Aeon Aerial Arts – Urban Circus NYC

Really cool experience. The studio is not for the faint of heart as its a bit messy. The instructor was cool. I think he was a bit frustrated with me because I seriously couldn’t get it. It was a cool experience and I’ll come back one day.

For an activity I never tried before, I was impressed with the tricks I was able to do in my first class. I owe this entirely to the fantastic teacher who knew exactly every error in muscle movement I was doing. The sort instruction that you need years of experience to dispense. It’s loads of fun too!

I discovered this aerial arts studio thanks to Groupon but bought more class passes because of their instructor Marcus.
When I arrived for my first class I thought the location was quite strange. The studio is inside an apartment building on the 3^rd floor. I’ve never had any trouble getting into the apartment, either someone was leaving the building and opened the door for me or someone was on their way in.
Despite this, I’ve returned to this studio b/​c Marcus makes his classes so worth it. He challenges and pushes you to try even when you question whether you’re really able to or not. I’ve been to aerial silks classes where the instructor babies me and doesn’t give me a lot of air time on the silks. But Marcus allows you to practice on them for a substantial amount of time. I wish he doesn’t only teach once a week!
Lately his classes have been getting more and more crowded, thanks to all their Groupon deals. Despite this, everyone gets their practice time on the silks.

Bought a Groupon here with my friend, thinking that Aerial silks and lyra (think cirque du soleil) would be a really fun experience. While the class was good, I most likely will not be coming back.
First of all, it would be extremely dishonest and difficult to call this business professional.
Don’t get me wrong, the instructors are MORE than qualified and talented, but the business itself? Not so much. Just to paint a picture, you arrive at a warehouse looking apt building in East New York. Once we trek up to the designated floor, no one answered the door. We finally opened the door and we were literally in someone’s loft apartment with a giant area full of silks and a lyra towards the back. Two small children came running toward my friend and JUMPED on her back, clung onto her neck, and demanded to be given a piggy back ride! The instructor was teaching a small class of children, and never once in a half hour looked over the greet us or tell the children to stop jumping on us. I’m a teacher, so it is in my nature to be kind to children and entertain them, but there’s no overlooking how unprofessional it is to oblige your customer to be your babysitter. We were incredibly confused. Two children jumping on us, grabbing us, demanding to be picked up and played with. For 30 minutes we felt obligated to watch these kids because there was no other supervision and they were demanding our attention. We arrived at 5:30, our class should have started at 6:00, at 6:15 the instructor finally ended the children’s class and got herself a snack. Then continued to hug and sit with the children STILL NEVER acknowledging us! I really felt invisible, the weirdest experience of my life! Then, an «intern» walks in the door and begins tending to the children as well. She haphazardly presented us with a wavier that we couldn’t read and she literally says, «It just says you can’t sue us if you fall.» The room was boiling hot, and as I walked over to the mat because class began (but you’d never know because our instructor still never said anything, she just walked over to the mat!) She blasts the music, starts warming up, and just expected we would know to join in. Never said hello, never introduced herself, never inquired about injuries. Still don’t know her name! I was late to warming up because my «waiver» took a while to load on the ipad. Not to mention, the most disorganized registration system. Signed my name on a piece of looseleaf as registration. So, I was given half a warm up. Also, stepped in cat food walking over to the mats. Gross.
After warming up we were told to do headstands. The three of us (friend and other student) looked blankly at each other, none of us ever did it before. When one student inquired about injury, she was made to do a plank instead of head stands. When we asked how to do them she (instructor) just did one herself and then told us to try. No support at all. The actual class was a bit intimidating, but a lot of fun, mostly because I had never done silks before. The instructor was undoubtedly talented and experienced, and allowed us to perform about five tricks on the silks. Much harder than it looks! I definitely give performers so much credit now! It was pretty fun and I for sure felt the burn the next day. Next strange part, a cat, an actual mother freaking cat begins walking around on the mats we were working on. The third student in our group was jipped because the class was from 6 – 7 and she had to leave at 7, problem being, the class started super late for no apparent reason. I loved the silk work out for sure, but will definitely be doing it at a different studio. I sincerely thank the instructor for her time, but this was a frighteningly unprofessional business. A genuine «circus» of disorganization. Also, the number on the website they tell you to text for RSVP is wrong. Curious what other customers have to say!