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"Hanging upside down is one of the best things you can do for reducing stress on your back," Jonathon tells us. "All day long you ' re sitting at a desk, accumulating tension . This exercise gives muscles a rest from supporting your upright posture." After we finish our groundwork, we're outfitted with safety belts. The belts are clipped into a safety line once we scamper up the ladder to the platform . Basic training consists of learning to throw ourselves off the board and swinging on command. Trapeze moves can run the gamut from basic swings and catches to multiple somersaults and multiple-flyer feats on one bar. Once basic swinging is mastered, other elements and poses that maintain momentum on the swing follow. Each one of us gives the basic swing a go and returns to the TRAPEZE TALK FLYER: trapeze artists who fly through the air doing stunning bits of acrobatics. twists and fl ips. CATCHER: the member of the trapeze team who is located at the catch trap on the far side of the rig. The catch trap is where the catcher sits in order to coordinate the catching and throwing of other trapeze artists. Catchers must support the weight of the flyers. BOARD: the platform (usually about 22-25 feet above the ground) from which trapeze artists launch and begin their routine. HEP: the action word in trapeze. Signals preparation for some change in position. LlSTO: Spanish for "ready:' Communicates between catcher and flyer in order to correctly coordinate swings. board breath less and exuberant. " I've thought about this ever since I was a kid," says Amo, a member of the New York aerial performance group De La Guarda. He grins after his first flight. "It's exactly how I thought it would be." Even those with no background at all in aerial arts jump out and come back exhilarated by the experience. "It feels terrific, " says Matthew, a first time flyer. "I know my body's been working hard because afterwards there are muscles twingeing that I didn 't even know I had." Physically speaking, trapeze is excellent conditioning and cross-training for all sports, as it focuses primarily on flexibility and strengthening core muscles. " It's great for working on your trapezius muscles, deltoids-and just for limbering up in general," says David, an avid rock climber and dancer. I nevitably, questions of safety come up for trapeze flyers. For beginners, the risks are minimal with the use of safety lines and belts. "The possibility for injury is not in the air, it's in the landing," says Lili Gaudreau. "As you drop from the trapeze swing onto the net, it's the responsibility of the person holding the safety lines below to control your fall , so you don't twist your ankle or your neck from landing in a bad position. With harder tricks, of course, the danger level increases as flyers take the safety lines off for greater freedom of movement." With the removal of safety lines, the chances of injury can be great; a flyer can crash in midair with a catcher on an opposing swing, land badly on the net or miss it entirely and end up on the ground. Most professional trapeze flyers come from families with a history in the circus. Training begins at a young age. They often start on a trampoline at two or three years of age to get used to the idea of height and flight. Here at the Trapeze School, the youngest trapeze flyer is four. Training time also varies radically with individual ability. Some professional trapeze artists have been flying since childhood; others, like David, started in adulthood. We watch David do a series of sweeping swings, twists and flips. Our mouths drop open. His pants rustle- emphasizing his strong swings as he cuts through the wind . He wears loose sport pants on purpose to be dramatic, I think. Later I find out that he makes that sou nd ·no matter what pants he's weari ng. After Jonathon introduced David to trapeze two years ago, he trained with Tito Gaona, a world-famous trapeze flyer, at his professional schools. The Gaona family has a long flying history with the Big Apple and Ringling Brothers Circuses. Now Tito works with aspiring acrobats and trapeze flyers at his numerous training establishments across the country. Jonathon first learned the sport at a Club Med in Mexico. It was one of the activities offered there. "When I saw the trapeze rig, something inside me just leapt," says Jonathon. "It was terror and joy together. It took me a long time to get off the board. I thought, I can't possibly do this, and yet I have to do this ." For the next two weeks, Jonathon flew twice a day. When he returned to the States, he sold his business in order to buy a trapeze rig from Sam Keen, author of the book Learning to Fly: Trapeze-Reflections on Fear, Trust and the Joy of Letting Go. Keen, an accomplished author and graduate of the Harvard Divinity School, became the oldest student in the school when he enrolled at age 61 in a class on trapeze at SFCA. Learning to Fly, his memoir of the experience , uses trapeze training as a metaphor for spiritual understanding. "We've done work with children , people who are afraid of heights, people who are going through coping therapy," says Jonathon. "It 's incredible how much can be done in one day. From watching people, it's clear to me that the sport is the most efficient way to build self-esteem. Once you've done it, there's no thinking you can 't do it again." Before the Trapeze School in New Paltz was founded, the only school in eastern North America was in Toronto. In the last two years, several full-time trapeze schools have opened up nationwide, in Colorado, California and Florida. This is the Trapeze School's first season and it is drawing a diverse student body, from beginners based in New York City to members of the Brazilian Circus. This November, the group plans to open a trapeze school in Costa Rica in partnership with locals in the area. "Trapeze is my doorway to the world," says Jonathon. As I drive home to New York City, after a couple of days spent with Jonathon and David at the Trapeze School, I can't get the feeling of flight out of my mind. The sun slants through the trees and the green is more vivid than usual. The world seems to shine because I swung from my knees and completed a catch hours before. I am, to say the least, hooked on flying. • 38