Suzi Ziebell, clad in a black tank top and yoga pants, hung upside down on a trapeze, demonstrating a sit-up-like move to a handful of bright-eyed kids. Colorful pieces of silk hung from the ceiling, among a long shelf of bright yoga balls.
Ziebell hopped off the trapeze and onto a soft mat, prompting the three-year-old girl sitting cross-legged on the mat to jump her feet.
It was Fun Friday at Fly Studios, Manhattan Beach’s training ground for aspiring aerial artists, and Ziebell was going back to the basics.
“Yes, pointed toes, you look beautiful!” Ziebell said, as the nimble girl swung back and forth on the trapeze.
If you told Ziebell a decade ago what she’d be doing for a living, she would’ve laughed in disbelief. She’d watched Cirque du Soleil growing up, but “never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be doing it,” she said.
But for the Santa Monica-resident, teaching kids is natural. Ziebell spent eight years as a preschool teacher in Wisconsin, and later spent three years teaching Pilates. “It’s a lot of having to make sure you know exactly how to describe how to do a trick so they’re doing it correctly,” she said.
Ziebell teaches three classes a day, six days a week. “Making sure they have a good foundation is super key before moving on. If they can’t do a simple pull-up or simple things, they’re not going to be able to do some of the harder tricks.”
When it comes to tricks on the trapeze, the instructor doesn’t claim to know it all. In fact, she started teaching about a year ago after a year of taking classes herself at the studio. She continues to train four times a week.
She’s since noticed an increase in upper-body strength. “I was never able to do a pull up,” she said, with a laugh. “Now I can do many.”
Her students have the widest smiles while twirling and swinging, but Ziebell emphasizes strength and conditioning in her classes. “You have to have a little bit of upper body strength,” she said. “It takes stamina.”
Michelle Cappasola, whose daughter takes Ziebell’s class, said learning aerial arts is a unique activity for her daughter. “She loves it, she can’t wait to come every day,” Cappasola said.
[scrollGallery id=”435″]Photos by Alene Tchekmedyian
Ziebell often kicks off class by blasting music and leading her students through sit-ups, pull-ups, lunges and skips across the studio. “They’ll be the ones to be our next Cirque du Soleil performers,” Ziebell said, with a smile.
In a digital age, when kids are often glued to technology and video games, Ziebell said it’s nice to see her students so passionate about exercising. “You see them gaining flexibility, gaining strength, being creative, performing,” she said. “They’re excited about it. That’s rewarding.”
Plus, she said, “It’s a fun workout. When I’m doing pull-ups at the gym, I’d much rather be here.”
Fly Studios Aerial Arts is located at 1727 Artesia Blvd. in Manhattan Beach.
