Aspiring circus performers can hone skills at local gym

Caitlin Beanan soars suspended from pink strips of silk secured to the rafters of L’Oracle, 7020 W. Warm Springs Road, Suite 170, a facility focused on circus arts, gymnastics and fitness.

Caitlin’s mother, Dance Connection owner Cherilyn Beanan, glances up occasionally as she taps away at her laptop. She said she’s not afraid of her 14-year-old plummeting to the floor.

“She’s never fallen,” Beanan said of Caitlin. “That’s not a fear I have. She’s so solid, and Ivan is solid.”

The Beanans drive 40 minutes each way from Centennial Hills so Caitlin can train in silks and lyra hoop arts with Vanya “Ivan” Mokrousov, an aerialist from Russia who is in Cirque Du Soleil’s “Ka.”

“I find it fun to hang upside down like a monkey, and it’s just different,” Caitlin said. “You don’t see many people my age doing stuff like this. Most of them are just at home eating popcorn, watching movies, and I want to be different.”

Nicknamed “Pinky” for her love of the color and her typically pink hair, Caitlin is doing everything she can to prepare for a potential Cirque career, ranging from buying her own pink silks and aerial hoops to letting Mokrousov lead her through seemingly impossible routines.

“I personally like torturing myself by hanging upside down by my feet and my neck,” Caitlin said. “My arms are sore all the time, and I personally like it. It makes me feel good. It makes me feel like I’m doing something more with my life.”

Beanan selected the gym to expose her daughter to performing professionals.

“She surrounds herself with these Cirque performers because this is what she wants to do. It’s inspiring,” Beanan said.

Caitlin isn’t the only one inspired by the gym. L’Oracle parkour expert Emmanuel Kizayilawoko, who goes by the more easily pronounceable Manu Kiza, said performers who have used the gym during visits to Las Vegas have loved the place so much they’ve relocated.

“They end up meeting other performers or entertainers who work in the same field and are perfecting the same craft, and they end up being friends and moving here just for that,” Kiza said. “It’s a good tool when it comes to the entertainment industry because we allow basically artists and performers on the Strip to have a place to call home.”

Stephanie Siclari said that sense of home was what she had in mind when she opened L’Oracle almost two years ago.

“We wanted to build a community where Cirque artists and aspiring Cirque/circus artists could train, rehearse and create acts together in an elite and fun atmosphere,” she said in an email interview. “L’Oracle is more than just a gym; L’Oracle is a community.”

There’s room in that community for people of all ages and abilities, performers or hobbyists.

“We wanted to offer classes and inspire kids and adults, beginners and professionals alike, to reach his or her full potential not only in circus arts but in gymnastics and fitness,” Siclari said.

During the summer, children’s camps keep kids busy and bouncing. Throughout the year, the facility offers open gym time or classes in everything ranging from gymnastics and flexibility training to acrobatic tumbling and handstand balancing. Plus, there’s a full gym for strength conditioning and a martial arts area for combat training. Preschoolers start as young as 2, and Kiza said there are classes for adult beginners, too.

“You don’t have to be a performer to attend classes,” he said. “If you’re willing and committed, we have the best coaches on the Strip. You can’t find any better, honestly.”

Kiza started his career in France learning parkour, the art of leaping off buildings and other obstacles at a run. He learned from the art’s originators.

Siclari, who focuses strictly on the business side at L’Oracle, competed on an international synchronized skating team in college at Miami University in Ohio. After college, she coached skating and later earned a master’s of business administration in sports management.

Mokrousov has been performing around the world since he was 5 and holds three awards from the Circus Festival of Monte Carlo. Other trainers on L’Oracle’s roster include Magalie Biltz, who was a French national team champion and gymnastics coach before joining “Mystere”; martial arts and tricking specialist Rory Bratter, who is the organizer of the Red Bull Throwdown Tricking tournament; Brazilian gymnastics champion and “Ka” performer Michael Conceicao; husband-and-wife hand balancers Luke Rooney and Corey Hartung; six-time German wheel World Championships winner Lin-Veronica Light; acrobat Yuri Marmerstein; strength and conditioning coach Stuart McKenzie; mixed martial arts coach and competitor Kris Rosana; hand balancing professional Denys Tolstov; freerunning and tricking artist David Charles Warren III; acro-gymnastics instructor Tanya Stoyanova; and aerial and pole artist Giulia Piolanti.

“It is so amazing watching the interactions of our members,” Siclari said. “Members have met one another and created acts together at L’Oracle. Beginners can easily find advice from professionals. We offer a fun, friendly, clean and elite environment where kids and adults both can reach his or her full potential.”

And while kids are learning, parents can work out, too. The open gym design offers spectators seats where they can wait or cardio equipment so they can exercise while they watch kids take classes. The strength training gym is open to parents during kids’ classes, too.

For more information, visit loraclelasvegas.com or call 702-462-2080.

Contact View contributing reporter Ginger Meurer at gmeurer@viewnews.com. Find her on Twitter: @gingermmm.