Aerial Edge Circus School
- Project Area: Aerial Edge
- Start Date: September 2007
- Duration: Ongoing
Aerial Edge is a not-for-profit organisation founded in 2007 to inspire people to learn circus acrobatics in a way which is fun but also pushes people to excel within their training. Our stated mission is to develop people through circus.
Aerial Edge is the largest provider of circus education in Scotland and delivers training to around 300 students each month which consists of about 1000 student bookings. This includes recreational and youth training programmes and also professional development.
As a school Aerial Edge's aim is to provide the best training in circus for recreational and professional students. Aerial Edge currently runs a foundation course in circus arts as well as ongoing bespoke professional training. Our teaching team consist of graduates from some of the best circus schools and institutions from around the world.
My long term objective with Aerial Edge is to develop a thriving ecosystem for circus in Scotland. This includes developing work and training opportunities for artists and teachers as well as developing audiences for both circus training and for circus shows. This will help to develop this underserved and underfunded arts sector.
If you would like to see what classes Aerial Edge offers then their website is the best place. If you want to see photos from recent events then check out Aerial Edge's Flickr account
The related projects below covers some of the initiatives we are undertaking in support of these objectives.
Related Projects
Between the Lines
Between the lines is an ensemble circus show, directed by Brazilian director Adilso Machado. This show has been in development since 2016 and has been performed at the Merchant City Festival as well as The Braw Circus Festival.
Circus Rigging
Aerial Edge is developing courses and information on rigging best practice and delivers consultancy through Aerial Edge Artists to theatres and other organisations in how to incorporate acrobatics and rigging into their productions.
Aerial Edge Artists
Aerial Edge Artists is a not-for-profit organisation which acts as an agency for circus artists in Scotland and produces circus shows for Aerial Edge. It also provides consultancy and services on circus to other organisations.
Braw Circus Festival
Braw Circus Festival was first run in 2018 as a showcase of Scottish Circus. It hosted existing shows from 5 circus companies and funded the development of acts by 11 independant artists for performance at the festival.
Circus Convention
Each year Aerial Edge runs an international convention for circus training. The Edinburgh Aerial & Acro Convention was a 3-day self-funded event which ran from 2006 to 2017. In it's last year it held over 400 workshops during the weekend and hosted 60 teachers from around the world. From 2018 onwards the convention moved to Glasgow and is held in Aerial Edge's venue at Kelvinhall.
Doubles Trapeze & Cradle
I have been training and performing doubles trapeze since 2000, I have always enjoyed the more acrobatic types of moves but also wish to develop a more contemporary style of performance. In 2017 I started training cradle as it offered more opportunities for dynamic techniques but is also a greater challenge to make more contemporary performances.
Flying Trapeze
Aerial Edge has the only flying trapeze in Scotland but also has the only full-time big rig in Europe north of Tolouse since 2018. We have been working to develop this iconic circus art in Scotland with the objective of training a Scottish fly team.
Aerial Edge TV
Aerial Edge TV was a project to bring together video podcasting and circus and to use it to focus on the work Aerial Edge is doing in Scotland while showing our students what went on in the world of circus, following my travels around the world.