One of the greatest things about Nashville is the variety of different ways our residents can stay fit, healthy and active.

A workout you might not have experienced yet though is aerial arts. Combining traditional yoga poses, pilates, and dance with the use of an aerial fabric, artists twist and turn their legs and arms into colorful silk as they ascend and descend in an elegant dance-like movement.

Legs loop and coil their way around fabric while arms pull and wrap themselves in a similar fashion for added support.

Artists delicately weave themselves into intricate positions like a spider weaving a web as they thread their way to the top.

This is the art of aerial acrobatics. A midair dance that’s really quite beautiful.

Taking the lead in Nashville is a group of young women called Suspended Gravity Circus. With a passion for the performing arts and aerial entertainment, these girls are not only empowering themselves and building self-confidence while suspended above the ground, but they’re also transforming their bodies in a unique way.

By day, Suspended Gravity Circus is comprised of teachers, a physical therapist, a seamstress, a medical school student and a graphic designer, but at night is when their gravitational escape comes to life.

The girls of Suspended Gravity Circus have been together for 2 years and their aerial acrobatics have allowed them to perform at such events like Brew at the Zoo, Sideshow Fringe Festival, Athens of the South, The Dog and Pony Show, and many more.

If done properly, artists can “let themselves go” and “float” sometimes 18-feet or more off the ground, then unwind and descend, spinning and spiraling safely back to the floor.

A tremendous amount of strength is required to perform these aerial maneuvers too. “Much like calisthenics, we’re pushing and pulling our body into positions using our arms and legs. And we’re suspended while we’re doing it!”

“It’s a very empowering art form that combines strength and grace! That’s why so many people gravitate toward it.”

You can find the Suspended Gravity team teaching classes and training at their new studio location, Abrasive Media, usually during the evenings. But check out their website for a full schedule.

SuspendedCircus.com