{"id":68827,"date":"2016-01-14T00:54:51","date_gmt":"2016-01-14T05:54:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=68827"},"modified":"2016-01-14T00:54:51","modified_gmt":"2016-01-14T05:54:51","slug":"the-next-yoga-circus-inspired-fitness-a-modern-twist-in-evolving-movement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2016\/01\/14\/the-next-yoga-circus-inspired-fitness-a-modern-twist-in-evolving-movement\/","title":{"rendered":"The next yoga? Circus inspired fitness a modern twist in evolving movement"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"(Photo<\/a>
(Photo courtesy of Deflying Fitness on Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

VANCOUVER\u2014Just ahead of circus artist Andralyn Zayn’s debut on the bungee trapeze, she miscommunicated with a technician in dress rehearsal and did a double-front flip straight into the bar.<\/p>\n

Emergency room doctors didn’t diagnose a concussion, so she hauled her headache back to the venue and slathered on enough makeup to hide the cylinder-shaped bump on her forehead.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are no breaks, and your body isn’t your own,\u201d said Marissa Gough, 33, one of Zayn’s circus partners.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have done shows where I’ve gone, vomited my guts out, got up, put my costume on, went on to stage\u2014\u2018Lahhh!’ And then went back out to vomit more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both performers follow the mantra that \u201cthe show must go on,\u201d but their athletic art form and its practical application has evolved since elephants and sparkling outfits were king under the Big Top.<\/p>\n

Gough, Zayn, and her husband, Duane Steel, run a troop called Deflying Fitness and travel across Canada and internationally training participants in circus-inspired physical feats for exercise and to improve acrobatic skills.<\/p>\n

The team is in Vancouver until the end of February holding workshops and certification courses ranging from basic handstands and flexibility to aerial strength and acrobatic conditioning.<\/p>\n

Zayn, 32, describes their stylized fitness classes as \u201cthe next yoga,\u201d noting parallels with popular training methods such as CrossFit, parkour, pole dancing and bellydancing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s finding new ways that you can stay physically fit without having to do the same old regular gym stuff,\u201d said Zayn, while stretching on the floor of a Vancouver gym.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd once you have eaten your vegetables, then you get your dessert and you get to play with your speciality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gough said training can be adapted to anyone’s abilities, but it is founded on rigour and discipline. All certification courses are recognized as continuing education credits.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re fixing what the Internet has ruined in people’s handstands, or the people who learned from people who shouldn’t be teaching,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Circus-inspired fitness may appear niche, but its practitioners belong to a larger, next-level movement with established roots in Canada that has generated spinoffs.<\/p>\n

A trend including hundreds of circus schools, troops and offshoot ventures emerged from the rising popularity of Cirque du Soleil, a world-famous entertainment company that originated in Montreal, said a spokesman for Canada’s largest circus school.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’d think that within the last 10 years we saw that growing slowly but surely,\u201d said Christophe Rousseau, communications director for Ecole nationale de cirque.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs much as the circus act and the activity of circus is popular, we are all very happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Modern circus puts a premium on humans and the display of seemingly impossible acts, developing stories and characters over controversial animals stunts.<\/p>\n

Pop culture has also vaulted the elite medium into the mainstream. The 2008 album \u201cCircus\u201d by Britney Spears and superstar Pink’s aerial dance at concerts have spurred recreational enthusiasts to learn the ropes.<\/p>\n

Rousseau believes that contemporary circus is still in its infancy, with ample prospects to grow, but advised rookies to take precautions for their safety.<\/p>\n

He said young people are as attracted as ever to joining show business, believing their efforts are worth the potentially exhilarating lifestyle.<\/p>\n

Terrence Drake, 32, has made a name for himself as an independent fire entertainer and performance art spinner.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s part of the ‘love your work, follow your dreams’ stuff that all the kids are doing,\u201d said Drake, who recently retired after performing across Canada and the United States for years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hated my office job. So I quit and started my own business and lit my face on fire for people to clap\u2014and rode the high for most of a decade. There’s a lot packaged in that dream of running away with the circus. All those promises are actually there, for the lucky few.\u201d<\/p>\n

Passion was the common motivator at the gym last Saturday where Deflying Fitness was teaching a group of focused students the technique for impeccable handstands.<\/p>\n

Participant Levi Kolodziejak, 36, said he used to lift weights, but found bodybuilding \u201csuper boring.\u201d He discovered circus-inspired exercise was a better fit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m not going to devote my entire life to it, like they do for circus performance. But I can take pieces to enhance my physical fitness,\u201d said Kolodziejak, before kicking both legs up against a wall in the gym he operates.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then for my clients, I can take certain pieces and help them achieve their goals.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VANCOUVER\u2014Just ahead of circus artist Andralyn Zayn’s debut on the bungee trapeze, she miscommunicated with a technician in dress rehearsal …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":68829,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[35],"class_list":["post-68827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lifestyle","tag-original","mauthors-tamsyn-burgmann","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}