Aerial silks with Talia Lakritz
Flying without a fear of falling.
Thinking About Getting Into is a newsletter about cultivating interests.
Talia Lakritz likes being in the air. So when she was introduced to aerial silks—a type of acrobatics that involves hanging from suspended scarves of fabric—her interest was immediately piqued. Now, four years since her first class, she’s mastered the art of the drop and spends some time each week hanging upside down, several feet in the air. As a journalist and a lifestyle correspondent at Business Insider, Talia is used to thinking on her feet—but finding a new passion that gets her off the ground entirely has given her a new perspective.
When did you start doing aerial silks? And how did you get into it?
I got into it because my partner’s sister does all sorts of fun circus acts—she fire spins…
What is fire spinning?!
Exactly what it sounds like—you set batons on fire. So, she does all sorts of cool things like that. We were visiting her in February 2020, right before everything blew up, and she was like, ‘Come with me to this aerial gym.’ I had done gymnastics when I was younger, so I always enjoyed activities where I get to fly through the air in some capacity. So I went with her, and I couldn’t really do a lot, but I was intrigued and inspired. It lit a spark of like, ‘Oh I miss moving my body in creative and artistic ways, and I miss feeling strong.’ So when I got back to New York, I looked up where I could do aerial silks and found this really nice studio in Midtown and started going once a week. The first time I did a class, I couldn’t really lift myself off the ground. But now that I’m three, four years in, I can do a lot more.
It seems like it requires a lot of upper-body strength.
Definitely. The only way to get better at it is to just build that muscle, build that strength, and keep working at it. It’s amazing to watch old videos of myself back when I struggle to climb. Now that’s what I do as a warm-up.
What are the classes like?
Generally, classes start with five-ish minutes of a warm-up. So, a little bit of stretching, and then some warm-up climbs. You’ll do one or two other things to get you warmed up—there are different ways of wrapping yourself that can help stretch your spine. Then, the instructors will teach sequences. It’s kind of like choreography where we’ll be like, ‘Okay, first you climb then you wrap this leg and bring this silk around, then you invert and set yourself up for this, then find a moment to make a shape or strike a pose. And here’s how you get out of it.’ There will be one or two sequences in a class, or sometimes they’ll do a sequence and add onto it. Once you’ve done a sequence a few times, there’s a cool down or conditioning portion. That’s focused on building strength. So that can look like climbing up and hanging from a dead hang as long as you can. That’s when your arms are straight and your wrists aren’t wrapped or anything—you’re just holding the silks. It’s like a Survivor immunity challenge, and then you slide down when you can’t hold anymore. Or, you’re close enough to the ground that you can just let go—there’s a mat underneath you.
How long can you usually hold it? What’s the longest you’ve done?
It’s usually at the end of class, so I’m so burned out, but I think it was around 35-ish seconds. I timed it last time.
Was there a moment with silks where things really started to click for you? You said, at first, it was challenging to pull yourself up and climb the silks, but was there a move you pulled off that was a really exciting thing to accomplish?
There are two moments that stick out to me. One is that six months after I started doing silks, I did a cross-back straddle for the first time, which is basically when you wrap each ankle, and then you cross the silks behind your back and go upside down. So you end up upside down in a straddle—your arms are free, and you’re hanging from your ankles and back. That was something I was not able to do for a long time. I just could not get myself up and upside down. I actually managed to record the first time I did it. That was a moment that was cool to watch back and hear everyone in my class cheering for me.
Also, when I performed the first time a few months ago. I was really nervous to do that because it requires so much stamina. The performance is the length of a song, so three and a half to four minutes. That was something I totally didn’t feel ready for, but I pushed myself anyway because I was like, I know I can, in theory, do this. It was just going to be difficult and challenging. I also had never choreographed anything. Usually when I was doing sequences, somebody was teaching them—so I had to draw on the knowledge I had built after doing this a couple of years to figure out what I actually wanted. Doing that performance was really scary and nerve-wracking, but I was so happy with how it turned out.
Did you feel like choreography came naturally to you? Was there a lot of trial and error?
I had a great instructor who was super helpful. It was specifically a performance workshop, and everyone else in my cohort hadn’t performed before either, so we were all in it together. Once I chose the song—“Pilot With a Fear of Heights”—I really leaned into the musicality of it. Like, ‘Oh there’s a lyric about a free fall, so that’s where I’ll drop.’ There’s a point in the song where there’s a moment of silence and then a beat and the song starts again, so I did a big, dramatic flourish there. Using the music as a guide is really helpful for me.
