How to Banish Fear Instantly

Actors, do you suffer from stage fright? Get freaked out before auditions? Last Friday, I discovered a sure-fire cure for all of these fears: aerial arts.

Trust me, people. Cold reading a page or two of script doesn't seem nearly as intimidating once you've swung upside down on a tiny steel bar several feet above the ground, held up only by your knees, sheer terror, and OK, an expert instructor who makes sure you don't fall and crack your neck.

This past February, for Back Stage's spotlight on Summer Training, I was assigned to scout out places where actors can learn circus skills. You know, juggling, flying trapeze, clowning, the whole Barnum & Bailey smorgasbord.

By the time I got done researching the story, I was so jealous of the acrobats and clowns I'd interviewed. All had mastered skills I'd never even come close to learning. While I freaked out over computer viruses, tight deadlines, and other mundane travails of the cubicle-bound, they flipped and floated through the air, defying gravity and the unfortunate adult tendency to keep our feet firmly planted on the ground.

So when Stephanie Abrams, a contortionist I'd interviewed invited me to sit in on a session of her Beginning Aerial Arts class at the LA School of Gymnastics, it was a no-brainer. Whether you're interested in swinging on the trapeze or gracefully dangling from a silk rope a la Cirque du Soleil, Abrams' Kinetic Theory Theatre Company offers a complete repertoire of circus arts training. (The photos -- all of much more advanced students than myself -- on this page give a sampling of the crazy cool stuff you can learn.)

Of course, I'd never done anything like this before. Nor had I ever been one of those flexible pretzel chicks able to launch into splits on demand. Sure, I've done yoga, but shy away from headstands, handstands, and anything that too severely disrupts my center of gravity.

Nonetheless, 30 minutes into the hour-and-a-half class, I was flipped upside down, my arms loose in the air, my knees wrapped around the bar, staring at myself in a floor-to-ceiling wall mirror. A little later, I was doing Bird's Nest, a beginning trick that, from what I could gather, basically resembles the yoga pose of Wheel or Urdhva Dhanurasana, except your hands and feet are on the trapeze and you're nowhere near the safe, comforting ground.

It was absolutely terrifying -- and one of the most exhilarating things I've ever done. 

I spent the rest of the weekend telling everyone I encountered about my new aerial abilities.

Sure, I'll go back and be terrified all over again, but what is life if not scaring oneself senseless once in a while? Definitely puts everything else in perspective.

-- Brooke O'Neill