When you’re choosing things to do in the Twin Cities, there’s the usual suspects… and then there’s Twin Cities Trapeze.
The usual suspects: dinner, drinks, maybe a movie or museum.
Twin Cities Trapeze: swings, flips, turns, and all sorts of aerial acrobatics on a real life high bar! You know, like the freakin’ circus!
On paper, it sounds like something this unusual could either go really well, or really, really poorly. Thank goodness you’ve got Discover The Cities here. An aerial crash test dummy, at your service!
Read on for our full review of this wildly unusual activity!
Twin Cities Trapeze Review
To say I was intimidated when a friend gave me one beginner class to Twin Cities Trapeze is an understatement. She’d certainly won the “random gift award” and on paper, it sounded really awesome!
There was just one problem…
I’ve certainly got no trapeze, gymnastics, or any other kind of experience that would make me think this is a good idea. And when I arrived at the somewhat tough to find building (located in East Saint Paul’s industrial center, near other cool historic brick buildings like St. Paul Brewery) my concerns didn’t exactly go away.
I stepped in the front door to find what looked like a large gymnastics center. Except on closer inspection, it was really a trapeze park. There was really only one piece of equipment in this gym – a giant trapeze with a massive net underneath.
Safe to say, this high bar was living up to its name. It looked at least 25 feet tall, which certainly didn’t make me any less intimidated.
After filling out some forms, the nerves only amplified when the instructors quickly went through the day’s game plan.
I was placed with a group of 6 other “flyers.” (The Twin Cities trapeze nickname for those crazy enough to try this!)
We’d start with the low bar – a scaled down trapeze bar that hung just 5 feet off the ground. After going over the basic “knee hang position” on this low bar, we’d spend the rest of our hour getting several passes at the high bar. The plan, apparently, was to slowly move up from just swinging on the trapeze, to hanging upside down, to flipping, and the grand finale… connecting midair with another instructor.
“Yeah, we’ll see about that,” I thought…
To my surprise, the low bar instruction lasted no more than 10 minutes, and then it was off to the high bar!
Still not feeling any more confident, I ascending the shockingly long circus ladder to the top of the platform.
Flying through the air like a Twin Cities circus superstar:
At the top of the ladder, I looked down from a platform. Suddenly, it felt even higher than it looked! This was getting pretty thrilling!
I felt my palms getting sweaty. I dipped them into the bucket of white chalk, more as a nervous tick than any sort of actual strategy.
“What on earth was I doing up here?” I thought.
And then, before I knew it, I grabbed the trapeze bar with the instructor’s guidance, and took one, big, huge, leap of faith.
And…
I was flying! Through the air! Like a circus superstar!
To be fair, this was all supervised by the instructors, who controlled an elaborate system of safety harnesses attached to ropes. However, that sure didn’t change the sensation one bit! As I pumped my legs, I influenced the movement, and there was no denying one very obvious fact. I was most definitely swinging from a high bar trapeze!
Eventually, I let go of the bar and took a second leap of faith down into the massive netting below. (An experience equally as thrilling as swinging on the bar!)
From there, the rest of the members of the group tried the same, and we slowly rotated through the progression.
By the second pass, most students were hanging by their knees upside down.
A few passes later, some were even doing backflips off the bar! (I absolutely shocked myself by doing a backflip dismount on one of my later passes. In all my life, whether it’s into a lake, off a diving board, or into a foam pit, I’ve never been able to perform a complete backflip. Yet, the Twin Cities Trapeze instructors successfully coached me through it!)
By the end of class, a few people did in fact connect mid-air with an instructor on the second trapeze bar. The scene looked like something straight out of a Ringling Brothers Circus, and I thought back to my earlier skepticism with even more surprise.
Would I recommend flying with Twin Cities Trapeze?
Absolutely!
I can highly recommend Twin Cities Trapeze to everyone. This was one of the coolest and unique experiences ever!
The instructors were all extremely friendly, super supportive, and made a somewhat scary experience totally approachable. Everyone in our group had an absolute blast, and by the end we found ourselves high-fiving and cheering on total strangers.
Even people in the group afraid of heights were able to conquer their fears with the help of the awesome instructors, and everyone left with their heads high at an amazing accomplishment.
It was an awesome time.
I would think this would be especially great for birthday parties, adventurous adults, keeping the kids active, or even hands-on corporate events. It might even do well as an exercise routine, since it was a surprisingly good workout, and I found myself crazy sore the next day.
As an added bonus, you can leave with some awesome pics of yourself flipping around!
Is there a Twin Cities Trapeze Coupon?
While we haven’t found a dedicated coupon, I have seen these guys on Groupon.com before, so it’s worth taking a look.
PS – Shopping Groupon through the Rakuten.com cash back portal can save you up to 10% on Groupon purchases! As an added bonus, you’ll get a free $10 just for signing up through that affiliate link of ours!
(Note: An affiliate link means we may earn a commission at no cost to you.)
Twin Cities Trapeze Center Contact Info:
Website: https://www.twincitiestrapeze.com/
Address: 719 E Minnehaha Ave, Saint Paul, MN 55106
Phone: 651-262-9477
