Flight club
Circus classes let kids defy gravity—and build muscle
By Jill Caryl Weiner
FLY GIRL Kids catch big air at Trapeze School New York.
Photo: Nathan Blaney
THE CIRCUS IS WHERE physical fitness meets theater. It's not about being an athlete; it's about expressing yourself athletically. Kids like performing and they like to have fun—two reasons for the recent explosion in circus-related youth exercise.
"Fitness begins with enjoying yourself," says Rudy Van Daele, the soft-spoken pied piper of LIFE SPORT GYMNASTICS(17-week series $280–$360), which uses giant kid-friendly trampolines as a jumping-off point for children as young as one year to explore their physicality and to build strength, coordination and a love of movement. (Kids also use the balance beam, bar and vaulting horse.) Besides the trampoline, the main draw at Life Sport is Rudy's earth-father persona. He lets kids find their comfort level—some just bounce, others do handstands on the trampoline or tricks like the straddle (a split in the air).
There's more swing than bounce at TRAPEZE SCHOOL NEW YORK(two-hour class $57–$65; discounts for multiple classes). Here, people ages six and up can fly through the air by the Hudson (students are tethered the whole time). "It's, like, total freedom of movement," says 13-year-old Jack Langerman, whose mother notes that he was awkward on the ground but graceful in the air when he started taking classes two years ago.
Galit Einy's six-year-old daughter didn't like the look of aerial work, but her three-year-old can't wait until she's old enough to try. "It's such a rush," says Einy, who decided to take a class herself and got hooked. "You don't even know you're exercising, but you're getting an incredible workout. I've got killer deltoids."
Kids who prefer to stay closer to the ground can check out a free biweekly meeting of the NEW YORK UNICYCLE CLUB. In good weather, you might find 50 one-wheeled cyclists—adults and kids—bouncing down steps, juggling, randomly switching lanes like Pacmen, or learning by leaning on movable fences. The club brings cycles in several sizes for novices to practice on.
NYUC president David Stone claims that unicycling is a great way to get around the city andto work stomach and thigh muscles. "It's just fun," says nine-year-old student Emmy. Unicycle balance can take hours or months to master; Emmy learned at home in two weeks by riding from one piece of furniture to another. She now competes in national unicycle races and takes excursions of up to three miles, riding alongside her bicycling family.
In their Brooklyn studio, members of the all-woman dance-circus troupe LAVA teach kids ages 4 to 12 their technique (10-week series $150; financial aid available. Thu open workshop $5). "We're in between dance, theater and circus," says artistic director Sarah East Johnson. "We're trying to integrate physical fitness with creativity and community."
LAVA's training style is based on Chinese acrobatics and focuses on strength, flexibility, coordination and "explosion." Each class begins with handstands and progresses to tumbling, static trapeze and partner acrobatics. Adriana Sgroi, 13, does a trapeze act with her twin sister. "It's hard physically—with one trick, you're conditioning your whole body," she says. LAVA also offers a parent-child class, in which kids learn to walk up their parents' backs, stand on their shoulders and fly on their feet (four-week series $80 per pair).
Classes at STREB LABORATORY FOR ACTION MECHANICS(12-week series $150)combine elements of dance and gymnastics with what Streb company founder and artistic director Elizabeth Streb calls Pop Action—a way of moving that involves flying and falling. The company runs an education center out of its Williamsburg studio. Preschoolers take Intro to Circus; by tumbling and balancing, they begin to explore and expand their physical abilities. In Kid Action, older kids use the trampoline and the studio's moving platforms for high-impact work, as well as doing floor exercises. "It's all about extreme action for kids," says education director Kim Cullen, who hopes to expand Streb's circus and aerial programs to meet a growing interest.
Serious young artists make up the Russian American Kids Circus on Stage. These juggling, unicycling acrobats are advanced students of NEW WAY CIRCUS CENTER, a nonprofit academy in South Brooklyn run by Alex Berenchstein, a former star of the Moscow Circus, along with his wife and mother-in-law (90-minute class $15; one month of unlimited after-school classes $150). The Center accepts kids ages 30 months through 16 years, with a goal of building the next generation of Kids Circus performers. Many children come daily to practice the skills involved in a real circus. And they're in very good shape.?Jill Weiner
Circus classes let kids defy gravity—and build muscle
By Jill Caryl Weiner
FLY GIRL Kids catch big air at Trapeze School New York.
