Jessica Niven
Jess graduated NICA in Australia in 2011, specialised in swinging trapeze, teeterboard and hoopdiving. She then began flying trapeze and travelled the world working in resorts, camps, events and festivals until moving to London in 2015. She there completed another year of full time degree training in swinging trapeze at the NCCA and has since worked with small start up shows, large corporate events and flying trapeze teams doing all the things that hang up high and fly around in the air.
Jessica Perry
I spent a large part of my childhood living on a small sailing vessel with my parents, climbing the mast and swinging from the rigging. When I was ten, we went back to Colorado and I started circus because my parents didn’t know what else to do with me. I started with flying trapeze and aerial acrobatics in Colorado and then performed with Le Petit Cirque in California while I finished school. At 17, I spent a year completing the full-time protrack program at the New England Center of Circus Arts in Vermont. Then, I was accepted to the National Centre for Circus Arts in London where I also performed with Stufish productions in SOHO and CIRCA in Depart. I am inspired by people and their stories. When I was 13, I wrote a play about the women suffrage movement and performed it at the National Women’s Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in Seneca Falls, New York. Recently, I have been bringing this work into my aerial practice by drawing inspiration from real people’s stories and transferring them onto my rope. My last piece was loosely based on Marilynn Monroe and explored the dangers of anxiety. I feel that everyone has much to learn from their own history as well as that of others.
Intro to Teeterboard
Mondays at 8pm | October 8th, 15th, 29th, and November 5th)
1.5 hour weekly classes for 4 weeks – drop in
Was that a thunderstorm? No, that was teeterboard! Come learn to jump, swap and dismount as a member of a teeter troupe! Starting with partner balance and basic jump technique with spotting, onto swapping in and out and dismounting. Wear trainers you can point your toes in, clothes that won’t move around too much in the air and your team spirit. Classes geared towards those with some trampoline/tumbling experience, somersault experience a bonus.
PREREQUISITES: Basic trampoline experience – solid and consistent straight jumps
Class maximum: 8
Rate: $60
Doubles Trapeze
7:30pm (October 9th, 16th, November 1st, and 8th)
2 hour weekly classes for 4 weeks – drop in
Ever feel like your apparatus doesn’t give you as much boost as it could? Well come try doubles trapeze! Where a live, active partner is part of the deal. Learn to hold and support each other up to, around and down from the trapeze. In a base/flyer dynamic learn tempos, shapes and transitions. Wear leggings that cover your knees and calves and clothes that won’t move too much upside down. Bring wrists wraps if you have them. Aimed at aerialists and flyers with some experience swinging and inverting.
PREREQUISUTES: must be able to lift legs and hook knees on the bar independently and do a solo pullover
Rate: $60 per 2 hour class
Class maximum: 8 students
Flexi Rope
7:30pm (October 11th, 18th, 30th, and November 6th)
1.5 hour weekly classes for 4 weeks – drop in
Ever wished you could combine your climbing skills with splits and back bends? Come along to flexi rope and find out how to get more out your body, get creative, get bendy, get split in half swinging upside down. Starting with a strengthening active flex warmup, work on building solid rope technique entries into moves and then build on pushing your flexibility and mobility through your shapes and transitions. Wear leggings that at least cover the backs of your knees and a top that covers your mid-rift (leotard, back warmer, shirt you can tuck in). Aimed at people with basic vertical apparatus experience who want to expand their vocabulary
PREREQUISITES: splits in progress (not flat, not a problem), able to invert in the air
Rate: $60 per 1.5 hour class
Class maximum: 8
Intro to Swinging Trapeze
For pricing and scheduling information, please call our front desk at 206-906-9442
Do you want to push your swing high and nail a nice smooth ride on a swinging trapeze? Come push your limits, learn how to be powerful and elegant, starting on the low bar with position and technique, then on the swing introducing pushing, sitting, beating and mid air bar catches. Wear full length leggings and leather trapeze boots if you have them. A leotard is also helpful to hold everything up. This is aimed at aerialists with some experience in static trapeze or hoop and flying trapeze students who have started their swing.
PREREQUISITES: Must be able to independently lift legs and hook knees on the bar.