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The names “A Club for Aerialists and Clowns” and “Women’s Flatliners” may sound odd, but they’re actually two of the longest-running aerial dance and comedy troupes on the East Coast.
Now, the Club is moving – literally – a few miles from New Jersey to Manhattan.
“It’s been about five years [since we started], and five years is a lot of weather change and six years is a long time. But we started seriously in 2008,” says Craig Gartner, the club’s co-founder. “We always want to do the next big thing that’s going to bring us on the next level – and this is it!”
That next level will be hitting New York City on Monday as the troupes have set up shop in the hometown of their chief benefactor, Sandra Lee.
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Lee opened the popular SALT restaurant and bar in Chelsea in 2007 and also has restaurants in Los Angeles and Miami. There, Gartner says SALT showcases A Club for Aerialists and Clowns, which it helped to seed five years ago when it presented the inaugural Nora & Johnny Show.
“We found ourselves having a lot of fun – it’s very sophisticated, it’s very risqué – but the big thing is the storytelling and teaching and dancing and the performances are bigger than just throwing aerial straps down a pole,” says Gartner. “It’s about the story behind it and the story being told and we’re always looking for a way to do that here in New York.”