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High Definition Video Shoot at Hollywood Aerial Arts

It never ceases to amaze me at the talent we have right here under our nose.  One of our most dedicated flyers, Jess Bushyhead has been a top professional in the television field for years editing, directing and producing network shows around the country.  Sony recently came out with a new Hi-Definition Camera, the XDCAM-HD as part of their broadcast line and wanted to show off its capabilities in an unusual way for the upcoming National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention.  Jess is lecturing there on the new camera and thought our aerial team would be a perfect showcase to highlight the cameras abilities.  He brought in some of the top action videographers from around the country and we shot all day here in our main studio with Arthur & Shenea (Realis), Max, Sagiv, Tania & Sasha.  The footage was astounding with some beautiful images captured on the new Blu-Ray disc including some great slow motion footage of everyone involved.  We've included a few "behind the scenes" shots for you to to share in the fun we had and there's even a short clip showing some of the footage

New Hollywood Aerial Arts Mini Promo Reel (WMV - 8.62 Megs)

Don't Tell My Booker Event for LA Fashion Week

As part of LA Fashion week, The "Don't Tell My Booker" euro style nightclub fashion extravaganza returned to Hollywood with 944 Magazine, Elite and LA Models at the all new Boulevard 3.  We were there as always in full force with some of the top aerialists in the country performing all night for the celebrity studded crowd.  It's always fun to have to share dressing rooms to accommodate Paris Hilton and other members of the international glitterati.  For all of the international super models and celebrities in attendance, I saw more cameras flashing during the aerial acts than at any other time!  It was a very appreciative crowd that made the whole evening an event to remember.

Grammy Night in Los Angeles!

As always, the Grammys give us a chance to bring out our best and brightest performers for all of the amazing celebrity events around the city and this year is no exception.  The highlights for us were the multiple performances including our original Triple Carousel at the official NARAS After Party at the Los Angeles Convention Center and some amazing performances for the Ludacris After Party at SOCIAL in Hollywood. At the NARAS Event, we performed with Chaka Khan for the first set and then Kool and the Gang next.  The aerial was heavily featured on CBS and the attractions were very popular with all of the guests with people crowding the stages for pictures.

Here's a little teaser of Tania, Melissa & Sita on the Triple Carousel (wmv - 15.1 megs).

Elan's first catch!

Catching family members isn't that unusual in circus families...but on February 12th, one of our fliers and part time board assistants, Elan Gratrix caught her Mom, Lita for the first time.  What makes this a little more unusual is that Elan is 13 years old!  She's been flying with us for a while now and is coming along as an amazing student.  She started playing with catching a few weeks ago and developed an amazingly good swing and timing so we thought it was time to throw her something.  Lita threw her a knee hang from the first riser and after 3 attempts, the timing clicked and Elan plucked her from the sky.  We want to congratulate Elan on this milestone and look forward to seeing her conquer even more with us.

ELEVEN is finally opening!

Good friend and business partner on many projects, Sid Krofft called last year to tell me he had a great new location for lavish restaurant and club he was planning on opening with his friend Rich Grossi.  It was the historic Sherman Bank building from the 1920's that had since been a studio where Cher, Prince, Donna Summer, Patti LaBelle and other amazing luminaries recorded. He took me to see the site and I immediately pictured aerialists tracking out over the audience from the upper level stage he had planned.  The project went on hold, then was held up in every type of imaginable complication but perseverance paid off because $3.5 million dollars and countless man hours later, "ELEVEN" is finally opening!

Sid recruited famed choreographer Doriana Sanchez as the Entertainment Director, Chef Vincent Manna, (formerly with L'Orangerie, Spago, Maple Drive), and Wet Design (who created the Bellagio Fountains among many other famous works) who created a one of a kind fire and water feature and many other distinctive touches for this opulant jewel in West Hollywood.  It will function as a posh restaurant during the day, and then at "ELEVEN" o'clock, transforms in to a hot dance club. with amazing production elements occurring every fifteen minutes or so throughout the night.,

I finally installed the flying track several weeks ago everything looks spectacular!  We've been rehearsing there with Max and Sagiv as the feature aerialists.  They will work on different nights first doing a hoop solo as part of the opening production number, and then another very fun flying act later in the evening.

