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How the Iron City Aerials Combine Dance and Acrobatics

Bob Studebaker
/
90.5 WESA

Iron City Aerials has performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Zoo, the National Aviary, the Science Center and the Kelly Strayhorn Theater. It all began when Kelsey Keller was earning her Ph.D. in biophysics.

Kelsey Keller is the artistic director for Iron City Aerials. They hang and perform from what are essentially silk scarves and amaze people at public and private events. You can even arrange for an aerial bartender. Kelsey describes what they do as a "combination of dance and acrobatics.”

As a student at Ohio State University, she found the rigorous training for aerial acrobatics a great stress reliever. She said it’s something anybody can do if they aren’t afraid to try new things. Student Shelby Moschell said she “fell in love with it in the first class.”

Keller said that in the future she’d like to open a school teaching all of the circus arts, not just aerial acrobatics.

Bob is a host for JazzWorks. Bob has been working in different areas of the radio industry for 33 years. He thinks “public radio is a forum for ideas and entertainment unavailable on commercial radio and that makes it indispensable.” Bob is a lifelong Pittsburgher who married and raised both of his children in his home city.