It’s been 10 years since Natalie discovered her passion for aerial arts, and that ‘Life really is so much better upside down!’ She has trained at various centres in London, Herts and Cambridge, but her heart is here at St Albans.

She completed aerial teacher training at My Aerial Home in London and currently teaches our kids, teens and adults aerial silks classes.

A self-proclaimed crazy cat lady, Natalie’s the biggest advocate that you’re never too old to try something new, test your boundaries and challenge your fears. She aims for her classes to be fun and challenging and loves nothing more than helping people achieve their first steps into the world of aerial arts.

Ali Newcombe has been teaching aerial skills for over nine years now, and is also a qualified yoga and aerial yoga instructor. She studied and trained aerial arts for three months full time at the Essential Aerial Professionals course at My Aerial Home in London in 2017 where she specialised in solo static trapeze.

Now retired from competing, Ali and Pete won the semi-finals in the UK Aerial Performance Championships 2016 and performed in the finals of this competition in 2017 with their doubles trapeze routine. Ali won the semi-finals in 2018 in the instructor category on solo dance trapeze.

She currently teaches the beginners and intermediate static trapeze classes, aerial sling, aerial hoop and the children's classes.

IG: @alidoesaerial

As well as being a licensed physiotherapist, Lee Laird has also been an aerialist and performer for over 10 years now. She first started training in aerial arts at Circomedia, where she specialised in aerial acrobatics. She has also trained at Greentop Circus in Sheffield in 2019, as well as Cloud Aerial Arts in Manchester in summer 2020, where she specialised in aerial straps. She has performed in venues including London's infamous Club Antichrist and for a variety of agencies.

While she currently devotes most of her energy to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and aerial straps, Lee has a diverse knowledge of all the main aerial apparatus including static trapeze, aerial hoop, corde lisse and silks.

Lighting technician Kate Hounslow is our head of health & safety and aerial rigging. She became hooked on trapeze at London's Circus Space (now the National Centre for Circus Arts) when she joined their adult programme in 1998 - there she discovered the joy of hanging upside down by unexpected parts of the body on a variety of pieces of equipment, including static trapeze, corde lisse and silks.

She continued training there just for the fun of it until having children seven years later. She came to St Albans to retrain in 2012.

Despite not discovering aerial until his early 40s, Pete Wilson is now an enthusiastic proponent of the benefits of aerial skills for everyone. He has been practicing at St Albans for over 18 years now and teaching for 8, and most enjoys doubles trapeze, silks and partner acrobalance. He currently teaches our teenagers' classes in Harpenden and our Friday night trapeze class.

Pete was awarded first place in the amateur category for trapeze at the UK Aerial Nationals 2015, and along with doubles trapeze partner Ali, achieved first place in their heat of the semi-finals in the UK Aerial Performance Championships 2016. He also performed in the finals of this competition in 2017.

Pete is currently mainly retired from teaching, but still on occasion covers classes, helps with aerial parties, and hosts the Friday night open training session at the Yoga Hall.