Fly through the air with the greatest of ease

Attempt a mid-air catch right across the street from the Kimmel.
Credit: HughE Dillon

If you’re going to glide through the air hanging onto a trapeze bar for dear life, it might as well be on Broad Street smack-dab in the middle of the city. OK, maybe it’s not actually for dear life. There is a net the Fly School Circus Arts crew will help you lower yourself onto once you’ve completed your kicks and flips. Whether or not it’s a graceful landing is up to you.

Mary Kelly Rayel, who attended Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College, and her Fly School team are set up in the empty University of the Arts lot across from the Kimmel Center all month, offering daily lessons as part of the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts. And while it might have been a little chilly to go for a fly last week, with spring finally here there’s no excuse for not strapping yourself in. The 7 p.m. weekday time slot is filling up thanks to the warmer weather, Rayel says, but daytime weekday lessons still have plenty of openings. Weekends are selling out.

The 2-hour classes, offered through April 27, are $55 and open to anyone 6 and up and under 250 pounds. No circus experience necessary. Some high flyers have “gotten addicted” and keep signing up, says Caitlyn Larsson of Fly School, but novices are welcome at every session, too.

Rayel says she hasn’t had anyone show up and then chicken out. But for those who just can’t make the leap, check out Fly School’s evening trapeze performances April 25 and 26.