Suzanne_Marques's Blog

I had no idea I was going to be flying on a trapeze Tuesday morning.

I guess you could say I was given some notice... if you count waking up in the morning at 2:30am and calling the desk while half-asleep to ask what story I would be covering that day. 

Drake on the other line, "Oh!  Good thing you called."

I can't remember verbatim, but it was along the lines of, find something that you'd wear to a work out.  About four hours later, I'm standing on a tiny platform more than two stories high on the Santa Monica Pier getting ready to fly.

So how does this gal - with no upper arm strength - prepare to swing from a bar, pull up their legs to hang and then do a blind backflip into a net?  It's the pressures of live tv, folks.  There are two choices.

1.  Freak out and lose it and make everyone have a good laugh at home.  (Always fun to watch by the way.  Especially when anger is involved or tears are spilled.)

2.  Man up.

I may be a girly girl, but I love a challenge.  As long as I'm not risking serious injury or mutilation, I'll give it a go.  I love a thrill.

I acknowledge that for some people, flying on the trapeze is risking serious injury, but many many moons ago, I took gymnastics and dance.  While I was never a serious gymnast, I loved the double bars.  I loved to swing and jump from bar to bar.  The main drawback was the pain of calloused, blistered, shredded hands.

I nearly forgot about my gymnastics training until the instructor with Trapeze School NY told me while were practicing, "don't pike off the bar," which means straightening your legs to dismount.  I wondered why I did it that way instead of what one naturally does - curl up in a ball to get off the bar.

He said gymnasts dismount that way, and I was so proud my body remembered even better than my mind.  It's guess it's kind of like riding a bike.  You think you can't remember how to do it and then your body takes over.  Isn't that cool?

So before I trained for the big jump, I figured that training would be intense like skydiving.  Taking notes, reading manuals, doing drill after drill to drill the info into your head so you don't make a mistake and die.

Oh no.  It took five minutes.  We had a mat with a low bar hanging over the ground.  He told me to hang from the bar, curl into a ball, hang from the bar, then grab the bar again and then release your legs and hang again.  He spotted me while I did it with his help.  Then he told me to do a backflip out of it.  We didn't practice that.

A few minutes later, I'm putting on a belt.  Just a belt!  And climbing and endlessly long ladder up to my destiny.

Once I got up there, it wasn't bad, because I'm not really scared of heights.  Good Day LA producer Josh Kaplan informed me humans have two innate fears.  The fears of falling and I can't remember the other one.  Sorry.   I remember it wasn't heights.

Well my fear of falling kicked in when I faced and held the bar and leaned forward.  I shifted my weight over the platform grounded by the instructor holding onto the back of my belt.  That left me a bit petrified and you can hear it in my whimper on the video. 

They said bend your knees and then do a little hop and then just hang and let gravity take over while keeping your legs together and toes pointed.  Legs together, toes pointed = every gymnast and dancer knows these instructions because it creates a prettier line.  And if I'm going to fall or slip, I'm going to do it as gracefully as I can!

They shout commands at you for every step.  That was a comfort because it helps you stay in the moment, focused and relying on one voice leading you the whole way. 

The hardest part was the little hop off the platform.  After that, I was focused on remembering the next step. The fear was still there, oh yes it was, but my determination was stronger than my fear.

The scariest part came when I had to do the backflip.  I hadn't practiced my tuck.  It's kind of impossible to do unless you practice on the trapeze and I wanted to authentically fly for the first time live.  If you're going to tackle something big like that, why not let the audience experience it with you?  That's why I like fear factor.  Watching people facing their fears and still going as the fight or flight syndrome kicks in.

I just followed the instructor's orders and did as I was told the best I could.  While my backflip could've been better, at least I didn't do a face plant into the net.  I saw someone do that - whose identity I will protect :) - and it was hilarious!

Then, I flew with a catcher.  The catcher was one of The Flying Casares with The Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus.  (In LA next week!)  We didn't practice beforehand, but he did reveal he normally gives female flyers a kiss on the cheek if they are caught successfully.  I said, right on!  Not just for the kiss, but if he can lift me while hanging from a trapeze, I want to be able to brag about it.

He warned me before the jump to release my legs once he grabbed my arms, but that was the one thing I forgot to do... and boy am I paying for it today.  I have two "circus scars" - their lingo - bruises on the backs of my knees because I forgot to release my legs from the bar, they caught for a second and he said, "let go!"  I listened, and everything else went smoothly.  He did kiss me on the cheek and on the air it looked like a smacker on the lips, but it wasn't.  :)

And no, my husband wasn't upset.  He is in love with Jessica Alba and I'd let her kiss him on the cheek if she ever wanted to.

Thank you Trapeze School!!!  They are open 7 days a week on the Santa Monica Pier.  It's open to all ages and all day and into the night.  Wouldn't it be fun at night with the ferris wheel over your shoulder?  It's so much fun.  I recommend it wholeheartedly.  Just take  a nice long bath afterward :)

www.trapezeschool.com