Membership Information

Membership is available for 2024/2025 Season!

You are welcome to fly with us and see if the group would be a good fit for membership.

Club Overview

We are a motley group of trapeze enthusiasts who, in our normal lives, do things completely unrelated to trapeze. Among our members, you’ll find engineers, lawyers, health and medical professionals, teachers, stay-at-home parents, and more. The median age is around 45. Our reasons for flying are as diverse as our occupations: some do it for the exercise, others for the thrill, and surely at least one or two do it simply because they like the club camaraderie. We are a laid-back group that flies, has an occasional get-together, and then flies some more. On warm summer nights, you’ll find us hanging out at the rig after the flying session to enjoy the beautiful view and an après-flying beer.

How to Join

  • New memberships must be approved by the board of directors
  • Non-Advanced member candidates must attend at least three regular flying sessions prior to being eligible for membership
    • Candidate evaluations will be made by at least two board members, and recommendations will be submitted to the board for approval.
  • Download and print our liability waiver. The first time you fly, you’ll need to provide proof of health insurance.

Requirements

  • Members must be current on dues and must update their annual waiver prior to being allowed to fly.
    • Annual Dues: $350/year (April 1st through March 31st)
  • Members must be 18 years of age or older.
  • Minors may fly under a parental membership if their parent is an active member in good standing.
  • Membership will be capped at 35.
    • Exceptions will be considered for advanced flyers on a case by case basis.

Club Flying Times

This club flying schedule is weather permitting and subject to change. Our typical schedule is as follows:

Summer Flying:

  • Tuesday, Thursday, Friday: 6pm
  • Monday, Wednesday: 9am (tentative)
  • Saturday: 10am or 6pm
  • Sunday: 10am or 6pm

Winter Flying:

  • Saturday/Sunday 1:00pm
  • Weekdays at noon as weather permits

Club Calendar

New Member Information

Welcome to Imperial Flyers! You’re now part of the oldest trapeze club in the country, maybe the world. Being a member means that you have equal rights and privileges to every other member—you can fly, catch, use other aerial apparatus, learn to pull safety lines, etc. Though we are not a school, we are excited to help you achieve your high-flying goals and have fun with you out at the rig!


Maintenance Day 2012

General Information

  • Communication: We send out date/time changes, questions, event information, etc. through our email list, which is for members only. As a new member, please join the list by sending an email to ImperialFlyers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com . This for annual members ONLY.
  • Skills: In addition to flying, you can learn rigging, catching, bar-dropping, spotting, and other trapeze-related skills. Please take initiative to ask more knowledgeable members to show you how to do these things when you feel you are ready. (While you don’t need to know all of these things, you should begin learning how to set up and take down the net as soon as you join.)
  • Flying: Please show up on time and plan to stay for the whole session. The net goes up and down much easier with at least four people, and it’s not fair to expect others to set it up for you. We understand that everyone can’t be there on time, for the whole time, all the time, but please make an effort.

Net Set-Up Refresher

  • Volunteering: Please participate in maintenance days and other events when you have the time, and take initiative to learn the intricacies of rigging and spotting. If you’d like to learn to catch, or you need help learning new tricks on the fly bar, just ask. We are more than happy to help you increase your knowledge of  flying trapeze. The only thing that will perpetuate this club is the people in it!
  • Safety: Please speak up if you see a newbie walking under the net or anything else unsafe going on. We’re all responsible for safety at the rig.
  • Receiving Advice: Because no one is officially “in charge” at the club, many people will probably give you advice. Take what works for you, and leave the rest!

Etiquette/Safety

  • Unless you’re looking to make yourself a few feet shorter, don’t walk under the net when people are swinging.
  • Before heading up to the perch, look around and ask the people who showed up ahead of you if they want to go up first. This goes the same for catching.
  • We have a maximum of five people at a time up on the perch.
  • Sitting in the apron (near the ladder) is fine, except if someone is going to the catcher, although at any time you do it at your own risk. Watch out for flying bodies!
  • If you don’t want to do a trick across to the catcher when the catcher is up, ask the catcher if he minds you just swinging. Catching is hard on the ole’ tooshie, so generally catchers request you wait to just swing until they come down.
  • If you’re standing on the left-hand side of the perch, your responsibility is to pull the board (palito) if a flyer uses it to take off.
  • If you’re on the right-hand side of the perch, your responsibility is to hand the bar to the flyer. Please be sure to remove the hook as soon as the flyer has the bar in her hand. Make sure the hook and rope is away from the flyer at all times (take special care on windy days). When a flyer, who is not returning, goes across, hook the bar as soon as she is caught so it doesn’t get tangled in the lines or bong the flyer on the back of the head when she is released from the catcher. When a flyer, who is returning, goes across, do not hook the bar until she is firmly on the pedestal. (It’s better to let it swing out once or twice than to hook it and find out that person was going to push back and take another swing before coming up on the pedestal. Yes, people have been hooked. No, you don’t want to be that person.) The point is this: Be alert to eliminate danger of the flyer being injured by the hook or the bar.
  • Be aware of whether you are to hook the bar or someone is dropping a return bar when a flyer goes across to the catcher.
  • Regardless of what side of the perch you are on, if a flyer is returning from the catcher, keep your hands low and toward the back of the rungs so you don’t have them in the way of where the flyer needs to grab.
  • The first time you are ever caught, you are obligated to kiss the catcher 😉

Open House Volunteering

One of the ways we share our love of trapeze with the community is open house sessions.

