It's rewarding to find an activity that combines the athletic and sporty with the elegance, costuming, and audience interaction of theater. It's always fun, yet always challenging." Leroux says.
Leroux enjoys the practices so much that she sees herself as an aerialist for a long time. "One of our members is 47—if that's any indication, I have many years to go."
"The girls are so nice to work with." Paxton says about her troupe. "Often, when I go to practice I'm really tired, but I find I always have more energy by the end."