Founders
Alison found trapeze in her late thirties and discovered a love of exercise, performance and act creation she never knew she had. “Trapeze was hard and painful. But it spoke to my inner weirdo who felt like an awkward loner, marginalized by conventional team sports, and I kept coming back. I want anyone who has felt like they could never be an athlete, anyone who has ever felt body shamed or that they weren’t
fit for sport, to know that they’re welcome in the aerial community and that THEY CAN DO THIS.” At Bumbershoot Aerial Arts in St. Louis, Alison produced and performed in 3 successful aerial student showcases.
In her spare time, Alison enjoys reading, spending time with her family and her dog, and laboring over woodworking projects with varying degrees of success.
Always looking to innovate and find new outlets for her creative energy, April paired her love of circus with her building experience to become the head rigger for Bumbershoot Aerial Arts, where she also worked as a coach, sharing her love of circus. “Aerial Arts feed all parts of my soul, from the physical and mental challenges of doing the art, to the joy of creating and storytelling with circus bodies in my choreography, to the satisfaction of imparting my passion to others,” she says.
Along her journey she has been a ringmaster, a public speaker, a youth coach, and a monthly circus show producer. She is hands on in all her endeavors, and you are likely to find her in the air, at work and at play.
April and Alison met in St. Louis several years ago. We realized we shared a love of performing, teaching, and creating. Our mutual love of all aspects of aerial art led to endless hours of dissecting training ideas, technique, and creative fitness solutions. We never get tired of this stuff. Aerial arts is our joy and our continuing conversation. We both also enjoy the technical rigging challenges of our art form, with April happily working at height and Alison devising creative solutions for rigging challenges.
We have worked together on producing large student showcases, Alison as the producer with April creating the rigging arrangements needed for the show to succeed. April conceived of and produced a monthly free aerial show called “First Fridays Aerial Show and Tell.” for the local community, acting as producer and ringmaster with Alison’s support.
We also worked together extensively as the rigging team at Bumbershoot Aerial Arts, addressing all the studio rigging needs, from routine changes and maintenance to large year end inspections and projects. Together, we kept our former studio functioning at or above industry safety standards.
We have combined forces at local political events, using circus and costuming to speak truth to power. During the summer of 2017, we performed with several fellow aerialists at a weekly outdoor aerial performance at the Strauss Park ALIVE Festival, calling ourselves The Little Circus That Could. April and Alison have also worked at events together to support Missouri Women in Trades, a local nonprofit supporting women, LGBT, and minority access to careers in the construction industry.