NEWTON - The rungs of the ladder were almost too far apart for 4-year-old Mikayla Alford. She had to stretch her arms to reach each step as she pulled herself up.
Her parents were getting smaller the farther up she climbed, but she wasn't looking down. Her eyes were on the skinny platform just above the trees.
"You'd think she'd be afraid," said her mother, Jordana Alford, watching from below. "But she is very trusting."
Once Mikayla reached the top, she was clipped into two black stretch ropes and handed a trapeze.
And, without hesitation, she stepped from the side of the platform.
Dropping almost 15 feet before the force of the trapeze swung her back up, she clung to the bar above her. She hung in the air for nearly a minute, swinging back and forth like a pendulum, before being lowered into the net. As she climbed down, a smile grew across her face.
"It's addicting," said her mother, still clapping for Mikayla. "For them, it's like going on a roller coaster."
Alford, a Newton resident, was introduced to the trapeze when her older daughter, Arielle, tried it at camp. Alford decided it would be a perfect adjunct to the programs already offered at the Jewish Community Center. She contacted the JCC and connected it with Tito Gaona's Flying Fantasy Circus.
The trapeze has been up since mid-September, and dozens of first-timers have since learned the basics of flying.
"Most kids who have been to the circus have 'ooed' and 'ahhed' over the performers," said Larry Keller, director of marketing and communications at the JCC. "The chance to be up there and to do it themselves is incredibly exciting. They can experience the thrill they saw while they were sitting in seats watching a circus. The people who have done it are just raving about it." Tito Gaona, who owns the school, coaches the students through the swings and releases.
Watching next to the net that afternoon, he yelled, "Forward, back, forward back," as the flyer pumped her legs in time with his command. Many of his students say they are not scared because Gaona puts them at ease, talking them through every movement.
Helping one of his students down from the net, Gaona said, "Here, students don't just see the circus, they can be the circus."
A native of Mexico, Gaona traveled the world with his family performing with the Ringling Brothers and The Big Apple Circus. With his sister, Chela, and brother, Armando, the family was soon dubbed the first family of the air. Tito Gaona completed tricks never mastered before and his picture filled the pages of Time, Newsweek and the New York Times Magazine.
But Gaona retired in 1997 to help people fulfill their own dreams of flying.
He has enjoyed his month at the JCC and would like to return in the spring.
Working with the JCC is just like working with another family, he said. "It's a family. It's a community. Because it is a challenge for parents and children to do together, it becomes a bond."
Boxborough resident Karen Kinnear came down to Newton with her husband and two children to conquer her fear of heights.
"I am terrified of heights," she explained, after she had climbed off the netting. "But you almost feel like you're flying. It's the most exciting thing I have ever done in my life."
Kinnear found she trusted Gaona and his staff, which made the jump easier. While she is excited to overcome her fear of heights, she is more pleased with what it has done for her kids.
"Even better than doing it myself, is watching my kids do it," she said. "My son stood a foot taller after learning how to trapeze. He learned how to help others and to become a leader. As a mom, that's what you want for your kids."
Out of breath from her turn, Arielle ran up to her mother.
"It's like flying," she said, grinning. "This is my favorite thing to do. I do dance and hip hop, but they are nothing like this."
The trapeze will be up through mid-October.
Classes are open to the entire community and are contingent upon the weather.
To learn more or to register, contact Heidi at 617-558-6453 or hstapleton@jccgb.org.
Chrissie Long can be reached at clong@cnc.com.
