Flying Through The Air With West Coast Flying Trapeze

I have always been in such awe of the art of Trapeze and have been eyeing the opportunity to try it as we have traveled, but it never worked out. I was so happy when I realized that the opportunity was right in front of me, in beautiful British Columbia, and only a short drive from both Vancouver and our suburb of Cloverdale.

Pitt Meadows now hosts the new location for West Coast Flying Trapeze. The location and area around it is so new that even Google Maps wasn’t be able to direct us beyond getting us to the right street. Luckily, we noticed some signage after we kept driving down a street full of construction.

When you first walk through the door, you immediately notice how friendly and welcoming the staff are, which immediately puts you at ease for trying something new. Throughout the experience, they were so supportive, really made you feel like you were doing a great job and had a super nice but constructive way to help as you attempted a few different tricks with their guidance. Each and every single one of the instructors are encouraging, patient, fun, give effective advice, and give the freeing experience of Trapeze a little extra.

Your confidence also increases so much with each jump, as you realize how capable you are of completing each jump.

When you first climb at the ladder and put your toes over the edge of the platform and start to get set up, the body positioning feels unnatural, but after the first jump, it starts to feel almost second nature and your body relaxes into the adrenaline and fun of it all.

You start the lesson with ground school, where you try out what you’re going to do after you jump off the platform, so you have a better idea of what to expect. I was surprised how much harder it was to get your legs up and over the bar during ground school than when you had the force of the swing off the platform to help get your body up.

You’ll also notice that on your first try, you’ll feel like the commands they are telling you are happening super fast, but after a couple tries, the speed of the commands seem to naturally fit as you fly through the air.

We first tried a knee hang, which included getting our legs up onto the bar and then dropping our arms and reaching out forward, then re-grabbing the bar, bringing our knees down and swinging our legs back and forth three times quickly before letting go of the bar and grabbing our knees into what forced a backflip each time.

It was nice that of a potential class of ten, we only had four people in the class. This allowed us to get in a ton of practice and get the timing down to try other tricks if we wished. I was most excited to try a release and catch, where you get into position hanging off the bar by your legs and when you reach forward you release your legs from the bar as you grab the wrists of the person catching you.

The last trick I was able to learn was called a Heels Off where you bring your legs up in front and hook your heels onto the bar with your butt up close to the bar and the backend, you put your head back. When you dismount, we would get into a position where you’re flying like Superman.

By the end of the almost two hour class, my confidence level was at an all-time-high. I wanted to do more, but my hands were on fire, so I had to stop. Gripping that rough bar during so many flights can make your hands hurt, but we also had such a small class that we were able to maximize our time in the air and it felt we were always climbing up to the platform for our next turn. Also expect to end up with some bruises and a little soreness, but nothing that doesn’t make your trapeze experience totally worthwhile.

I enjoyed it so much that I highly recommend it to anyone looking to de-stress and try something new. I’m hoping to be able to take more classes after our summer travels wind down. You’ll love the joy and empowerment you feel when you jump off and master your first knee hang; it is such a natural high.

It is the day after the experience and when I talk about it, I’m still floating.

Tips:

• Wear a tight fitting shirt, or one that you can tuck in and yoga pants that at least cover your knees.
• Bring a light jacket. I found that it was a bit chilly and ended up wearing my jacket.

Chalk up, grab the bar, and don’t think…just go for it. Have the time of your life!

Have you ever tried Trapeze? Would you like to try it?