The first time most people see aerial silks, someone is twenty feet up a ribbon of fabric, wrapped and spinning, making it look effortless. Their reaction is often, “That’s beautiful, but I could never do it.”
One of our students, Ken, thought so too. In a Google review, he said, “I was scared starting out with no fitness experience and was pleasantly surprised by how much I was able to do.”
So what is aerial silks, exactly, and can a regular person learn it? Our answer is yes. Here’s what silks is about, what a class looks like, and why just about anyone can do it.
Quick Summary
Aerial silks is an aerial art performed on two lengths of fabric hung from the ceiling by a qualified rigger. Despite the name, the fabric used in silks is nylon tricot rather than silk. You don’t need to be strong to start. Instead, strength is built as you train. Beginner classes stay only about a foot off the floor to keep you safe while you learn the foundational moves. Voler was founded in 2007 as Kansas City’s first aerial studio, and around 200 students train with us every year, most starting with zero aerial experience.
What is aerial silks?
In aerial silks, an aerialist performs on two long pieces of fabric, also called silks, hung from the ceiling. Students climb the fabric and wrap it around their bodies, and those wraps are what hold each pose and bring them back down with control. It’s practiced as both an art form and a workout.
The name comes from the way the fabric drapes and moves in the air. You’ll also hear it called aerial silk or aerial fabric.
And no, aerial silks aren’t made of silk. The fabric is nylon tricot, a knit with a slight stretch, chosen because it holds many times your body weight while staying soft enough to wrap around your body. Real silk would tear. The nylon remains strong while letting the fabric catch you comfortably.
What happens in a beginner aerial silks class?
A beginner class starts with floor warmups and conditioning in the silks. The rest of the hour is the day’s skill, broken into small pieces so they’re easy to learn. At Voler, beginner silks classes are taught as a four-week series, one foundational move each week, and you can start during any week of the month.
You’ll also be closer to the floor than you might expect. Beginner students in our aerial silks classes learn every move low to the ground, at a height where trying it feels doable. Climbing is its own skill and you start it in week one, so before long you’ll be confident enough to do your beginning poses from a climb or two up. Students move at their own pace. Some work a skill in the air while others practice the same skill from the ground, and both are exactly where they should be.
Do you need to be strong to start aerial silks?
No. Strength is a result of aerial silks training, not a requirement for it. Most of our students start with zero aerial experience, and many with no fitness background at all. Classes are built so a complete beginner can do them on day one.
When students ask Rachel McMeachin, who founded Voler in 2007 as Kansas City’s first aerial studio, whether they’re strong enough to start, her answer has been the same for years: “Nobody is. Nobody is strong for aerial. There’s no training to do aerial except to do aerial. There’s nothing on the planet that will cross train you for this. You just have to go through it.”
The strength arrives as you train. One of our students came to us never having done a pull-up in her life, and she wanted one. A goal she set for her 30th birthday. She didn’t train pull-ups to get there. She trained aerial, in classes and privates, and after four months the climbing and wraps had built the strength for her. Her first pull-up came before she turned 31.
Around 200 students train with us every year, and one Yelp reviewer described the atmosphere this way: “The atmosphere is really laid back, so there is no competition between students…The students are all positive and support one another including the new people, like me.”
Aerial silks, aerial yoga, or aerial hoop: which is which
Aerial arts come in more than one shape, and beginners mix up the names constantly. Here’s the short version:
- Aerial silks are two open lengths of fabric. You climb and wrap, and it’s the most classic of the aerial arts.
- Aerial yoga is yoga practiced in a fabric hammock, the same fabric as silks tied into a supportive loop and hung low. It’s the gentlest way into the air, and it’s where many nervous first-timers start.
- Aerial hoop, also called a lyra, is a suspended steel ring, and it’s more beginner friendly than it looks.
All three run at Voler under one roof, so if you’d rather see the whole menu before choosing, our adult aerial classes page lays them out.
Is aerial silks safe?
Yes, in a studio that teaches with safety progressions. Every skill is taught low to the ground first, then taken higher once you’re confident in it. At Voler, that method is backed by about 85 years of combined performing and teaching experience across our four instructors.
The method has a name here: calibration. Rachel calls it “the Mr. Miyagi style of teaching.” A single move gets broken into six or more small pieces, and you repeat those pieces until, at the end of class, they assemble into the full move. The reason is safety as much as teaching style, because a brain can only hold a couple of new movements at once. Rachel developed the method over years of teaching and wrote it into Voler’s teacher training, so every beginner learns the same way no matter which of our instructors is at the front of the room.
Some students want silks at home, and that’s fine as long as a qualified rigger hangs them. We work with one here in Kansas City, so get in touch and we’ll introduce you. If you’d rather leave your ceiling alone, there are freestanding rigs built for aerial, though you’ll want real height before silks are worth it. Just don’t hang them from a tree.
What to wear to your first class
Keep the fabric off bare skin. Fabric burn is a real hazard, so wear clothing that fully covers your legs, your armpits, and your midsection. Full-length leggings and a fitted short-sleeve shirt are what we recommend. Skip zippers and jewelry, because anything hard can snag the fabric. Most students go barefoot.
Frequently asked questions about aerial silks
Is aerial silks a type of gymnastics?
No. Aerial silks comes from circus arts rather than gymnastics. The two share strength and flexibility, but gymnastics is a scored competitive sport with set apparatus, while aerial silks is an art form you can practice at any level. At Voler nobody is keeping score, only a community cheering.
How hard is aerial silks?
Aerial silks is a real workout, and it meets you where you are. Every skill is broken into small pieces you repeat until they click, so class is challenging without being out of reach. Expect to be sore after your first one, and expect to be surprised by what you did.
Is aerial silks a sport?
Aerial silks can be practiced as a sport, and competitions do exist. Most people practice it as an art form and a workout instead. It builds the strength and flexibility of a sport with the expression of a dance, which is a big part of why people fall in love with it.
Can kids do aerial silks?
Yes. Kids can start aerial silks around age 7 in classes built for them, taught with the same low-first safety progressions as adult classes. Our kids and teens classes give young aerialists their own track, and Voler students have performed on stages as big as the Kauffman Center.
How long does it take to learn to climb?
You’ll start learning to climb in your very first classes. Most students spend six months to a year in the beginner series before moving up, and the gate is skill rather than time. Students who add open gym practice between classes progress fastest, since class teaches the moves and practice makes them yours.
Ready when you are
Voler was founded in 2007 as Kansas City’s first aerial studio, and classes run under the twenty-foot ceilings of a converted 1917 church. People sometimes walk in a little hesitant, and they walk out grinning.
If you’ve read this far, some part of you already wants to try it. There’s no getting in shape first and no audition. Come as you are, and we’ll take it from there.
Join Us in Class. Beginner silks runs weekly, and any week of the series is a fine week to start.
