Aloft Set To Open Circus Arts Classes And Shows in 109 Year Old Logan Square Church

Nation's Third Largest School 

for Circus Arts 

Set to Open in 109 Year Old 

Logan Square Church

You're never too old to join the circus 
or get fit in an fabulously fun way!

Aloft Circus Arts will teach classes to all ages 

Classes for adults and, for the first time in Aloft's history, children, begin Tuesday, Sept 6.

Here at ChiIL Mama & ChiIL Live Shows, we've adored Aloft Circus, El Circo Cheapo, and fearless leader, Shayna Swanson's various circus arts endeavors for years. I can't even express how excited and overjoyed we are to have Aloft Circus Arts as a near neighbor! My daughter is literally hanging by her heels in anticipation for the long awaited kids classes to begin. Check these guys out. Oh SO highly recommended!

Classes begin for all ages September 6 at 3324 W. Wrightwood, Chicago, IL in trapeze, aerial silks, pole, trampoline, hand-balancing, clowning, acrobatics, and more, including circus-based fitness classes. Aloft will offer 90-minute taster classes ($10) from August 29-Sept 4, giving people an opportunity to try out different classes before they enroll in an eight-week session. Taster classes are for students 18 years and older. Children will be permitted to take a free test class during our regularly scheduled class sessions. For more info, check out www.aloftloft.com.

For the last eight years, Aloft Circus Arts has been training amateur and professional circus artists in aerial and earth-bound acrobatics from a rented loft in a west-side industrial warehouse. And in those eight years Aloft has grown into one of the largest and most renowned circus schools in the United States, drawing 250 students per week. Now, with the purchase of a 109-year-old church in Logan Square, Aloft is poised to put down roots that will allow it to launch a new phase of growth. 

"When our landlords told us they wouldn't be renewing our lease, I was really scared for the future of circus arts in Chicago," says Aloft's founder Shayna Swanson, an internationally acclaimed performer with more than 20 years of circus experience. Swanson founded Aloft in 2005 in a small Humboldt Park garage. Since moving from the garage to a Fulton Street loft, the studio has expanded to include circus arts classes for adults at all levels of fitness and skill, as well as a rigorous and selective professional training program and a performing company. 

Aloft teachers are veterans of Cirque du Soleil and myriad other world-class troupes. Aloft's monthly El Circo Cheapo showcase performances routinely sell out, and in 2014 Aloft helped host the first-ever Chicago Contemporary Circus Festival. But last summer all they'd accomplished seemed in jeopardy -- until Swanson found the former First Evangelical Church at the corner of Kimball and Wrightwood.

"As soon as I walked in, I knew we had to move there," she says. "I'm really proud of the fact that a small arts organization was able to purchase this beautiful building and keep it active in the community." Now, after a successful crowdfunding campaign that raised $60,000 to go towards a state-of-the-art rigging system, the church is set to become Chicago's permanent home for contemporary circus.

Interest in contemporary circus is booming in the U.S., and across the globe. Aloft's classes are small and taught progressive manner, allowing students with no previous experience in circus or acrobatics to master challenging physical skills and experience the excitement of this joyful art form, which has been proven to boost self-esteem and fitness in both children and adults.

About Aloft Circus Arts

Aloft is a Chicago-based physical performance company dedicated to telling original stories through world-class circus arts. Aloft combines visual art, urban space, physical movement, modern dance, and aerial performance to build a cohesive emotional tale. In productions meant for theaters, the street, or the open sky, Aloft Circus Arts is changing the limits of what's physically possible in storytelling. 

Animal-free and accessible for all audiences, Aloft Circus Arts is at the forefront of what modern circus is growing into, pushing the limits and leaving old ideas of "circus" in the dust.

ACT OUT OPENING: ALOFT CIRCUS ARTS PRESENTS CONTEMPORARY CIRCUS SHOW DINNER OF OUR DISCONTENT

On giant lampshades, clotheslines, chains and picture frames, Aloft's contemporary circus show, "The Dinner of Our Discontent" veers from heartbreaking to hilarious at the drop of a plate. 

Directed and conceptualized by Shayna Swanson, "Dinner" follows five estranged sisters as they return to the home they grew up in after their parents' sudden deaths. Through world­ class acrobatics and circus acts, childhood emotions and resentments take center stage as they encounter the same issues that plagued them while growing up: the twins still dress (and walk, and eat) alike, the second sister vies for the affection of the oldest, and they all walk heartlessly over the meek youngest sister. And then there's the grief stricken butler who has lived in the house longer than any of the girls, thanklessly raised them and waited on them every day, now faced with having to leave the only family he ever knew while trying to keep the peace. Their deceased parents watch the madness, perched precariously in two picture frames on the back wall, eyes following the action, tormented by their sudden separation and longing for their family to be whole again.

Premiered in 2009, this is a restaging of the original, with an entirely new cast of stunning circus artists. The original acts, high in the air and skittering across the floor, have been reworked to highlight the experience and incredible talents of these performers.

If you were one of the few lucky enough to see the show in its first incarnation, you'll be amazed at the growth of this contemporary circus company over the last 5 years. Aloft's Artistic Director, Shayna Swanson, once part of the cast, steps off the stage to direct the action from the outside, working to heighten the chaos and emotion that the artists bring forth.

Featuring dramatic moments, comic surprises and superb physicality, Dinner of Our Discontent reveals over 75 minutes the central truth about family: it will catch you when you fall, but make you jump through hoops for approval.

About Aloft Circus Arts:

Aloft is a Chicago­based physical performance company dedicated to telling original stories through world­class circus arts. Aloft combines visual art, urban space, physical movement, modern dance, and aerial performance to build a cohesive emotional tale. In productions meant for theaters, the street, or the open sky, Aloft Circus Arts is changing the limits of what’s physically possible in storytelling.

Founded ten years ago by Artistic Director Shayna Swanson, Aloft is at the forefront of the contemporary circus movement in the USA.. Hosts of the first­ever Contemporary Circus Festival in North America just last January, Aloft Circus Arts is putting Chicago in the world’s spotlight with ground­breaking shows and the best circus performers working today. Swanson, once part of the cast, steps offstage to direct the action, heightening the chaos and emotion. This is the first time that Aloft has presented a full­length, narrative show in a Chicago based theater.

Animal ­free and accessible for all audiences, Aloft Circus Arts is at the forefront of what modern circus is growing into, pushing the limits and leaving old ideas of “circus” in the dust.

For more information and photos, check us out on Facebook at AloftCircusArts or on our website www.aloftcircusarts.com