• Aloft Loft

    Aloft Loft, Chicago

    Founded and still headed by supercharged aerial-circus-business dynamo Shayna Swanson, Chicago's Aloft Loft allows open training alongside a programme of courses and classes. The space has 'four quick, adjustable rigging points on pulleys, endless places for dead hanging, a Chinese Pole, floor plates for tight and slack wires' and, importantly, free tea and coffee. Height ranges from 18-30 feet (5.5-9.1 metres); price is $15 p/d, $45 p/w, $125 p/m, or $100 p/m with a four month contract + (in all cases) yearly $30 membership. Most monthly and some weekly renters get a key and 24hr access, but monthly renting is by interview and arrangement. Note that in June 2011 the Aloft Loft will move to a bigger and better Chicago space.