Flying High with Cirque School LA

By Michael Westman

Aloysia Gavre has been an international circus performer for more than 20 years. Beginning her career at 18, Aloysia toured internationally with San Francisco’s Pickle Family Circus. This led to her joining Cirque du Soleil at age 23, where she appeared in the Aerial Hoop Trio act with Quidam’s European tour. Following Quidam, Aloysia moved on to perform aerial hoop in Cirque du Soleil’s Las Vegas show, O. Aloysia moved to Los Angeles where she and her partner, Rex Camphuis, and subsequently launched Cirque School and its theatrical arm, Troupe Vertigo Circus Theater. She continues to perform her solo hoop act, and has recently appeared at both The Kennedy Center and the Sydney Opera House.

Cirque School began with only four classes a week at a small Pilates studio in West Hollywood. Community interest in the program was tremendous and it quickly expanded to a new 6,000 square foot studio in Hollywood, where they offer more than 50 classes throughout the week — from ground acrobatics, hand balancing and partner balancing, to aerial skills (trapeze, silks, hoop, and rope / corde lisse) and flexibility/contortion.  In addition, Cirque School presents frequent specialty workshops, including LGBT days, taught by experts from around the world.

True to the school’s vision of creating a training community for “Anybody with Any Body,” Cirque School students are a diverse group with a wide range of ages, body types and skill levels. From CrossFit addicts to people who haven’t stepped into a gym since junior high, the school embraces everyone, and students quickly become obsessed. Cirque School LA’s classes utilize the best of both professional circus training and Pilates – a hybrid method that helps students gain strength and flexibility, as well as physical and mental wellness – through one of the most intense, exhilarating and safe circus arts programs ever developed.

Walking into the door, you’ll notice immediately that going to Cirque School isn’t at all like going to the Gym. Classes are developed to be both rigorous and fun, in a warm and non-competitive environment. It really is for anybody with any body. “The circus is great because it embraces all of our uniqueness,” Aloysia says. “Your body dictates what feels best and will help ease you in that direction.” Aloysia adds, “It’s not competitive. Everybody supports each other.”

One student, who first saw the Cirque School when they performed for The Park Party/Rue le Cirque during Long Beach Pride weekend in 2014, and got hooked on the creative and inspiring atmosphere of the school, is Adam Boyles.  “After the event, I looked up Cirque School and noticed they were close to me, so I figured I’d give it a shot. The first class I took was an Acro Fit class. I learned very quickly there is a difference between ‘regular fit’ and ‘circus fit.’ The class was fun and an excellent workout. The coach was very patient with those of us who could not even do a simple cartwheel,” says Adam.

Inspiration was a key to Adam getting hooked, and the experience of being surrounded by so many amazing people at different skill levels. Adam tells us “It’s easy to get hooked when you think to yourself, ‘Hmmm maybe one day I’ll be able to do that too!’ I mean, everyone had to start from somewhere right? You find yourself feeling inspired to push yourself to learn new skills.” Adam’s immediate goal is to be consistent with his training, with the long term goal of performing. “Consistency is the key to growth…or so they say. I started off doing acrobatic classes, and then moved into partner balancing, and over the past several months I started learning aerial straps.”

Cirque School has also provided circus training for Reese Witherspoon and Christoph Waltz on the feature film Water for Elephants, Rebel Wilson in Pitch Perfect 2, as well as Andrea Martin for the Broadway production of Pippin, and has provided circus consultation and training for a number of TV shows. Cirque School also serves as a performance venue for Troupe Vertigo and outside talent as well.

So whether you want to become a performer or have a great workout, you’re guaranteed to have a new experience and meet other creative people. Cirque School LA is located at 5640½ Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, California. You can get more information and keep up on future LGBT events by visiting http://cirqueschoolla.com.

(Photos courtesy of Cirque School LA)