The first time 12-year-old Lily Rosenfeld stepped onto an aerial silk, she was hooked.
“I just remember feeling like it’s such a cool feeling because it’s something completely new to you, and at first it might be kind of scary, but really quickly I was just like, ‘Yea, I like this. I really like this,’” she says of the unique sport she has now been doing for three years.
Aerial silk is a type of performance that involves doing acrobatic moves, twists, spins and spirals while hanging from a special fabric. Lily was introduced to the art of aerial silks at a summer program for the North Vancouver location of Vancouver Circus School.
Her mom signed her up for the program just to give it a try even though she had never done anything like it before. At first the circus program looked a bit intimidating, admits Lily, but once she tried it she realized it wasn’t as hard as it looked.
“I just loved it, and I was just like ‘Please sign me up, please sign me up,’” she says. “It was really fun. And fun to kind of have a challenge. And one of the main things I like about it is that it’s something you can really progress in without having to dedicate like 10 hours a week to it.”
At the camp, Lily got to try a variety of activities, including trapeze and trampoline, but she liked aerial silks the best.
“I personally really enjoy climbing and getting really high up on them and I think it looks really, really, cool also,” she explains.
When asked if she ever gets nervous being so high up, she answers quickly: “No, I love it.”
Lily says her circus program contains elements of both sport and performance.
“It’s definitely hard work,” she notes, adding in that way it’s more like a sport. “But it is similar to dancing in the way that you have to pay attention to your form and it’s very elegant, kind of graceful.”
Lily says since she started in the program she has noticed a huge difference in her overall strength and flexibility. When she started she wasn’t very flexible or strong but within a few months she started to see a difference, she adds.
Although they sometimes work on routines for a junior ringmasters program she is also part of, which includes an end-of-the-year performance, Lily explains that the circus program is all about learning and progressing without competing.
“I think maybe one of the reasons I love circus so much is because it’s not competitive,” she says, adding she thinks any kid could give it a try. “It’s really just kind of fun, it gives you an energy rush and you’re getting out and moving around,” she says.
Although she doesn’t think a circus career is in her future, she does want to continue with aerial silks and circus school, saying: “Oh yea, for sure. I can’t think of a future without it.”
For more information about the summer camp programs at Vancouver Circus School in North Vancouver visit vancouvercircusschool.ca.
This story originally appeared in a special section of the North Shore News focusing on summer camps.
