Walking on air

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This article was published 07/07/2011 (5492 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A daring group of young Winnipeggers is about to scale the heights in Switzerland, but not the alpine peaks.

Momentum, the city’s only aerial circus-arts troupe, has been chosen to perform in the most prestigious showcase at the World Gymnaestrada in Lausanne, Switzerland, running from Sunday to July 16.

Costumed as monkeys, birds and butterflies, the troupe’s 25 members will entwine themselves in stretchy silk fabric. They’ll execute breathtaking acrobatics, wraps, upside-down moves and risky drops in which they’re caught by the fabric, all while dangling and swinging as high as six metres in the air.

The seven-day Gymnaestrada, held in a different country every four years, is the world’s largest gymnastics event. More than 20,000 participants from 54 countries — from Albania to Venezuela — will perform more than 600 hours of demonstrations and shows at 10 venues.

“It’s a more festive version of the Olympics,” says Liz Cooper, a former contemporary dancer who co-directs the seven-year-old Momentum troupe with former Olympic gymnast Monica Goermann.

It’s all non-competitive, and it culminates in a spectacle called the International Gymnastics Federation Gala. Each of four performances of the gala — held in an arena — draws a crowd of 15,000 to 20,000.

Seventeen countries have earned coveted spots in the two-hour gala, and Momentum has the honour of representing Canada with a four-minute routine.

Cooper and Goermann are both in their 40s. Cooper is the troupe’s senior performer and is one of 11 monkeys, the aerial dancers who do the most challenging moves and have at least eight years of training. The rest of the company — all female except for one teenage boy — ranges in age from 11 to early 20s.

While aerial performances are choreographed to look fluid and graceful, there are no safety wires and there’s a tremendous amount of skill required. “You’ve got to know how that fabric is going to support you,” Cooper says. “You have to remember the correct wrapping patterns, and you have to have a great deal of strength and flexibility to control your body in mid-air.

“And then, you have to remember all those little details while you’re trying to stay on the beat of music, hit particular cues and keep in sync.”

Momentum had to submit an audition video two years ago, then wow the Canadian Gymnastics Federation with a performance last year, to win the high-profile gig. It is required to perform a routine to fit the gala’s overall theme — a fantastical island — so Cooper and Goermann came up with a playful jungle concept set to tribal-sounding music. The troupe has been rehearsing since September.

The international gala will likely include groups that do rhythmic gymnastics, power tumbling, trampoline stunts, many kinds of acrobatic, aerobic and balancing feats, and even troupes that roll around in steel wheels.

There may be one or two other troupes in the gala that do aerial work, Cooper says, but none as elaborate or innovative as Momentum’s. Blending artistry and athleticism, the Winnipeg routine will have performers trading off on 12 sets of silks — including six sets hung in a circle from a massive aluminum ring — while the rest of the troupe does dance and acrobatics on the floor.

Aerial-silk performing likely started in France, but circus schools in Quebec developed it in the early 1990s, Cooper says. Montreal’s Cirque du soleil popularized it, but many of the techniques for working on the silks have been used in aerial rope and Spanish web circus acts for decades.

“It’s pretty rare to see large-group pieces (for aerial silks),” Cooper says. “Even Cirque du soleil’s stuff is usually quartets or trios, probably because of the technical difficulties of rigging.”

Momentum has Goermann’s engineer husband, Michael Thomlinson, as its rigging expert. (The couple’s 12-year-old daughter, Maia, is in the troupe.) The company, with an entourage of family members and supporters, flew to Switzerland on Wednesday. It didn’t receive any grants for the self-funded trip.

Though this is the first time Momentum has a spot in the gala, Cooper and Goermann have taken aerial routines to the World Gymnaestrada twice before, in 2003 (Portugal) and 2007 (Austria). Because it’s non-competitive, Cooper says, it may foster an even greater sense of community than the Olympics.

“There’s lots of trading of pins and T-shirts — a marvellous sense of international fellowship.”

alison.mayes@freepress.mb.ca

Winnipeg’s Momentum aerial performance troupe was formed in 2004, after former Olympic gymnast Monica Goermann and former dancer Liz Cooper started an aerial circus-arts training program at Monica’s Danz Gym on Scurfield Boulevard in 2001. (See www.monicasdanzgym.com)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The troupe is the only one in Canada affiliated with a training program, outside of Quebec’s circus schools, Cooper believes. Momentum has performed at many events, such as the opening of the MTS Centre and the Juno Awards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Though the routine Momentum is doing in Switzerland uses aerial silks only, the troupe also does trapeze and aerial hoop work. About 250 children, teens and adults take classes at Monica’s Danz Gym in aerial arts and dance. Aerial training aids body awareness, strength, flexibility, concentration and self-confidence, Goermann says.

 

 

 

 

 

Many aerial students have a background in gymnastics, dance or both, but some take to aerial training alone. “It always amazes me when children come in who don’t do any other sport, and they try this for the first time,” Goermann says. “The look of joy on their faces when they achieve the different skills is unbelievable. Remember that feeling on the playground, the first time you were able to make it across the monkey bars? It’s that feeling, compounded.”