Ever dream of being in the circus? Here’s a chance to try the trapeze at Madonna Inn in SLO
First, you get strapped in. Then, you walk up a 20-foot-tall ladder to a platform suspended over a bouncy safety net.
You reach for the bar, bend your knees and hop — and you’re off, swinging through the air.
Flying trapeze requires some guts and a lack of the fear of heights, but it also requires the willingness to put your faith in your hands and the small bar you’re hanging onto.
I recently experienced the thrill of performing a seemingly daunting circus act at San Luis Obispo’s Madonna Inn courtesy of Circus Vargas, a traveling circus that frequently performs in San Luis Obispo County, and Pneumatic Arts, a Colorado-based flying trapeze company.
The two companies allowed me to give flying trapeze a go during one of their classes held outside in the hotel’s Madonna Meadows.
Wearing a mask with freshly-sanitized hands to prevent the spread of COVID-19, I nervously watched others before me hop off the suspended platform for their first or second try at flying trapeze.
It was something I would have never pictured myself doing.
I typically prefer my feet firmly planted on the ground unless I’m rock climbing. But, as soon as I saw the careful safety precautions, I felt better.
Two ropes connect a harness strapped around one’s waist to a pulley system that Pneumatic Arts founder Jordan Tribble, an experienced trapeze performer and former Cirque Du Soleil castmember, holds onto to ensure any fall is smooth. There’s also a giant safety net.
When it was my turn to go, I climbed up the ladder to reach Blair Aued, a trapeze instructor and performer, who walked me through the next steps.
My left hand went on a bar attached to the platform. As I leaned my hips forward and brought my shoulders back, I grabbed the trapeze bar with my right hand and leaned forward with Aued holding firmly onto my harness. Next, Aued told me to grab the trapeze bar with my left hand, bend my knees and hop up slightly.
Then she let go.
The next thing I knew, I was flying through the air with only my hands grasped around the trapeze bar.
The first time, I swung through the air twice and then let go. The second and third time, I was able to pull my knees over the bar and hang upside down with my hands over my head.
To dismount those last two times, Tribble walked me through how to do a back flip off the bar.
Circus Vargas is offering the traveling trapeze classes for the first time. The coronavirus pandemic has forced the company to discontinue its indoor circus shows.
Mariella Quiroga, a 23-year-old trapeze artist and eighth-generation circus performer, said the workshops let circus fans “experience what we experience when they’re watching us at the show.”
“This shows them the adrenaline that we get from the trapeze, the skills and the experience of feeling that nervousness of being so high,” said Quiroga, whose parents own Circus Vargas.
Flying trapeze workshops at the Madonna Inn will remain open during San Luis Obispo County’s new COVID-19 stay-at-home order.
Group classes are $60 for an hour, or $80 for 75 minutes, and newly added aerial hoop and silks classes will be offered on weekends.
All classes are available at the Madonna Inn, 100 Madonna Road in San Luis Obispo, through Jan. 11. You can book a slot at https://bit.ly/36DNyzD.
