| 3 T TVirginia Wright Christchurch academy taking off Aerial Academy is New Zealand’s largest aerial fitness studio. Aerial Academy REGIONAL T T to page 4 With the enticing tag line ‘Come and Fly’, Christchurch’s purpose-built Aerial Academy is taking off in Riccarton. It’s New Zealand’s largest aerial fitness studio, and home to aerial hoop/lyra, aerial silks, hammock, trapeze and more, with extra studios available for yoga, dance and Pilates, and a wide variety of classes for all age groups. “We’re an aerial arts facility so we teach aerial acrobatics to any ages, kids, teens and adults,” says co-owner Lydia Donaldson. An expert in vertical apparatus such as silks and rope, Lydia owned the former studio, They then had to ensure it was structurally sound enough to take what can be 10 times someone’s body weight when they drop through the air, Lydia says. “We’ve got 60 rigging points in the ceiling of our facility, so the building had to be structurally sound enough to withstand 10 times a person’s body weight times 60. It’s more than everything I dreamed of,” says Lydia, who met Nicola when she taught her aerial silks at her former studio. “The idea was for Nicola and I to collaborate and create a bigger space with things like air- conditioning and heating, which mine didn’t have. Priority Projects Commercial • Residential • Fit Outs Design Build Proud to manage this prestigious project from concept to completion priorityprojects.co.nz 0274 888 305 steve.brownie@priorityprojects.co.nz “Every single time I tell people what I do they say ‘I’ve always wanted to try that’, so we’ve made it easy for people to try something that was just for circus acrobats.” Aerial 3, before joining forces with Nicola Riddell to create an environment where pupils can come as close to flying as they are ever likely to get. Nicola’s extensive training with leading international aerial artists perfectly complements Lydia’s skills, and between them they teach a wide variety of aerial skills in this environment designed to keep people safe while making it easy for everyone to challenge themselves and have fun doing it. Every inch of their facility has been purpose-built with circus, aerials and movement practice in mind. To practise circus and aerial arts, you need a high ceiling and it was finding a former sports facility that made the Aerial Academy build possible.
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