Then, just trial and error. There were a lot of things that I thought I was going to point into my routine that I tried and was like, ‘Nope, not gonna fit there,’ or ‘I will not have the energy for that at the end.’ There were some fun little moments of discovery. Some things my instructor suggested, like shapes she pointed out or little moments of rest I wanted to put in to rest my grip or recharge. It was a combination of a lot of things, but it was not as difficult as I thought it was going to be. I think I just had to get over the mental hump of it more than anything. I also think silks, and probably any sort of physical endeavor like this—you have to get really comfortable with imperfection and lean into the joy of doing it just to do it. I love performing—I do theater, so I definitely had an inclination to want to perform, even when I first started doing silks, but I also told myself that I was not going to put pressure on myself to get ‘good enough’ at this to feel like I can perform. I just wanted to do it because it brings me joy. And then, of course, eventually I was like, ‘No, I want to perform.’
When you first started, was there anything particularly intimidating to you? Were you afraid of falling?
Thankfully, I’ve never really had a big fear of heights. You’re maybe 10-18 feet in the air. So it would be bad if you fell from the top, but not deadly.
Having a gymnastics background probably helps with that.
Yeah. I just like being in the air! I think the biggest challenge was building strength and not getting discouraged when I didn’t have the strength to do a skill or I couldn’t keep up with sequences. I’m still just three years in. There are beginner, advanced, beginner, intermediate, and advanced classes. I’m an intermediate. Anytime I’ve jumped to a new level, I have immediately been way over my head. There have been classes where I can’t successfully complete the sequence from point A to point B. But it’s a very supportive environment. Anytime I fall out of something or can’t do a move, I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry,’ and instructors are like, ‘What are you apologizing for? It’s fine!’ It’s a nice community.
It sounds like you’ve successfully committed to going once a week—what’s it been like adding that to your schedule and making it a part of your lifestyle?
It’s amazing to me that as long as I haven’t been out of town or sick, I’m there once a week. What keeps me coming back is I feel like it’s the only time I actually fully shut my brain off.
I feel that with dance. I have to focus so much on what my body is doing and having that mind-body connection.
Absolutely. When you’re in the air, trying to remember the steps of a sequence, if you’re thinking about a stressful work situation or all the stuff you have to do after class, you’re going to get distracted and maybe fall or not do it well. It requires you to be so present and in tune with your body. It’s very physically demanding so you really have to be locked in—sometimes literally in a wrist lock. It’s really done wonders for my sanity to have time once a week when I am just focusing on what my body is doing. And not only that—but to do it in a way that’s artful and graceful. It’s kind of unique in that. You can do a spin class and maybe you get the same benefits, but for me, it’s the artistry of it combined with the physicality and mental stamina and concentration.
What’s your favorite move?
I really like drops. Those can be nerve-wracking when you’re all the way up at the top, and you have to let go. There’s this one I had in my act called a tick-tock drop—it goes backward and then forward. The setup for it is nice, and it’s the drop I feel most comfortable doing. So whenever I get the chance to do it, I’m like, ‘Yes, this is comfortable for me.’ It’s also really fun and dramatic—you hold the tails of the silks while you do it, so they flare out and you end up in this really cool shape with your arms outstretched. That’s the one I keep coming back to.
So you did this performance a few months ago—do you plan to perform again?
I would love to do it again. It was definitely very intense because, in addition to the class that I would normally do on the weekdays, I was also going in on the weekends to practice and experiment. So it ended up being more time-consuming than I anticipated, but it was really fun. I think I need a little more of a break before I do it again.
The thing about silks is that it’s not like juggling—you can’t break it out at a party. So many friends know that I do it and see the videos I post, but they’ve never actually seen me do it. The one performance I did, a few friends came but it happened to be on a Jewish holiday when a lot of people couldn’t make it. I still really want the people in my life to watch me do it, so I think I would definitely do it again.
What would you tell people who are thinking about getting into aerial silks?
Definitely do it. It’s so much fun. And don’t be discouraged if you go to your first class and you can’t really do a whole lot. When I first started, I could not get myself off the ground. Even as I progressed, there were still moves I couldn’t do—there’s this thing called the back balance that I have not nailed yet. You’re literally holding yourself back in an arch with one hand.
There are always going to be benchmarks you’re going to hope to hit and work toward and things you strive for. So definitely try it out, but be patient and gracious with yourself. Allow yourself to not be amazing at something. It’s okay. ▲