Tiaya Ruggirello sat perched on a trapeze, dangling her feet in the air, as her students looked on. The music from the speakers came to a crescendo then rolled into the next song as Ruggirello asked, "Now, who's ready to get up here?"

This was the first adult aerial dance class Ruggirello was offering in Haines, and five women had showed up to the large garage where Ruggirello had her setup on Saturday morning to get a taste of flying.

Ruggirello grew up in Haines and went to community college in Hilo, Hawaii, where she took an aerial dance class for two years, and got hooked on the dance form. She came back to Haines in 2021, and started working for the Chilkat Valley Preschool.

She started offering private lessons for kids, aged three to eight, in the summer.

"Kids get so excited by the trapeze. They just want to get on it and swing all around and do all sorts of things," said Ruggirello.

Ruggirello is not a certified aerial instructor, but said if the community is receptive and excited about aerial dancing, she would love to keep teaching and eventually get certified.

The main difference between the kids classes and the adult class, Ruggirello said, was the latter's ability to contain their excitement.

In one and a half hours, Ruggirello was able to teach the women some basic moves on the trapeze, like backing, stag, inversion, splits, and big swings.

Holly Irwin, who has never done aerial dancing before, said the class was "a lot of fun, and a mix of hard and simple things. Some things were harder than you thought."

Nakeshia Diop

Jessie Wuesthoff, another student, agreed that there were difficult parts about the class, "It was very core oriented. A lot of upper body, scapula, back strength." But in the end, "it was awesome," she said. Wuesthoff left the class with a newfound passion and blisters to prove it. "It makes me feel more creative and strong and excited to have a new outlet," she said.

Ruggirello started the class as a trial run to try her hand at teaching trapeze, but said the class turned out really well. "I'm going to do a couple more of these classes at least," she said.

She also hopes to bring a group of kids from the preschool to try their hand at aerial dancing. "That would be awesome and super fun," she said.