I'm Sherrie Martin, and I'm the owner of Spokane Aerial Performance Arts.

[music] I sort of tripped over, the aerial arts and ended up in an aerial silk class when I thought I was taking a gymnastics lesson and thought, well, this is really good.

So, we asked a gym owner that we know here in town if we could just put up a couple silks and teach at the end of the day, when they were done classes and she said, fine.

Just really started there.

That was 13 years ago.

[music] We have a lot of people who say, what's that?

When we say we do aerial silks or the aerial arts, and even if we say it's like Cirque du Soleil, a lot of people will then recognize it.

But a lot of people still won't.

[music] If you get a little bit technical, you're suspending yourself with your upper body.

So your finest muscles in your body, your hands, your forearms, are taking you upside down and into the air.

That I think is the most exciting part about it, because the challenge is really big.

It's a beautiful sport with a really big challenge.

And then, when you come to a class, you quickly find out.

You find out it's hard, but you also find out that you can master it.

So cool that way.

[music] We teach everything here that has to do with aerial arts.

We teach, aerial silk.

Our silk height is about 19 feet on our rigs.

Lyra, which is aerial hoop.

Handstands and hand balancing.

We teach a little bit of tumbling and anything else that augments your aerial training.

[music] It's a sport that's not mainstream.

And for kids who maybe aren't interested in some of the sports its a really nice alternative for them.

[music fades] [upbeat music] My name is Hailey Farr.

I'm 14 years old, and I've been taking aerial for about four years.

[Sherrie] She would come every day as her grandmother or mother would say.

She would come every single day if she could, and she would stay all day if she could.

Right now, I'm here about four days a week.

I teach all four days, but I have my main classes on Monday and Thursdays.

So we teach 18 classes a week.

We have four adult instructors, And then, because we're so busy and a lot of our classes are full, we also, train and use, student instructors.

[music] I'm an instructor for littles mostly, and its amazing to watch how, like, close they get to you because they're so little.

So that's like, kind of where the bonding starts, and then you see them get progressively better and it's really cool.

It's like the coolest thing ever when you see a little start as a beginner and then they keep continuing and they get really good.

[gym chatter] [music] I see this as my vocation, and because I have always been into this type of sport, it's how I serve.

[You are good.

Straighten your legs.

Wide straddle.]

It's really funny because all my life everyone has always told me you should coach, and I only wanted to be the athlete.

So.

It was funny that I shifted into this, and I would say that I really started embracing teaching as a service over the last like four years.

And I like the interaction, and I love watching people develop.

[music] We get every type of person into our gym.

We get, ex-gymnasts, we get, people who are really fit from other sports and come in to do this.

We get people who are not even in shape at all.

So, you wouldn't think that it's an every mans sport and art, but it really, it can be.

[music] Im Peggy and Im 66, and I've been coming to aerial since it opened its doors 13 plus years ago.

And I was here at the first session.

[gym chatter] I would say the hardest part about aerial is, it's age a little bit.

And then just the confidence of going upside down.

I was never a gymnast, so I never went upside down other than maybe hanging from the swing sets when we were kids.

But, I know I can do it and the encouragement from others in my class.

And of course, Coach Sherrie.

She goes, nah, you're going to get it.

You are so close.

And she's right.

[laughs] I can do it.

[Sherrie: Toward the back.

Stand up tall.]

[Peggy: Oh, look at that.]

[Sherrie: You did it!]

I think it is inspiring to other people to see older people doing this.

Some of the youth don't understand what 65 is.

You may as well be 80, but some of them will say, wait, that's my grandma's age.

So.

There's a ton of support between the ages.

The young kids know who Peggy is and Peggy knows who these little kids are.

[Peggy] For me, it gives me a perspective I would never have been able to be around kids that are 52 years younger than me, and it's still a special bond that we have in class, and they encourage me so much.

And it helps me to try moves that my brain's telling me, maybe not do that.

And then I try it and I succeed.

And...

I highly recommend it to anyone of my age or older.

[music fades] [upbeat music] I come back and do this over and over again to keep my own fitness and to serve others.

But really?

I haven't perfected it yet.

[music] I'm still working on it, and I hope I work on it ‘till I'm 80.

Now, I don't know in what capacity, but that's my hope.

I don't have any intention of changing, for a long time, I hope.

[program music]