Those Daring Folks on the Trapeze : Parisians Have Fling With High-Flying Hobby

In a deserted barn near a quiet Paris suburb, more than 50 people are secretly leading double lives.

Doctors, housewives, musicians and students by day, they slip away twice a week to gather under the old roof and perform bizarre acts--on a flying trapeze.

Doing somersaults, flips and twists more than 30 feet above the ground is not for everyone, but an increasing number of Parisians are leaving sweaty gyms and aerobics classes to get their exercise on a trapeze.

Unique School

These part-time high-flyers learn their skills at a unique school run by former circus stars in Marne la Vallee on the outskirts of Paris.

The Flying Trapeze School is one of a handful of places in the world where amateurs can live out their fantasies of performing on the flying trapeze.

The school was established only a year ago, and it has never advertised. But word traveled fast among adventurous Parisians that for only 35 francs (about $5) an hour they could float through the air with the greatest of ease.

The school has become so popular that some students have moved to Marne la Vallee to practice routines nearly every day. A few aspiring artists come from such distant parts as Canada, Australia and the United States.

Most don’t want to work in a circus. They just do it for fun and to keep in shape.

Challenging, Dangerous

It is a challenging hobby--trapeze artists must be in prime physical condition, whatever their age--and it can be dangerous. But with retired trapeze star Jean Palacy watching every move, the risks are fewer than it might seem from the ground.

Palacy, 50, who began performing on the trapeze when he was 13, is the founder and guiding spirit of the school. He makes all the nets and ropes and other apparatus himself. He coaches every pupil, from beginners to advanced.

The burly former circus star holds the safety ropes throughout each routine, letting his soaring proteges drop gently into the net below.

Every routine must be performed in near silence as Palacy focuses all his attention on the trapeze. The trapeze is his life, and he takes his job as a teacher very seriously.

And although none of his students are professionals, they are serious, too.

‘I Was Hooked’

Francoise Eytan, a lithe 33, was reluctant at first.

“I don’t think anyone does this unless they’re dragged by a friend,” she said.

“When I first climbed up to the platform, my heart was pounding, and I was determined to go back down the ladder. Then, Jean said it was my turn, and it would have been embarrassing not to go. After the third time, I was hooked.”

As Francoise swings from the high bar, her body in a black leotard and her pointed feet wrapped in special slippers, the only sound in the vast barn is a whoosh of air.

Her warm-up ends with a graceful cascade of somersaults into a net hung like an immense hammock.

Art, Not Sport

“I like this because of the friendly, non-competitive atmosphere,” she said. “It’s not really a sport but an art.”

Her daughter Phaelle, watching impatiently, wants a turn. The 5-year-old is one of Palacy’s youngest students. Regular equipment is not suitable for children, so he made a tiny safety belt for her so that she could follow her mother’s lead.

Phaelle doesn’t seem too concerned about whether what she does is art or not, and she doesn’t care about keeping trim. It’s just more fun than a backyard swing.