What: #10 Fly through the air on a trapeze
Where: Chicago
When: June 20
Why: When I was asked why I was doing this by some of the others who were also in my class, I realized it had gotten stuck in my head when I saw the character of Carrie Bradshaw do it on SATC. In fact, it is through the
Trapeze School of New York (and a great "Living Social" deal!) that I found what was to be a highlight of my list so far! When doing a year-long list like this, the build up to finally checking off an item can sometimes be more exciting than the actual task itself. I have found that to be the case a few times, altho perhaps I can chalk that up to my incessant need to always have fun plans, and thus following through on them at times becomes secondary. In this case, it surpassed my expectations! I had already picked out my trapeze outfit (yes, it was a real part of my preparation!), and arrived to the park where everything is set up, along with my friend Sonia and her son as my support team/cheerleaders.
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| Covered in chalk, waiting for my next turn! |
There were about 20 of us split into two groups - trapeze and ground acrobatics/silks. My group started off with the ground acrobatics, which was actually a lot of fun. Imagine those cheesy team-building activities you have probably done in your life - trust falls, human pyramids, etc. Here, we learned how to use our own weight to balance a whole other person standing on you, and to hold other people up in the air. After some time on the ground, we progressed to the silks. This is a pretty common apparatus in circus shows/acrobatic acts these days, so I was interested to see if it was as fun and easy as it looked. It's not. I gained a lot of respect for those individuals that make it look effortless! Finally, it was my group's turn to get harnessed up and receive our trapeze lessons. I am not a fan of heights, and I don't have a lot of faith in my own upper body strength, so those combined gave me pause with regards to what I was about to be doing. I watched a few people go first, and they had all manner of success rates, from executing a triple flip at the end of their move all the way to simply getting off the platform and slipping down into the net. After climbing up the ladder for my turn (which might be the hardest part!), I tried to just focus on the instructions I had received and not think about falling. It turns out the momentum of the trapeze - if you can get the timing right - really makes each move easier than I expected.
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| Dismounting with a back flip! |
I had a couple turns with the basics (getting my knees up over the trapeze, doing a flip to dismount, etc.), and then noticed my name was put on a list. It was for those people that were selected to try the catch-and-release. My confidence wasn't too high on if I'd succeed because the timing has to be perfect, and I tended to hesitate each time I came off the platform for just a split second longer trying to psych myself up to leap off. But with some encouraging words in my head, I just went for it and made the grab on my first try!
The whole 3-4 hours was a great experience, bonding with like-minded individuals who signed up for this, and feeling like I really had a ton of fun doing something definitely out of my normal comfort zone. Given the opportunity, I will definitely be doing this again!
Other than perhaps drawing a few looks from neighbors - I don't think I've ever seen anyone else in my neighborhood with their wardrobe hanging off their deck railing - it has been a huge success! Even my big beach towels are dry faster than if I had put them in the dryer! My friend's son did get a kick out of my concern that a bird might swoop in and make off with a pair of my undies, but I have slowly gotten over that fear, and will likely do this many more times this summer!
