Kim’s Domain

So for the past month or so I’ve been taking this Circus Arts class at the Actors’ Gym in Evanston. It is such a fantastic class, I am SO glad I decided to just do it even though it is kind of expensive. I’ve been wanting to take some kind of dance or other physical class for years now, but I never have the time. My schedule just happened to work with the class schedule, so I decided to just go for it.

Since starting the class, I have learned tricks on a trapeze, silks, and rope, as well as walked a tight rope, walked on stilts, and (sort of) juggled. I also discovered that I can still tumble, despite not having done any tumbling since grade school. Tonight in class we did that cool trick (if you’ve ever seen Cirque du Solei) where the person holds onto a rope in a pose while the rope spins in kind of this, arc. That’s not a great description, but if you’ve seen any circus act you can probably figure out what I’m talking about. There’s a small loop on the rope that you put your hand through, and then you hold another part of the rope further down with your other hand and straighten your arm while letting go of the rope with your legs. The instructor turned the rope from the ground, and it was so cool!!!! As long as you focus on your hand and not on the spinning background you don’t get dizzy. The group I was in did stilt walking first, so I got to see what the trick on the rope looks like by watching the other group first. It looks beautiful and it’s actually really simple to do. The hardest part is climbing the rope in the first place. The stilts I was not so good at, but I was able to totter around for short periods of time without having to hold onto the wall. And yes, I relished the chance to be 8 feet tall and hope I get to try it again!

So far I think my best element is the trapeze. Because of my decent upper body strength and abdominal muscles, I’m able to get on the trapeze easily. The only thing that trips me up about the trapeze in some tricks is the whole heights thing and the having to balance thing. But the second time we did trapeze in class I was miles better than the first time we did it. That felt really good. This is why I’m eager to try the stilts again; I’ve already seen improvement in other areas that weren’t so easy for me the first time I tried them. I may even be able to walk on my hands a little before I’m done with this class.

(I thought the inner-gymnast in me had taken a hike after I took various forms of dance lessons for so many years, but apparently she’s still there. And I’m finding this class way more fulfilling than all the ballet classes I’ve taken – as beautiful as ballet is, and as much as I would like to be familiar again with all the steps and positions, I have the WRONG body for a ballet dancer!)

So I guess the moral of the story is, if there’s something out there you’ve always wanted to do but for some reason or another haven’t, just do it! If I weren’t so busy in the spring I would keep taking the class. How cool would it be to stage manage Cirque du Solei, or any similar circus act??? Although I have to say, it is nice to do something that I find very fulfilling that is just for me and not necessarily for work.