Static Trapeze

A short metal bar hung from the ceiling by ropes at either end. Differing from its cousins flying and swinging, static trapeze is when the aerialist effects little or no swing in the trapeze itself, moving instead around/under/over the bar and in/on/up the ropes. Static trapezes can be single or double point – so with the ropes running parallel or converging in a V toward the point of rigging. A sub-genre of static trapeze is dance trapeze, which is a little resistant to definition but ordinarily describes performance with a substantive amount of floor choreography that uses a single-point trapeze. Usually this is on a swivel, and the aerialist is bare-chested or in garters.

Where flying and swinging trapeze performance is underpinned by the big tricks and the rhythm and build-up of the swing, static trapeze, like corde lisse and silks, invites a more fluid and inventive choreography. Some of the vocabulary transfers – in the sense that you can do corde lisse movements in the trapeze ropes if you really want to – but what trapeze particularly offers are pivot-points: opportunities for fixed vertical rotation and movement around rather than across or up.

a.k.a.: Trapeze Fixe