Air Temple Arts Takes New Haven To The Circus

Hoops, silks, and poles — and artists using them all to perform fantastical feats — are all part of Air Temple Takes New Haven, the latest show from New Haven-based aerial dance, circus and movement studio Air Temple Arts, running at Educational Center for the Arts on Audubon Street this Saturday and Sunday. The all-ages circus themed event is special for a few reasons. One is that it is the studio’s first in-person indoor show in 34 months.

Another is that it is the first one that features all of the Woodbridge studio’s staff. And they are thrilled for both.

“It’s our first big show back,” said Stacey Strange, creative director and founder of Air Temple Arts, who elaborated on how this particular event came to be. ​“This summer we were all hanging out and I thought, ​‘man, we have such a good staff, really really excellent, and we have not gotten to perform outside of an open stage.’”

The staff, Strange said, was ​“really incredible” throughout the pandemic, teaching one class at a time instead of multiple classes going on at once, which led to teaching often going on throughout the day until 9 p.m. at night. 

“I wanted to spotlight them, and also create something that didn’t have parameters around it,” Strange said. A typical Air Temple Arts show follows a narrative, but Strange said this time she wanted the staff to choose their own adventures — to say ​“this is what I really want to do” and ​“go hog-wild with their imagination.”

Covid-19 canceled the studio’s annual show in 2020, though Air Temple Arts returned in 2021 with two open-stage outdoor shows. Strange said although those went well, the staff was eager to get back to a more pre-pandemic type of show, with the tech capabilities a more typical stage and setting offer.

“This is very much a celebration of circus and our community and resilience,” Strange said. ​“I want people to have a wild, good time. Our return to something approaching normal will be fun and hopefully a really nice ride.”

Strange herself is performing three different acts, which she said is ​“a little overwhelming,” though she is thrilled to present them all.

“They all came about organically,” she added. One involves juggling for the first time, a skill she noted was ​“definitely a product of the pandemic.” During the warmer weather in 2020 the center held outdoor classes, including hoop classes taught by Dani Bobby Lee, who is also the executive director of Air Temple Arts. It was there that Strange discovered hoop juggling, which she could do at home and in her own yard. She then decided to combine that with another hobby she picked up during Covid — learning Chinese — to form an act for this show that expresses her love of Chinese music, literature, and culture. 

Her other two acts are duos — one with her husband and Air Temple Arts technical director Nicholas Strange, who she noted she had not done an act with since 2015. It was born out of a video the two made last summer while performing double hoop and acrobatics around New Haven and other parts of Connecticut. The song they use for that video is the song they will be using for this act (I won’t give it away, but Strange noted that it suited the piece, which is ​“upbeat” like her husband, and ​“he wanted to go with that”).

The second duo is an aerial hoop (lyra) act with Strange and Kate Gonzales-Gilligan, head coach for Air Temple’s aerial hoops and aerial sling programs. 

“It’s one of the ideas that sparked the whole show,’” she said. It came about after the two had taught a workshop together over the summer while also ​“rocking” to a new song by one of their favorite bands during that whole time. That song accompanies this new act. 

“Our strengths complement each other,” Strange added, while also noting she had not done a duo lyra since 2016. ​“I really love duo acts. I enjoy the process of creating with someone else. There’s something magical working with someone in perfect harmony.”

This past Sunday saw the full cast working together harmoniously on site at Air Temple Arts for the dress rehearsal of this coming weekend’s show. Performing all together for the opening and closing numbers, the joy was obvious as they flipped, twirled and danced their way across the mats. There are 11 acts in total, including the three Strange is performing in.

Nicholas Strange also performs his own solo act, which is one of two Chinese pole acts in the show, the other performed by Holly Gonzales-Gilligan. Each showcases the performers’ strengths as well as injects a bit of comedy into their powerful moves. 

Kate Gonzales-Gilligan performs a solo aerial sling act, as does Jillian Marchenko. Gonzales-Gilligan’s moves within and around her white sling make her seem as if she is a butterfly emerging from a cocoon, while Marchenko creates an extension of herself that tests the limits of letting go and letting yourself be right where you are. 

The acts cover a wide range of emotions, fitting for a show birthed during a pandemic and celebrating the ups and downs of life, both literally and figuratively. Jennifer Miller uses an aerial hoop to explore grief, while Dani Bobby Lee uses aerial silks and a bit of audience interaction to comment on the state of the world from an alien’s point of view while also garnering more than a few smiles and much laughter. Julian Salevan turns into a spider in a web spinning the tale of Arachne in their aerial net, and Crystal Cassetori honors the season of the witch spinning on her aerial moon. 

By the time rehearsal was over, the cast was full of smiles, as were those lucky to witness it all. Strange said she felt good about the rehearsal, and from the feeling of floating above ground this reporter had after leaving the show, I can’t imagine anyone seeing these performances and not leaving the venue flying high above Audubon Street.

Air Temple Arts Takes New Haven premieres this weekend at the ECA Arts Hall on Audubon Street on Saturday March 26th at 5:00 p.m. and Sunday March 27th at 1:30 p.m.. Tickets are available for this all-ages show via the Air Temple Arts website here.