"Super Fly..."

I’m a big fan of Cirque de Soleil type shows and have been lucky enough to have seen quite a few of them, from the touring companies to the permanent stages in Las Vegas (like LOVE, Viva Elvis and Le Reve). The shows all incorporate a variety of talents, but I am always most fascinated with the aerial arts. The strong, muscular bodies pulling up and down the theater on trapezes, swings, silk cords, and hoops never fail to amaze me. The performers seem almost superhuman; able to tumble, climb and fly through the air.

So, I was very surprised to learn that my former Pilates teacher at Body, Mind, and Soul Studio, Merrily Stanley, was actually learning and practicing aerial performance at a South City studio right here in St. Louis, called Bumbershoot Aerial Arts.

We had lost touch since my Pilates lessons and reconnected on Facebook. I saw pictures of her pulling, climbing, and wrapping herself on the aerial silks and had to find out more.

Merrily initially became interested in aerial arts when she saw Pink do a sling performance on the MTV Music Awards a few years back. She Googled “Aerial Arts”, found Bumbershoot, and immediately signed up for a beginning class.

At the time, her husband was in Iraq, she had a teenage son at home and she was getting bored with “gym stuff” for her workout. Once she started the 1st level Silks class, she realized that her Pilates training gave her an advantage and she quickly progressed to more advanced practice. For Merrily, even though she was scared of heights when she started, it ”felt good from the beginning”. It gave her confidence when she saw she was strong from the start, and she loved hanging upside down, which was “really decompressive”. (However, she was reminded of the incredible amount of grip strength needed for aerial today while practicing trapeze after not doing it for a week. Her forearms were about to explode).

The types and levels of classes are listed on Bumbershoot’s web site (www.bumbershoootaerialarts.com), but what Merrily loves about the place is that they’re really great about breaking things down for their students: movement by movement, skill by skill. She says they really make something unique and kind of foreign, accessible to everyone who wants to learn.

The atmosphere is very welcoming and, not only does she love and trust the teachers, but she gets a lot of encouragement from her fellow class members. They spot each other and depend on each other, so they have to trust one another.

For Merrily, it’s literally been a shot of confidence. Besides the amazing physical benefits (like core strength, flexibilty and balance), she’s also overcome some fears and fulfilled a desire to perform that she wouldn’t have done otherwise. She had always wanted to be in plays in high school, but didn’t have the nerve to audition, so it was a real “rush” last year when her silks class did a performance dressed as superheroes!

It has also helped her in her own Pilates teaching, and she’s working to be an assistant instructor at Bumbershoot. She gets so much satisfaction from seeing people progress, and it’s a great balance with her Pilates practice. (And don’t think you have to be a Pilates instructor to do this. She’s taken classes with a 70 year old man and a 12 year old girl).

She even did a silks photo shoot called “Trash the Dress”, wrapping, pulling and climbing in her wedding dress (after the wedding, of course), and she’ll be doing another group performance on October 19th and 20th.

She admits it’s not always easy and has the rope burns and bruises to prove it, but this has a real place in her life and it’s worth both the physical and time balance challenges. She wants to continue learning and teaching others the beauty and enjoyment of both aerial arts and Pilates.

Bumbershoot Aerial Arts Studio
2200 Gravois Ave.
St. Louis, MO 63104
314.898.3259

Body, Mind, and Soul Pilates
629 North New Ballas Suite 211
Creve Couer, MO
314-995-7020