Welcome!

Megan Gendell is a handbalancer and aerialist who is currently training, teaching, and creating from her living room and backyard. She creates physical performance that is inventive, powerful, warm, and inviting.

Before the pandemic hit, Megan most recently:

performed classical ballet in The Nutcracker with the Brattleboro School of Dance in VT (December 2019)
toured the US southeast with Big Teeth's Ordinary Creatures, performing dance, partner acrobatics, handbalancing, and single-point trapeze (January and February 2020)
toured Tennessee with One World Circus's Webs: A Circus Confronting Sexualized Violence, performing handbalancing, aerial, and stilt acro (February 2020); stay tuned for more performances of this show in 2021!

Teaching and Performance News

Megan-Gendell-one-arm

Busking in Burlington, VT, summer 2018

goatleaping

Farm to Ballet, summer 2018

Megan-and-Lauren-duo-trapeze-by-Michael-Ermilio

Shows and teaching 2017/2018

1-Megan-Gendell-reach-on-trapeze-with-ensemble-by-Michael-Ermilio

Recent trapeze performance in Tangle's show RetroAct!

cropped-VID01314

Teaching at NECCA April 15-17

Teaching at the Atlanta Aerial Arts Festival March 31-April 3

Teaching at NECCA's Fall Circus Workshop Weekend, Nov 5-8

Workshops at the Southern Fried Circus Fest

Fall Classes at PSCA

Workshops at Canopy in Athens, GA, September 19 and 20

Recent NYC shows: SummerStage and Dixon Place

New duo trapeze act (falling in love ten feet in the air)

My current handbalancing act

Sir Cupcake's Queer Circus Goes Back in Time!

Handstands workshops at NECCA this weekend

Tinder & Ash in Brattleboro, VT, April 18

NYC performance August 2

Upcoming Workshops at NECCA!

Recent Performances in Vermont and San Fran

Innovation in Handbalancing workshop at CCCF

Megan on Instagram

megangendell

✨ Trapeze ∙ Dance ∙ Handbalancing ∙ Innovation
🌎 International circus performer + coach
👇 Join me for more on Patreon!

This spiral from standing all the way down to toe

This spiral from standing all the way down to toe hang is one of my earliest trapeze phrase creations. I recently found a data CD of trapeze videos I recorded in 2007 (tiny blurry .avi files from, idk, a digital camera??) and I'd forgotten about this descent I was so fond of.
.
Back then I belonged to a gym in Manhattan that had a trapeze (and a mat) in the fitness studio! They used to offer a circus fitness class, but that teacher left, and I got permission to use the trapeze. Usually that particular studio was empty, so I spent my lunch breaks from my full-time job reviewing and creating in dreamy solitude for months. That time was so formative to me as a trapeze artist. (I'll be sharing some of those old videos -- the highlights, anyway -- with my Patreon members soon <3.)
.
.
.
#trapezeartist #trapezetricks #aerialtrapeze #cirque #cirquegram #circusaroundtheworld #circusinspiration #cirqueduinsta #circusinternational #circusarts #circuslife #aerialdance #aerialbeauty #aerialnation #circustraining #trapeze #statictrapeze #trapecio

Cuddle to cuddle, plus a roll-up you have to get i

Cuddle to cuddle, plus a roll-up you have to get in the right place or else ouch. Or is that true for everything on trapeze?
.
Btw I updated my neglected trapeze feature account, @trapezeinspiration, yesterday!
.
I know I keep mentioning it but I'm still just bowled over by the beautiful fall colors all around me this month 💛🧡🍂🍁🧡💛.
.
#trapezeartist #trapezetricks #aerialtrapeze #circuseverydamnday #aerialnation #cirquegram #aerialdance #trapeze #statictrapeze #trapecio

Gooey autumn trapezing, as per usual, ending in th

Gooey autumn trapezing, as per usual, ending in the trapeze hip key from earlier this summer ... everything ties together. @trapezerie taught me this opening extended shape - go to her account to see her gorgeous trapeze phrase that incorporates it 😍.
.
.
.
#trapeze #trapezeartist #circusaroundtheworld #circusartist #quarantraining #circusinternational #aerialbeauty #cirqueduinsta #aerialinspiration #aerialgymnastics #trapeciofijo #cirquegram #aerialnation #dancetrapeze #statictrapeze

