No webpage of mine could be complete unless I show pictures of my beginner abilities with the static trapeze. I took Beginner Static Trapeze at the San Francisco Circus School in the summer of '01. It was incredible fun, and I wish there were instructors around here. Mike and I co-own a static trapeze, which lives in his garage (high ceilings are hard to come by). We worked on it fairly frequently over the summer, though my attentions to it have waned with the cold weather. I hope to continue it as a hobby, and hopefully learn more tricks! Mike and I are also hoping to get static trapeze taught at his mother's Providence Circus School.

It takes a lot of upper body strength, in which I'm pretty lacking. However, I did recently install a pull-up bar in my doorway in order to improve those muscles. These pictures are from the SF Circus School from that summer. Back when I was fairly in shape for the tricks. Here are the photos!

This is a bird's nest. It's probably the easiest trick I know.

This is the second Angel. You're very well connected to the trapeze, so there's little likelihood of falling.

This is the third Angel. It's also fairly stable and relaxing.

Another peaceful trick is the Back Support. It might look impressive, but it takes no effort at all. Your bum is securely attached to the bar. It's a little scarier to get into than the previous tricks, though. You lean backwards from sitting on the bar to rest upside-down.

This requires a bit of upper body strength to lower yourself to the right point on the bar. It's hard to hold this position for long, and there aren't too many easy ways out of it. The nicest way is to lower yourself a little bit then flip back onto the bar (feet go forward and over the bar from front to back so your stomach ends up on the bar).

This is one of the scarier beginner trapeze tricks. The reason is that you're almost entirely above air. The only things holding you up are a straight arm and a strong neck. I'm a little too arched in this photo, because of strength issues. And no, I'm not supposed to lift up my right arm...

Now this is the most physically difficult trick I do with regularity. It's called a flag. You sit on the trapeze, wrap an arm around the rope, and grab onto the bar. Then you pick up your feet and get up off the bar =). Unfortunately, the shorter the rope, the harder the trick. This is darned hard on the 6 foot long trapeze we have now.