Hartnagel is tall and muscular, not exactly the kind of man you picture spinning on silk ropes. “I started out on the double trapeze, because I’m a big guy,” Hartnagel explains, “but when you’re the ‘base’ you’re basically just an apparatus.” Hartnagel found himself yearning to experiment with the silks. “The fabric offers far more possibilities. It worked my brain a lot more,” he says.
Space To Fly Hartnagel stumbled onto the sport when he was walking one afternoon in 2008 and spotted some people practicing with a trampoline and trapeze outside in their backyard. They let him try it and he was hooked. Turns out some of them were Asheville Aerial Arts performers, a fledgling group at the time. He soon met De Leeuw at the Jewish Community Center (JCC) where the group would practice indoors. But renting at JCC was only available once a week. And this is a sport that requires apparatus to be safely rigged, so it’s not easy to move around with it. What they really needed was a dedicated practice space to train in. Meanwhile, they continued to train outdoors, even into December. “It was really hard to do aerial arts outside in December,” Hartnagel admits. De Leeuw, for her part, had long been dreaming of a studio space where she could create the all-inclusive, non-competitive culture she envisioned. The journey that eventually led her into the world of circus arts was not an easy one. As she puts it,
andrew hartnagel
Ron J.TaxMiller Accountant 20% OFF
For New Clients!
“Don’t pay Uncle Sam more than you have to”
Call for a FREE tax consult:
1-888-489-2590
www.ashetax.com
Expert & Accurate tax returns: · For Individuals · For Self-employed People · For Businesses & Partnerships · For Landlords All In One Financial Services
· For Trusts & Estates · Tax Inquires & Audits
1095 Hendersonville Road, Suite-D Asheville, NC 28803
“Established 1992” January 2016 | capitalatplay.com 83