I was peer pressured into going to a trapeze lesson yesterday at Emerald City Trapeze. I was really not interested in it, and honestly somewhat uneasy about the concept, yet I went along with it.
I climbed up the rickety ladder to approximately 30 feet above the ground, stood on a tiny platform held securely by a woman who most definitely weighed less than me and was asked to lean forward off the platform to grab the bar. I'm not going to lie, although I felt perfectly safe and knew I wasn't going to fall to my death, it's still terrifying. Your body just doesn't want to do it. You have to force yourself to let go of that second hand you're still holding on to the platform with and grab that bar. The next step is to bend your legs and hop off the platform. After that things move so quickly and you have an enthusiastic young, professional trapeze dude on the ground yelling instructions - you don't have any excess capacity in your brain or nervous system to devote to fear. You swing out and at the top of the swing (when you are at the furthest point from the platform) you bring your legs to you chest and then wrap them around the bar so you're holding it behind your knees. By this time you are now back at the top of the swing on the opposite side (closest to the platform) and you're given the instruction to release your hands. I had a little trouble with this part on my first try. You've made the moves so quickly it's impossible to believe you're secure enough to let go.
On my second try, I was able to let go when told so I was ready for the grand finale move. On my last turn, I went through this same routine except on the last swing when I was hanging from my legs, arms stretched out from my arched back I was caught by a professional trapezer and released my legs from my own bar, swinging from his hold. The timing has to be perfect and you have to have full confidence in the person catching you, but there's no doubt it's exhilarating. In the end I had a great time and was thankful that my crazy girlfriends preassured me into it. No plans to run away to join the circus, but definitely no regrets for pretending for an afternoon.
[a few pretty crappy photos to come]
Good God girl....have you temporarily lost your mind???? I grew several gray hairs just reading the description. Well, at least you can say you did it and NEVER plan to do it again....please.
Posted by: Mom | Friday, November 12, 2010 at 07:09 AM
Awesome! It's on my bucket list haha!
Posted by: back in buffalo | Tuesday, November 09, 2010 at 10:40 AM
Points for trying you are braver than me.
Posted by: Aunt Teresa | Tuesday, November 09, 2010 at 04:04 AM