Flying Trapeze

This Something New was suggested to me by Helen and she accompanied me on the visit to the Gorilla Circus Flying Trapeze School (http://www.gorillacircus.com/) The venue is in Regents Park, closest to St John's Wood tube station, and although I've been the park many times, I had no idea it existed. Its position by the Outer Circle makes it a hot spot for spectators in the form of families out for a stroll, joggers and cyclists - judging from people's reactions to the trapeze gear, this must be the best form of marketing the circus has!

Of the 10 places for the two-hour session we had booked, seven were complete beginners. We thought at first that we'd be spending some time practising on a low bar before getting up on the 30-(ish)-foot high one with the safety net... But after one very brief attempt at hooking legs up over the swing, it was off of the baby bar and onto the main event!

The trick we were learning involved holding onto the bar with your hands, jumping off the platform, hooking knees up over the bar, letting go with hands to hand upside down, then grabbing the bar again before performing a roly-poly dismount. Think that sounds impossible? We certainly did.

Possibly the hardest thing to overcome was the body's reticence to jump off of the platform in the first place! It felt very weird to do, and seemed to result in shaky legs, regardless of success in the rest of the trick. Pulling your legs up and over the bar involved  significant amount of shoulder and abs strength. By far the easiest part of the trick, in fact, was the tumbling dismount!

After about an hour of swinging (perhaps 3-4 swings each) those who had successfully managed the trick (every time, oh yeah!) were set up to try with a catcher on a second swing... First up was Helen, who was frustratingly close but couldn't quite get there. I was up next - and I did it! Knees hooked, upside down, arms stretched out and... the catcher caught me! A third of the beginner's then missed the timing, before Helen's second attempt - which ended in success!

Every successful attempt was really great, but achieving the final trick gave such a massive boost of elation. I felt like I was walking on air (rather than swinging through it!)

I haven't yet decided if I'll try this again, although I do know they have more availability in the last few weeks of summer when the outside kit is feasible...

This is for you if...

If you're used to wearing a harness, don't mind heights and are pretty fit. A lot of the effort required to succeed comes from the momentum of the swing, however a significant amount also comes from shoulders & abs - my aching muscles were testimony enough to prove that!

Recommendations

The lower-body clothing-of-choice seemed to be tight 3/4 length lycra bottoms. Don't worry about shoes, cos you don't wear them anyway. And don't worry if you wear glasses - mine didn't fall off ever!

King o' the Swingers

What: Flying Trapeze Class
Where: Regents Park
Who: Gorilla Circus
When: Saturday, 18th August 2012
With: Helen
Why: "Anyone can come and learn to fly in one of our two hour classes..." I see that as a challenge.

Roller Disco

Having lived in Pimlico for 18 months and moving out in a week, I felt it would be rude to live so close to Vauxhall Roller Disco (www.rollerdisco.com/) and not try it at least once. We built up for it by instigating a neon theme, putting on luminous pink make-up and spraying on lots of body glitter.

Tickets for the roller disco were £12.50, whether bought online or on the door. The price includes entry, skate hire, and as much safety equipment as you like (we just went for wristguards). We turned up there about 11pm and, to be honest, unless you're some kind of super-skater, this gives ample skating time. The place was busy enough that it had a good atmosphere, but spacious enough that you weren't crashing into someone every second step!

The venue itself has two floors - one plays cheesy pop and is on the entry level; make your way up a few steps (who puts stairs in a rollerskating venue?!) to the second, larger floor playing more modern stuff, but also skating at a faster pace. It was incredibly warm inside and I would criticise the venue for only having one bar serving tap water - especially when to get there, you either have to navigate through or circumnavigate a whole bunch of rollerskaters. I can't comment on the price of the drinks - after a few wines at home then adding wheels to my feet, I felt it was better to try and keep my wits about me...

I have no great ability at either ice-skating or roller-blading, or in fact anything that involves moving along on anything other than a normal foot-set-up. The venue has Marshalls on the floors, who can help pick you up when you fall but will also assist in showing you how to work the skates. I relied on a cumbersome style of pushing off the brake and then trying not to let me legs do the splits - which seemed to work - no falls and no bruises! Perhaps I was relying on leg strength a little too much, however, as after a couple of hours of skating, my legs were Aching Like Nobody's Business. Or perhaps I'm just getting old.

We stayed for a couple of hours till around 1am, then un-skated and headed for home. I think I would return to the roller disco, although not straightaway. It was difficult to actually dance in the skates, and I would've felt a failure if I'd abandonned them any sooner, just to enjoy a bit of a groove.

This is for you if...

If you enjoy a night out that doesn't rely on alcohol or sexy dance moves. There is no other type of club in the world where simply walking round and round in a large circle is an acceptable dance style!

Recommendations

This is definitely a dress-up venue. You don't have to be quite so luminous as we were, but people were expressing their creative side with their outfits. I would recommend cracking out the knee-high socks and leg-warmers!