Open House events usually last two hours, with about a half hour or so for set up and takedown.

Even if you’re a beginner, you can help by checking people in, showing a knee-hang on the practice bar, helping people remove their safety lines after swinging (aka net monkey), etc. Please come help when you have time.

Bringing Friends to Fly

Share your passion with friends, but be sensitive of safety and general enjoyment of other members.

Bringing an Individual (or two)

The best way to introduce friends to the flying trapeze is to encourage them to come to an Open House event. The price is $35, and attendees must sign a liability waiver and present proof of health insurance. If you have a friend in from out of town who can’t make it to an Open House event, or you believe a friend has a significant interest in learning flying trapeze, you can let us know in advance via the email list and bring him to a regular session, but, please, direct people to the Open House events when you can.

  • Each flying session can have a maximum of two visiting friends to not overload the session.

Member-Sponsored Groups

If you have a group of friends who would like to try flying trapeze, please encourage them to come to an Open House. If, for whatever reason, you would like the group to come out privately, it is your responsibility to email the trapeze group and ask if flyers will volunteer to help with your group during a non-flying time. For example, Monday and Wednesday nights are usually a good choice. Please be courteous of the fact that we do not encourage guests within two weeks of the show and also consider scheduling a date that is not back-to-back with an Open House event, as they are exhausting.

Annual Circus

Each year Imperial Flyers has a free circus in August. We encourage you to invite friends and family and show off your flying trapeze skills (in or out of safety lines) and any other “circus appropriate” skills, such as juggling, aerial fabric, lyra, web, etc.

Shed key

Requirements

Access to the shed requires a demonstration of safety and experience.

  • Demonstrate thorough understanding of setup/tear-down process and rig-readiness
  • Consistent safe decision making, typically at least one full season experience.
  • Approval from the board of directors

Shed Key Rules

    • Practicing alone is prohibited. A participant must have a least one other member present.
    • Day-members may use the equipment with an annual member present, and only during flying sessions.
  • Day-members must have a signed waiver on file and pay $35 per session prior to using any equipment.

Trapeze Terminology

  • Top: When talking about a flyer, top refers to the highest point on the front end of the swing. A flyer should never release the bar at any point other than top…ever. If a flyer releases the bar early, it will cause him to move forward (potentially into the catcher, and most likely into an uncomfortable position).
  • Timing: You will often hear things like, “Take him at top,” “Go down with him,” “Just after top,” and “Just after-after top.” No, these are not code for “Meet me behind the portable sanitation station for a good time.” They are terms used to indicate the catcher’s position when the flyer takes off. As a new flyer, the catcher will call your timing, but it’s a good idea to take note and eventually learn to call your own.
  • Return: After a catch, most flyers will want to return to the pedestal. If you’re in charge of the hook, it’s important to know before someone takes off whether he intends to return or not. If he plans to return, someone on the pedestal should drop him a bar, and the bar should not be hooked until the flyer is securely on the pedestal.
  • Poles: While a trapeze has many poles holding it up, the ones we are usually referring to are the set that holds up the fly bar. We usually talk about the “break” relative to the poles. For example, for a layout, a flyer might break “at poles.”
  • Perch (AKA pedestal or board): The platform on which you stand before taking off for a swing.
  • Palito (AKA rise): The small rise used when someone needs a higher take-off for bigger tricks or to go across to the catcher. The person standing on the left-hand side of the pedestal is generally responsible for pulling out the palito after the flyer takes off.
  • Noodle: The noodle is the long hook that is used to retrieve the bar when it is too far away to reach with the small hook.
  • Listo/lista: Meaning “ready” in Spanish, flyers say “Lista!” (or “Listo!”) to alert the catcher that they are ready to go across for a catch.
  • Lines: The safety lines are used to aid people in learning new things and gaining confidence. Any member can learn to pull lines, but you should not offer to pull lines until you have a thorough understanding of how to use them properly. After a person uses lines, they hook the lines to a rope. At this point, someone needs to give the lines a strong tug to get them back up to the pedestal. The people on the pedestal might yell “Lines!” but be sure to look up before giving a hard tug because they could be attached to someone! (Note: Non-members, even if they have been members in the past, may not pull lines.)
  • Hook: This is used to hold the bar between turns. The person on the right-hand side of the pedestal uses the hook to hand the flyer the bar and then retrieve the bar when the flyer is done. (See below for safety issues concerning the hook.)
  • Hep: “Hep” is used to call significant moments in trapeze, like the take-off for a catch, the time to leave the bar for a catch, a break, an open, etc.
  • Half-time vs. full-time: This refers to how many swings you take before going across to the catcher. Most tricks are full-time, meaning that you swing all the way out, all the way back, and then out again before you are caught. For a half-time trick, you simply swing out and go across to the catcher immediately. Tricks like legs (AKA feets across), shoot, straight jump, and forward over are often taken half-time, whereas you would rarely see a layout, splits, or knee hang taken half-time.
  • Break (AKA kick-back): In a regular swing, you kick back before driving your feet up on the front end of the swing. A break is generally a more forceful, later kick-back that occurs before a trick requiring rotation. Where you break depends on the trick you are doing.
  • Apron: No, we will not make you cook anything. The aprons are actually the parts of the net that go up toward the sky, saving your rear if you fall off the bar with forward or backward momentum.

Resources:

If you feel a little lost or confused about anything, don’t fret! Just ask us; we are all happy to help you however we can.