A year ago, 16 amateurs who stared up at two strands of silk hanging from the ceiling of Rachel McMeachin's industrial loft in the West Bottoms were crazy enough to think they could fly. McMeachin had become fascinated with the art of aerial fabrics — the way lithe acrobats twirled their feet around dangling scarves and hoisted their bodies into suspended crescents and flying splits. But no one in Kansas City was doing anything of the sort. So McMeachin brought in some out-of-town expertise by convincing Lynn Coleman, a Colorado-based instructor, to take several locals under her wing with intensive workshops. Of course, taking flight isn't easy. It takes an incredible amount of strength and flexibility and more than a little moxie to hang from the ceiling by a thread. But McMeachin has developed an impressive troupe of aerial artists who have awed audiences with performances at this year's Fringe Festival and at Foundation in the West Bottoms. Luckily, McMeachin isn't uppity. Instead of confining her art to the stage, she has started teaching a twice-weekly class at Scott Fitness. Think of it as a mix of yoga and pilates — executed in midair.