Photo: Nathan Blaney
THE CIRCUS IS WHERE physical fitness meets theater. It's not about being an athlete; it's about expressing yourself athletically. Kids like performing and they like to have fun—two reasons for the recent explosion in circus-related youth exercise.
"Fitness begins with enjoying yourself," says Rudy Van Daele, the soft-spoken pied piper of LIFE SPORT GYMNASTICS(17-week series $280–$360), which uses giant kid-friendly trampolines as a jumping-off point for children as young as one year to explore their physicality and to build strength, coordination and a love of movement. (Kids also use the balance beam, bar and vaulting horse.) Besides the trampoline, the main draw at Life Sport is Rudy's earth-father persona. He lets kids find their comfort level—some just bounce, others do handstands on the trampoline or tricks like the straddle (a split in the air).
There's more swing than bounce at TRAPEZE SCHOOL NEW YORK(two-hour class $57–$65; discounts for multiple classes). Here, people ages six and up can fly through the air by the Hudson (students are tethered the whole time). "It's, like, total freedom of movement," says 13-year-old Jack Langerman, whose mother notes that he was awkward on the ground but graceful in the air when he started taking classes two years ago.
Galit Einy's six-year-old daughter didn't like the look of aerial work, but her three-year-old can't wait until she's old enough to try. "It's such a rush," says Einy, who decided to take a class herself and got hooked. "You don't even know you're exercising, but you're getting an incredible workout. I've got killer deltoids."
Kids who prefer to stay closer to the ground can check out a free biweekly meeting of the NEW YORK UNICYCLE CLUB. In good weather, you might find 50 one-wheeled cyclists—adults and kids—bouncing down steps, juggling, randomly switching lanes like Pacmen, or learning by leaning on movable fences. The club brings cycles in several sizes for novices to practice on.
NYUC president David Stone claims that unicycling is a great way to get around the city andto work stomach and thigh muscles. "It's just fun," says nine-year-old student Emmy. Unicycle balance can take hours or months to master; Emmy learned at home in two weeks by riding from one piece of furniture to another. She now competes in national unicycle races and takes excursions of up to three miles, riding alongside her bicycling family.
In their Brooklyn studio, members of the all-woman dance-circus troupe LAVA teach kids ages 4 to 12 their technique (10-week series $150; financial aid available. Thu open workshop $5). "We're in between dance, theater and circus," says artistic director Sarah East Johnson. "We're trying to integrate physical fitness with creativity and community."
LAVA's training style is based on Chinese acrobatics and focuses on strength, flexibility, coordination and "explosion." Each class begins with handstands and progresses to tumbling, static trapeze and partner acrobatics. Adriana Sgroi, 13, does a trapeze act with her twin sister. "It's hard physically—with one trick, you're conditioning your whole body," she says. LAVA also offers a parent-child class, in which kids learn to walk up their parents' backs, stand on their shoulders and fly on their feet (four-week series $80 per pair).
Classes at STREB LABORATORY FOR ACTION MECHANICS(12-week series $150)combine elements of dance and gymnastics with what Streb company founder and artistic director Elizabeth Streb calls Pop Action—a way of moving that involves flying and falling. The company runs an education center out of its Williamsburg studio. Preschoolers take Intro to Circus; by tumbling and balancing, they begin to explore and expand their physical abilities. In Kid Action, older kids use the trampoline and the studio's moving platforms for high-impact work, as well as doing floor exercises. "It's all about extreme action for kids," says education director Kim Cullen, who hopes to expand Streb's circus and aerial programs to meet a growing interest.
Serious young artists make up the Russian American Kids Circus on Stage. These juggling, unicycling acrobats are advanced students of NEW WAY CIRCUS CENTER, a nonprofit academy in South Brooklyn run by Alex Berenchstein, a former star of the Moscow Circus, along with his wife and mother-in-law (90-minute class $15; one month of unlimited after-school classes $150). The Center accepts kids ages 30 months through 16 years, with a goal of building the next generation of Kids Circus performers. Many children come daily to practice the skills involved in a real circus. And they're in very good shape.?Jill Weiner