Trapeze dates back to 1865, when Jules Leotard used to swing from cables attached to air vents over the pool of his parents’ gymnasium outside of Paris, France. One day he attached a metal bar to the cables and the Flying Trapeze was born. Leotard performed his first feats at a Cirque Napoleon in Paris, now called Cirque d’Hiver. The traditional flyer’s costume, the leotard, is named after him. Circus artists still perform at Cirque d’Hiver almost 150 years after Leotard.

While performing at Cirque d’Hiver in 1957, Tony Steelechanged Trapeze history by doing what no other flyer had done before: three and ½ back somersaults to a legs catch; you can look him up in the Guinness Book of World Records. Between 2001-2004, Tony Steele was a resident instructor at Trapeze High, where he took great pride in sharing his flying expertise and multitude of circus stories with students. 

It took ten years for someone to break Tony Steele’s record with a quadruple somersault. Today, tens of thousands of people have experienced the excitement of circus arts thanks to improved safety equipment and rigging. And of course, every great circus features the Flying Trapeze as its finale.

In 1947, the Flying High Circus was founded at Florida State University, as an innovative recreational activity, which over the years has evolved into a professional training program for aspiring circus performers. In 1987, Bruce Pfeffer and five Flying High Circus alumni set up the first children’s circus program at Club Med. Today, most amateur circus aficionados first experienced Flying Trapeze at a Club Med, which has spawned a small but close-knit Flying Trapeze and circus skills industry, and provides American circus schools with well-trained teacher/performers and thousands of excited students.  Bruce Pfeffer now runs Circus of the Kids, a touring circus in which children perform a full-length circus after only two weeks of training.  Bruce has visited Trapeze High and staffer Kevin Six spent a summer with Circus of the Kids.