My Little Circus Student: Aerial Acrobatic Entertainment's Ground Circus Sampler at Next Step Broadway

Disclosure: I was given a free trial class by Aeriel Acrobatic Entertainment; all opinions expressed are my own.

I think I found the reason why my Lil Lovebird appeared to be so ambivalent about the circus as I mentioned in my recent UniverSoul Circus post: she actually prefers to BE in the circus!

It wasn't too hard to figure this out actually. I was recently invited to a trial Ground Circus Sampler class offered by Aeriel Acrobatic Entertainment at Next Step Broadway, a music and dance studio here in Jersey City. Knowing Nia wasn't too keen on watching the circus I got the idea that perhaps she'd like to learn how to perform circus acts instead. When I suggested it to her a few days in advance to build excitement at first she was wary, but each day I mentioned it and the potential fun she'd have she warmed up to a bit. It also helped that the trial class would push out her attendance of ballet for a week - a class I shared on Instagram last week that she reluctantly completed.

We made our way to the class, filled out our waivers and she joined two other students. At first I was concerned about the very small group but it actually turned out for the better: the students were able to get plenty of individual attention from teacher Paul Del Corral, who specializes in various forms of juggling (including knives!) and has appeared on MTV's My Sweet 16 and off Broadway. 

Starting off reluctantly with her peacock feather, which is used to get started in juggling since it falls slowly (who knew?!)

Nia is just shy of the 4 year old age minimum of the Ground Circus Sampler - a one-hour class happening 2x/week for 12 weeks this summer through August 21, but she did just fine after some initial shyness. Paul was great at getting the kids to warm up and eventually give most of the exercises a try. I even found myself getting excited and cheering and clapping them on! It took everything I could muster to not ask to join the class too - it looked like so much fun:

Teacher Paul was very patient helping each child move through levels of difficulty

When it was time to leave Nia beamed about having learned so much in just an hour and on the way home told me she wanted to go back! We're currently trying to determine which classes she should take this summer and logistics since I'll be with the baby (still nailing down a mother's helper!), but I appreciate the flexibility of the classes we want to attend on a drop-in basis. 

I highly recommend giving the Ground Circus Sampler a try and if you're unsure click here to call and sign-up for a free trial class. You and your kids won't regret it!

If you could learn one circus act what would it be? I've always been curious about the trapeze - seems so freeing (as long as there's a net underneath!).