ELEVEN is located at 8811 Santa Monica Blvd in West Hollywood. (310) 855-0800

Terry Beeman's Show "The Closing"

(Click on thumbnails to view full size)

One of our stellar staff members and world renowned choreographer, Terry Beeman debuted an entirely new work at the Nate Holden Theater in Hollywood on the 27th & 28th of this month. It was an amazing success!  We have a few pictures of the show to give you an idea of what you missed.  (Please note that these are Hi-Res files so they might take a while to load.)

Magic Mountain and New Video!

Tania & I were back at Six Flags Magic Mountain.  Some of you saw the show but if you didn't, here's a little teaser video:

Magic Mountain Illusion Video (WMV 10.8 Megs)

"Dr 90210" Airing on E! Entertainment

We've shot dozens of television shows so it's always fun to hear when they show up on the air. The Dr 90210 episode we shot featuring Tania is airing all this week (Jan 1 - 7) so catch it if you can or you can see the clip here: Dr 90210 Clip (WMV 7.17 Megs)

 "Next" Video Shoot for MTV

You know I always talk about the transformation that occurs in everyone here and yet we were totally transformed ourselves by MTV for the television show "Next"  on Monday.  Their amazing art director used virtually every old tissu we had to create a fun circus atmosphere for the daters.  We were flying them around the room in super hero costumes much to the delight of the production team.  Max helped me out both on camera and flying the team.  We've shot dozens of amazing shows so always be on the lookout for us everywhere!

Westfield Topanga Canyon Event

We just finished working on another amazing project with Sequoia Productions who you might remember we did the Rose Parade with.  They produced a spectacle for the beginning of the Holiday Season at the brand new Westfield Topanga Canyon Shopping Center.  I staged and choreographed everything and it was a stellar event for everyone.

Eric, Tania, Sagiv & Shannon were our feature aerialists along with a very talented cast of dancers, musicians and other performers.  Sequoia Productions produced the entire event with Lenetta Kidd (of "The White Lotus/Dreamland" fame) producing the entertainment.  Icarus Rigging and Branam Enterprises are both joining forces for the rigging with Branam supplying the special hoists including a 5 hp and one massive 15 horsepower winch for flying all of our performers about 60 feet to the top of the Canyon ceiling.  Pyro Spectaculars fired hundreds of comets and shells off of the roof that was seen through the massive windows in the ceiling.  The score was custom produced for us by two time Grammy nominee Carmen Rizzo who has worked with such luminares as Alanis Morissette, Coldplay, Seal, BT, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Cirque du Soleil, Paul Oakenfold, Pete Townshend to name but a few.

Outside Big Rig is up!

After a lot of tired and bruised bodies, the outside High Flying Trapeze rig is finally up!  It's been about 5 years since it was fabricated and we finally got it installed at our main location.  The rig was custom built using the latest technology including ball bearing swings, laser cut crane braces, solid steel construction making it one of the sturdiest rigs anywhere!  The brand new net and pedestal board was custom made for the rig by Jackie Tan (... and they are some of the nicest I've seen!)

(Click on pictures to view full size)

Chobi, John, Brent, Tania & I were the set up crew and it was a MONSTER to rig but it lined up perfectly thanks to a few years to get the calculations just right.  Tania is missing from the pictures only because she would put down the tools long enough to run take a picture then get back to work!  Danny & Max helped me splice the net together and get it into position the next day.

It took a few days to stretch out the net and get it adjusted where I wanted it but today (Wednesday) was the day!

One of our instructors Danny took the first swing while I pulled lines to check the net and it was perfect.  Tania and John went up to play to get the feel of the rig, I took a few swings and did some layouts, then Danny went back up and did a planche', double and triple to the net. Rick and one of our students, Brent (who helped with the set up) came by tonight to do a little night time flying and all did a great job.

It's been a HUGE effort to get this up and running but it is finally here and will be open to everyone in a few days.  Please stop by and take a look and we'll be adding it to our class schedule shortly.

Eddie Van Halen event a great success!

