Welcome

Flying Trapeze Schools 2024 Season Dates Announced!

Regents Park: April 19th – September 15th

Kensington Gardens: 24th May -September 8th 

The first batch of classes will be released on Friday March 15th 6pm and will cover Regents Park Classes April 19th -May 19th

We can’t wait to see you all at the rigs for some flying trapeze soon as we celebrate our 16th summer of teaching flying trapeze.

 

For news please join our Newsletter, or read our Previous Newsletters here.

Anyone can come and learn to fly in one of our two hour classes, our youngest students are 8, our oldest (so far) 78! Students start with a warm up then move on to practice a simple trick on our low bar. They then attempt the trick on the Flying Trapeze and towards the end of the class get caught by an instructor on a separate swinging bar. We run a mixture of drop in classes and courses, the more classes you take the more advanced tricks you can perform!

FAQs

We are currently closed for winter.

We are a seasonal company due to operating outside in the glorious British sunshine, hence we are only open in the warmer months.

Our 2024 dates are:

Regents Park: April 19th – September 15th

Kensington Gardens: 24th May -September 8th 

The first batch of classes will be released on Friday March 15th 6pm and will cover Regents Park Classes April 19th -May 19th

Join our newsletter to receive updates as to when classes will be put on sale

They are always put on sale in 4 week blocks, around one month ahead

Gorilla Circus are committed to making Flying Trapeze accessible to as many people as possible. If you have a disability please do contact us at info@gorillacircus.com and we can work with you to see if it is possible to adapt the class to suit you access requirements. 

Children age 8+ are welcome at Gorilla Circus. All children must have already had their 8th birthday before they attend a class.

Students under 16 need to be supervised by an adult for the duration of the class.

There are no height limitations. 

There is a 100kg weight limit in order to protect our students. This limit is based on the maximum body weight that an experienced instructor can give a controlled landing to the net. Please do contact us at info@gorillacircus.com if you are over 100kg and are passionate about flying as depending on your your athletic experience there may be work arounds to this.

Yes, everyone wears a safety belt when flying and we have a huge safety net to make sure your landing is a soft one.

No, Gorilla Circus has a philosophy of making circus accessible for all. Our instructors will work to your strengths and there is nothing better for improving strength and fitness than Flying Trapeze!

Any comfortable clothing that you can move freely in. Baggy clothes and jeans are not suitable for classes.

Please be aware that this is a weather dependent activity and weather by its nature is unpredictable. We obviously don’t want to mess our students around or make them have a wasted journey, however we also want to run classes whenever possible and we try hard to balance these considerations.

You should assume that your class is going ahead unless you hear otherwise from us. If we have to cancel classes due to bad weather you will be contacted by text or phone at least an hour before the class starts.

Please do not assume your class is cancelled; if you do not attend your class and we have not cancelled it you will not be entitled to a refund.

If your class is rained-off we will send you a code you can use with our booking system to reschedule your class. It is up to you to make sure that you rebook before the end of our outdoor season as these codes cannot be used for indoor classes. We do not provide refunds for rain.

If your class gets stopped in its first hour you will be entitled to a 50% discount on the next class you book.

There are 10 spaces available in each class.

You can book a maximum of 6 spaces per class. Any groups over 6 will need to book a private class.

We are currently closed for winter. We open very shortly though!

Level 1 Flying Trapeze 
Open to all students, but especially tailored for absolute beginners. There will be all the demonstrations and support needed for absolute beginners to start their flying trapeze journey and experience flying on the high bar as well as chance to join the catch round if ready. During these classes we also make time for returning flyers to work on their tricks and receive tailored feedback and tuition.

To join a level 1 class you need to be:
-Over the age of 8
-Able to climb a ladder

Level 2 Flying Trapeze 
Get ready to take your flying to the next level in a supportive environment. These classes drill down into the technicalities of flying and you will be given personalised constructive critiques on timing and form from our instructors. With training taken up a notch you can work towards perfecting more advance tricks!

To join us for this class you will:
-Have completed at least 3 flying trapeze classes with us
-Be working on your one-handed take off
-Have caught at least 2 other position tricks in the past 12 months 

Level 3 Flying Trapeze
Things really get taken up a level now…

Requirements:
-Flown with Gorilla Circus in the last 12 months
-Able to perform a 1-handed take-off with no belt hold
-Swing OOL
-Turn around and remount OOL
-3 tricks OOL to the net
-Comfortable and competent working platform for yourself and others (there are no platform assistants in this class)
-Approved/invited to join this class by one of our instructors

Level 3 Advance Flying Trapeze
Come and join this class if you have:
-3 tricks OOL which are caught consistently
-Round trips consistently 
-Layout OOL and one other trick out of lines (for example forward over, uprise, cut away, shooting star)
-Been approved/invited to join this class by one of our instructors

Only The Catch
The class will start with a few rounds of warmup and then straight to catch rounds. In this class expect to focus on: catch positions, working in the hands of the catcher, returns (for OOL flyers)

Perfect for flyers who:
-Are already a level 2 or above with us
-Have at least 3 different back end positions ready to catch (can be In or OOL)

 

If you aren’t sure then email info@gorillacircus.com and we can help you!

Level 1 classes are 2 hours long. For a description of our classes by one of our students you can read Jojo’s blog here

You can cancel a booking up to 1 week ahead of your class and receive a full refund, or you can reschedule up to 72 hours in advance (You are responsible for rescheduling before the end of the season, and we will not be able to provide a refund if you do not reschedule in time). Classes can be transferred between individuals, so if you cant make it maybe a friend can!

It’s not possible to make any changes within course bookings, meaning that individual classes within courses can’t be rescheduled, swapped or refunded. You are welcome to arrange your own private swap/sale of individual classes to frequent flyers using the Facebook page ‘Gorilla Circus student Notice Board.’

If you need to cancel your entire course, you can cancel up to 1 week in advance of the first class for a full refund. There is no reschedule option.

If it is your first class you need to arrive 10 mins early so that you can sign your consent form. Classes start at the time advertised and late comers who are 5 mins late might be allowed to join at the discretion of the instructors but any later you will unfortunately have to be turned away (so please be on time cause it makes us really sad when we have to do this!)

Yes, of course! Get them to bring a camera to capture your moment of glory.

A flying trapeze class makes a wonderful and unusual gift experience. 

We will be releasing a limited batch of vouchers for November for people to purchase as Christmas gifts. Until then it will not be possible to purchase a voucher.

Yes, we cater for company days out, hen parties and any other event you may wish to celebrate with trapeze! We are currently only booking private  classes out for weekdays. Please see below in our downloads for our Private Class Information Pack and get in touch for further details email us at info@gorillacircus.com 

Please note that whilst you can register your interest for a date/time for a private class, no reservations will be made until early Spring 2024. 

Locations

REGENT’S PARK

19th April – September 15th 

The school is located in the north-west corner of Regent’s Park, north of Outer Circle road and west of Avenue road. The closest tube station is St Johns Wood (Jubilee Line) or Chalk Farm (Northern Line). If you’re walking, you can cross Prince Albert road at the bottom of Charlbert St and cross over the Charlbert Bridge, and we’re just on the left inside the park.

KENSINGTON GARDENS

24th May -September 8th 

The school is located in the South West corner of Kensington Gardens, on the West Albert Lawn next to The Royal Albert Memorial. The closest tube station is High Street Kensington (Circle and District Lines), you are then a 12-minute walk away.