Flying through the air with the greatest of qu-ease!

6:42am Saturday 14th June 2008

By Tanya O'Rourke

So being hoisted 30 feet in the air to a tiny wooden platform, to jump off on the command of a former motorcycle mechanic from Florida, was something calculated to get my heart racing.

So as I sat in a ringside seat in a big top in Ilkley, waiting to try my hand at the flying trapeze, I thought speaking to a professional might help allay some of my apparently irrational fears.

Anton Vonostendorf - the aforementioned ex-mechanic - has been a trapeze artist for ten years and he thrives on adrenaline. He said: "I've done a few different things but I gravitated towards the trapeze. It's fun and it's one of the acts that takes the most discipline and training. The early tricks you do are pretty easy so you get into it, but then it takes years to master. It's an art form."

Then it was time to face my fear. I was hoisted onto the safety net six feet off the ground and I was feeling dizzy already.

Slowly, I was hoisted to the bar 30 feet above the ring, where I stood on that tiny platform, knees knocking, awaiting my next instructions.

I bent myself into a sort of semi circle, and tried and failed to not look down.

Echoing around my head was the advice Anton had offered on solid ground: "Fear is good. It means you'll hold on tighter."

I held on to that bar tighter than I have ever held onto anything, closed my eyes and jumped. I might have screamed a bit.

Then, swinging back and forth across the tent, the wind in my hair, I suddenly understood what it was all about. What a rush! I was lowered gently onto the safety net, fizzing with the thrill of it. I wanted desperately to do it again.

Later, once that adrenal surge ebbed, I found out how Anton, now 33, had ended up with the circus.

"One of my friends knew some circus folk back at home in Orlando, so we went along to try it one day. I was hooked straight away. I fell in love with it. I'd done gymnastics and ballet as a child, so I had a bit of a background in acrobatics. A year later I became professional and I haven't looked back."

He isn't the only international artist among Billy Smart's complement of 50 performers, who have come to Ilkley from as far afield as Australia and South Africa.

He said: "Everybody in my troupe ran away to join the circus. You hear about families of circus performers but these families have to start with one person who loves it. And that's us."

"I still have butterflies when I perform. You have to have respect for what you do or you'll get hurt. The feeling of adrenaline is amazing.

"Sometimes an old circus performer from the 40s or 50s will come to watch the show and won't believe what they see. They are amazed by what we can do, but it's like any industry. Things get bigger and better with time."

As well as trapeze artists, Billy Smart's Circus boasts Chinese pole acrobats, a foot juggler, illusionists and the obligatory clowns.

When you try these things first hand - Mexican clown Chico Rico tried in vain to teach me the basics of plate spinning - it is easy to understand the effort and years of training which goes into every show.