We had an amazing event a few weeks ago at the home of rock legend Eddie Van Halen.  It was a very exclusive party for about 600 people that included over a dozen performers from our talented team.  We had aerialists performing over a grand piano in his main entry way, body painting in his gallery, fire performers and a contortionist on the main stage, stilt dancers on the dance floor and a full aerial extravaganza in the back yard.  The evening included a powerful concert by the "house" band with Eddie jumping in for the last 30 minutes.  We want to thank all of our amazing team who made this party a hit for everyone attending!

Help Me Help You Debuts on ABC!

Our own Darlene Hunt makes a great splash in the new ABC series "Help Me Help You" Starring Ted Danson.  She is one of our most dedicated flyers and a great inspiration to everyone here.  Please tune in and you'll see what a great show it is and what amazing talents we have in our school!

Online Scheduling Now Available

We've spent the last few weeks getting our online registration system up and tested and it's now online!  This will allow everyone to sign up and pay for everything from the comfort of their home.  We also are now accepting Visa & MasterCard at the school as well.  We're always listening to your suggestions and trying to make your experience easier and more fun.  The link is on our home page above the flying picture, or you can connect to it here: Hollywood Aerial Arts Online Registration & Class Sign-up

You will no longer need to call to reserve a class.  Just go to the site and sign up there.  If you've already registered at the school, you can use your new screen name to sign in.  If not, just follow the instructions to set up an account for yourself.  All Private Classes will still need to call to set up a time. but you can pre-pay online.  If you have any questions regarding the system, please email or call our office at (310) 412-7171 and we'll help you through it!

Yes, We're Married!

(Click on pictures to view full size)

Most of you know that Tania and I got married on the 27th of August in a very small ceremony with our families and we just returned from our honeymoon in the Bahamas.   We're getting more wedding pictures back soon but we have some pictures from the trip here. -  Honeymoon Pictures  We'll be adding to it as we get them in.  Thanks to all of you for the good wishes and thoughts.

Getty Center Family Festival

The last Getty Center Performance on August 5th turned out to be a wonderful event for everyone!  Thank you to all of our cast who participated and all of our friends who came out to see the shows.

New Video at the 740 Club!

Most of you know we have performances weekly at the beautiful new 740 club in downtown LA.  It was the home of the historic Globe theater and has 60 foot ceilings to fly from.  Last week we added two new Bungee rigs to the venue which gave us a lot of fun new toys to play with.  We shot a little video with Tania and Claudia on Flying Hammock and Tania and Whitney on the Aerial Bungee.

740 Club Video (WMV - 4.15 Megs)

Another LA Times Feature

A front page feature on the most exclusive private club in town "Xenii" featured a shot of one of our artists, Sunny Soriano in Hammock.  (You might also notice me in my usual role in front spotting and managing the crowds as always!)  We've cast and rigged many of their events both for their massive studio parties and the mansion events as well. 

LA Times Scene (Picture)

Gatsbies and the Wannabes (Article)

Eric Newton Featured in LA Weekly

Eric just had a wonderful piece in the LA Weekly written by our own Judith Lewis and Photo by Suzanne Bernel.  It gives you some background on one of our amazing teachers.

"Suspended Storyteller"

 New Quidam Performer

Many of you remember Cory Sylvester as one of our great Trapeze Instructors, the Ringmaster in our production of "Barnum" and amazing German Wheel Act.  I found out that he just opened in Quidam here in Los Angeles!  After years of training and determination his passion paid off as he brings his artistry to this amazing Cirque show.  We had a great time chatting after the show with him and I know it will be a great step in his career.  If it is anywhere near you, try to see it as it has some amazing aerialists and one of the best German Wheel acts in the country!

Rose Parade Video

Most of you already know that we staged and choreographed the opening to the Rose Parade this year as well as cast it and rigged all of the aerial effects.  For those of you that missed it, here is the tape as it was shown on KTLA.

Rose Parade Opening  (wmv - 9.02 Megs)

Rose Parade Opening  (Quicktime - 8.44 megs)

New Vanguard Video!

We have some great talent performing every week in various clubs and venues around Southern California.  I managed to shoot a little video of last Saturday night in Hollywood at Vanguard to give you a taste of what it's like.  Tania, Jessica, Cheri & Zinta were performing on Hammock and Aerial Swing this night.  Vanguard Aerial Video (WMV 4.39 Megs)

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