The circus wasn’t in town but budding trapeze artistes were! The Little Gym, a gymnastics school with branches in Ballygunge and Salt Lake, put up a weekend-long “flying school” at the lawn behind Birla Academy of Art & Culture where kids could try their hand at the trapeze.
TT Bureau
Published 07.06.18, 12:00 AM
The face-to-face trapeze bars were fixed to a 30ft-high metal structure that was netted at the bottom and sides. The kids had to climb a ladder up to the top wearing a harness, hold on to the bar, muster courage and let go! They went swinging from side to side, often screaming in excitement and trying to get a view from the top. “When they could no longer hold on, they were to release the bar and a belay system would bring them down gently,” said Vishal Seth of Unicorn, the event design and planning company that provided the trapeze infrastructure.
A little girl swings on the trapeze.
A girl about to be released by the instructor.
The circus wasn’t in town but budding trapeze artistes were! The Little Gym, a gymnastics school with branches in Ballygunge and Salt Lake, put up a weekend-long “flying school” at the lawn behind Birla Academy of Art & Culture where kids could try their hand at the trapeze.
A balancing bouncy was up too, for kids to jump from one inflated ball to another without toppling.
As a side show, the lawn had been turned into an obstacle course, replete with tyre climbs, ziplines and net crawls.
“Our students are used to bars and have great core strength, so most of them excelled at the activity,” said Maitreyi Kandoi, who runs the city franchises of the US-based gym.
Over 200 kids, some as young as three-years-old, and even several parents, took the leap.
Since five-year-old Aveer is scared of heights, his father Nitesh Sharaff decided to jump the trapeze with him. “It’s great that children today got an opportunity to overcome their fears,” said Nitesh, who has done bungee, skydiving and paragliding before. Little Aveer felt the trapeze was hard work but was all smiles after having conquered his fear.
“Calcutta is usually neglected as far as adventure sports avenues are concerned, so I was very excited to bring my six-year-old son Viraj over today. He’s seen the circus and loves the trapeze,” said mom Sonali Lakhotia. “I was also happy to see the organisers take great safety precautions.”