A quiet lil phrase adapted from an add-on with @tr

A quiet lil phrase adapted from an add-on with @trapezerie. This wasn't long ago but that gorgeous yellow tree is almost completely bare now 🧡💛.
.
My patreon members saw the work-in-progress for this sequence, and I'll post this full video for them this week (the whole sequence was a little over a minute). Maybe you'd like to join? Link in bio ☺️.
.
#trapeze #statictrapeze #trapezeartist #cirquegram #aerialnation #aerial #circuslife #aerialaddict #aerialdance #cirquegoals #aerialtraining #trapecio

I just learned this expansive archy shape from @sm

I just learned this expansive archy shape from @smalldangersdance, who teaches trapeze at @showcircusstudio. I'm loving trapezing among the autumn trees 🧡💛❤️ especially knowing my time training outdoors is coming to a close soon.
.
#trapeze #aerialist #aerialbeauty #aerialarts #statictrapeze

I'm a proud sponsor of the #Cirquethevote challeng

I'm a proud sponsor of the #Cirquethevote challenge!
*
I vote in a swing state, where both parties have similar levels of support from voters. I am voting because I feel acutely that my state depends on me.
*
I have to confess: With every app I use and email list I'm on telling me to VOTE right now, my stubborn, defiant side can get set off: Stop telling me what to do! Leave me alone! I'll vote if I feel like it! But the truth is, the only thing that could possibly keep me from voting is basic procrastination on getting all the pieces in place. So last week I took a quiet moment to request my absentee ballot. I can't wait to fill that thing out and mail it back to my home state. (Request yours today if you haven't yet! Find out more at vote.org/absentee-ballot-deadlines.)
*
Why do I bother? I vote because it's my responsibility to take this small and vital step to advocate for the racial, reproductive, health-care, and environmental justice I believe in. I vote for the voices that are suppressed and for the lives that depend on it.
*
Your turn:
✨How to join the the #Cirquethevote challenge
*
✅Share this challenge post and tag 5 to 10 of your friends who you think would want to participate. Let's make our voices loud and resonant!
*
✅Register to vote / Check your registration at Vote.org
*
✅Make a personal voting plan (feel free to share it if you like!) Check out the options for early voting and vote by mail in your area.
*
✅Make at least one circus themed post (feel free to make more!) and share it on your IG, using the hashtags #cirquethevote and any other voting hashtags
*
*
📝Posting rules: Must include at least 1 circus-based discipline, be respectful, and encourage voting. Posts can be photos or videos, and should include something personal about why you think it’s important to vote. (This can be spoken or written in the caption) Don’t say WHO you’re voting for, just WHY.
*
*
💫This challenge is sponsored by @PaperDollMilitia, @cirque_psych, @Circkoz, @Flyblackaerialists, @The_artist_athlete, @Circasana & @megangendell
*
Check out @paperdollmilitia to find out about the prizes - including a private lesson from me 💖💖💖!
#trapezeartist #dynamictrapeze

Looking for a sequence beginning I don't use as mu

Looking for a sequence beginning I don't use as much, and thought I should work with cuddle. Here's where that wound up! Cherishing these last weeks of weather that's still warm enough to trapeze outdoors.
.
#trapezesequencebymegan #trapezesequence #trapeciofijo #statictrapeze #trapeze #trapecio #aerialdance #aerialnation #aerialbeauty #circustraining

Moving slowly until it's time to move fast. Soft a

Moving slowly until it's time to move fast. Soft and gentle.
.
There are so many tiny moments and transitions that could be refined into infinity.
.
Feat. a favorite front hip circle variation where you only get to straighten one leg each time 😘
.
🔊 for soothing nature sounds.
.
I so wish I had time to get on this trapeze every single day. To help me do other kinds of work less and trapeze more, would you check out my Patreon? (Link in bio 💛)
.
#statictrapeze #slowtrapeze #fronthipcircles #trapeze #aerialdance

Load More... Follow on Instagram