Many of us strange kids probably toyed with the idea of running away from home and joining the circus. While most of us didn’t go through with our dreams of flying on the trapeze (wait, was that just me?) there are still ways in which you can “live the dream” thanks to circus/ariel art studios that teach classes covering all sorts of skills such as silks, trapeze, ropes, and lyra (hoop) classes. Today’s interviewee, Chelsea Laumen, is an owner of such a studio called Sky Candy.
Tell us a little about your background and education.
CHELSEA LAUMEN: My degree is in theater from the College of Santa Fe in New Mexico. It was there I got into aerials at Wisefool, which is an aerial studio about the size of Sky Candy in Santa Fe. Rain Anya, my teacher and a noted aerialist, is the one that got me into aerials. On that very same day she asked if I wanted to try capoeira, which is a Brazilian martial arts dancing game…it’s very complicated, [but] it’s great. I was actually doing that for a while before aerials.
What is Sky Candy, and how did it get started?
CL: We teach aerial arts in East Austin and that has always been our main mission statement. We also teach other circus arts from time to time, including floor acrobatics, contortion, stretching, tumbling, juggling, as well as a lot of conditioning. Our main thing is trying to bring aerials to people in Austin. Circus for the people!
I came to Texas with the intention to go to grad school for theater, but when I came here there was not a lot of aerials in Austin at the time—definitely not enough for me—so I ended up founding Sky Candy with Winnie Hsia and Andy Agne.
Who can take an aerial class?
CL: We have children’s classes….anyone over the age of 6 can take a class [really]. Our eldest student was 74.
What might make it difficult for someone to take a class? I know one of your students is visually impaired and I heard he got second or first place in a men’s burlesque competition!
CL: Oh, he go first place(!) over Francois, a 20 year old, shirtless trapeze guy with a thick French accent and moves! I talked to Francois about it afterwards and he admitted that he was handily defeated.
We don’t let visual impairment be an issue. We have special teacher training through the NECCA School in New England in making modifications to the curriculum for various students’ needs and special situations. Also, we have a new instructor coming in who has worked extensively with foster children, autistic and special needs kids. We’ve done several workshops, but we are looking to expand that program.
After I’m proficient do I have to join the circus? Or can I use these skills to protect the city? When people advance how do they implement these abilities?
CL: I don’t know if I would encourage vigilantism, but I’ve definitely had that fantasy myself! You don’t have to join the circus either…most of our students just do this recreationally to tap into their inner bad-ass throughout the week. They set personal goals, surprise themselves, and are getting a sense of accomplishment from it. We even have had several students move on to circus schools and are working professionally and semi-professionally now.
Sky Candy does performances too. I saw the Firefly versus The Fifth Element themed show you guys put on. It was super fun!
CL: That was more of a studio company showcase. Those are great too! And that one was probably right up Strange Kids Club’s alley. We also do scripted theatrical performances. We did The Red Shoes, then an adaptation of The Time Machine—we did an original script, original music on that one.
We also got the rights and did an adaption of Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino. The best way I can describe it is it’s a collection of Italian science creation myth short stories from the 1960s. We did that at The Rollins last year. Then we did Swings Asunder this year and it was more abstract, like The Red Shoes. Agent Andromeda: The Orion’s Crusade is our next theatrical show, it’s more of a Barbarella-themed situation which is funny because not too long ago we did a Barbarella-themed photo shoot with Geoffrey Hammond.
At the end of a class series your students have the option to put on a performance…which ones were some of your favorites?
CL: Well it’s always great to watch my little one’s perform. I am very happy with one student that is an amazing performer and did a Batman routine. I’m very happy to have been able to push him. One of my favorite performances was Andy’s as his proposal for his partner Doug, and I MC’ed it as Linda Richman from Coffee Talk. Doug didn’t see the ring, there was just so much going on. There is a video of me shoving him toward Andy to make him realize he was actually being proposed to. “Doug, HONEY, the ring!”
If you can pick, which is your favorite apparatus and why? It’s cool if they are like your children and you don’t pick favorites.
CL: It changes from time to time. My main thing right now is duo trapeze. I guess, technically, that makes my apparatus my partner, Marshall Jarreau Ame…I don’t actually have to touch the apparatus at all so I feel very spoiled. I just have to hold onto him and trust he will hold onto me.
What do you do when you aren’t being a badass teaching and running Sky Candy? I saw that you were in a music video here recently.
CL: I’ve been in movies and television by doing aerials too. I did a Danny Trejo movie…I can’t recall the title, but it is about a white boy in his 40s who is adopted by a hispanic family and Danny Trejo is his mexican grandfather who whips him into shape to become an MMA fighter. I was in the intro, and for some reason there were aerial performers in this warehouse where the cage fighting took place. There is this scene where I dropped down and he said hello to me. It was cool, but I had to do that shot two or three dozen times. I can’t see through walls, unfortunately, so it was hard to get the timing down to meet him to say hi.
I’m also currently hired as a coach for a girl who is in Cirque du Soleil’s show Kooza. I choreographed her performance which will be put into rotation for that show.
I have no social life. There is no time outside of circus and work. When I don’t circus, I pretty much need to be reclining. Frankly, in my free time I want to be doing something, but I worry that I’ll be too tired for work the next day. I also suffer from insomnia, so I doubly have to reserve energy. I do manage to watch a fair amount of horror films in a week.
Oh, a fellow horror fan, eh?! We love horror films here at the Clubhouse. What is your favorite horror film? And why?
CL: That is a tough question! OK…Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Event Horizon and—I know I’m alone here—but I love The Awakening because it’s well acted and ominous as hell. It’s kind of like The Others, without all that Nicole Kidman overacting, gasping, chewing the scenery BS. Why does she speak in a stage whisper on film? What is up with her expressions? How did she win an Oscar?
Anything you’d like potential clients/aerials students to know?
CL: I would not recommend trying to learn about aerials watching videos or reading books. They are great supplementals, but are no replacement for a good teacher with experience and insurance.
At Sky Candy in Austin there is a doppleganger deal we are doing now. If it’s your first class, you can bring your friend for free! We have a bunch of Christmas deals coming up too. If a currently enrolled student refers someone then they get a credit to their account to spend on Sky Candy swag or classes.
What is the strangest thing you did as a kid?
CL: I was always a very strange kid, but not in terms of outbursts, just a squirrelly girl. When I very little I used to pole vault via broomstick between pieces of furniture singing the theme song to Indiana Jones. I was thinking about the giant ball chasing me, it got me going.
Then, when I was 7, I made a plan to get a dog and saved up all the money myself. In the meantime I practiced how to train the dog…so I trained an invisible dog in preparation for when the real one showed up.
Well, Chelsea thanks for stopping by and hanging out with us at the Clubhouse and telling us about the aerials and circus arts scene in Austin!
