CityView Magazine

44 | January/February 2015 ing city at the beginning of our downtown's renaissance. Looking for some new skills to incorporate into her work- outs, Zahra stumbled across the strongwoman's classes at e Climbing Place. "I had seen aerial acrobatics before, saw it on TV, and I thought 'man that is something I would re- ally like to do.' I'm really into fitness but I am also really into performing. I was a theatre geek in school…. But singing and dancing was never something I excelled that… but I had strength and agility, so to me, aerial acrobatics seemed like the perfect mix." Zahra excelled in the small aerial fitness classes Lindsey held at the rock climbing gym. So much, that she was asked to join her as an instructor. "Lindsey took me on, so I was helping her teach classes." In 2010, Harvey took the silks by command. "at's when Air Born Aerial Fitness launched. Before, it was a much more informal thing," she explained. And at the beginning of 2015, aerial yoga was incorporated into their class repertoire thanks to long time student turned teacher, Crystal Butler. Butler began taking aerial acrobatics classes when she lived in Phoenix, Arizona because of a Groupon. "ey were advertis- ing a flying trapeze class. I thought it would be a good thing to do for our family to bond. I really enjoyed it… and was happy to know it wasn't just a 'bucket list' kinda thing," she shared. Aer the Butler family moved to North Carolina, Crys- tal discovered the aerial fitness business. "I started attending Zahra's classes five years ago." She began researching more about aerial acrobatics and the different ways you can prac- tice the art. "I discovered aerial yoga. I had taken a lot of yoga classes, so this peaked my interest. I am now certified to teach," she said. Crystal, who likes the more rigorous forms of yoga like Vinyasa and Ashtanga, was drawn to this new way to practice which Yoga Journal has called one of the fast- est growing ways to get fit in the United States. With the variety of classes at Air Born and the peaked interest from the community, the new challenge is finding a facility to house this growing business. While they have loved e Climbing Place's hospitality over the past six years, it's time to move into their own digs. "When we started we had just two silks, now we have so many apparatuses, such as countless silks, hammocks, multiple trapeze and chains all used to practice aerial arts," said Zahra. Multiple apparatus leads to multiple clientele. us, Air Born Aerial Arts must go forth and grow and expand. Even though the downtown aerial arts business is grow- ing, their focus is still all about quality, not quantity. "We have grown to ten classes a week. Most classes max out at five people. Classes must be small so students can receive in- dividual attention," explained Zahra. "I do not want to run a business where my students don't feel safe and we want our students to feel secure with the instructor." e danger is there in this art and business if one is not properly trained. "We have mats, but no rope or net that will catch you. You must have eyes on you so that's why we max our classes out at five participants," said Zahra. Air Born Aerial Arts is not just training in the gym, they perform too when there are opportunities and schedules al- low. eir performance troupe has been seen around the Mar- ket House on Fourth Friday and at different events around town, in the past for Sustainable Sandhills and Fayetteville Young Professionals. "We are always coming up with new challenges, crazy workouts. We also travel as much as we can Aerial Instructor Rainey Hardman and Owner Zahra Harvey

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