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Mikhail Lipyanskiy<\/p>\nNEW YORK (1010 WINS) \u2013 When Megumi Yamada tore her rotator cuff muscle in an aerial silks accident in 2021 \u2014 rendering her unable to perform intricate acts, and at times, get out of bed \u2014 it was a cherry tree in Prospect Park that brought her back to life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got nightmares, woke up and I just cried,\u201d Yamada said. \u201cAnd I didn\u2019t want to call my friends to tell them bad things, really heavy things.\u201d <\/p>\n
The cherry tree was one of her favorite spots in the city, just a three-minute walk away from her home in Crown Heights. That morning, it called to her. \u201cIt was April,\u201d she said. \u201cI was in pajamas, I didn\u2019t even change. And there was a man standing under the cherry blossom tree\u2026.and I saw his face, and suddenly \u2014 \u2018oh, you!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Yamada had run into a longtime friend. She\u2019d been keeping how much her injury had emotionally affected her to herself, but under the tree, she broke down. In New York\u2019s circus scene, Yamada said, survival often depends on a difficult skill for performers: letting other people see when you\u2019re hurting. <\/p>\n
\u201cI felt light,\u201d she said about the conversation. <\/p>\n
Managing gig life <\/p>\n
Born and raised in Kyoto, Yamada began belly dancing and working as a yoga instructor in her mid-twenties, then began training in modern dance and martial arts. But she found herself curious about \u201cmore physical work,\u201d and the intimacy circus performance demanded. <\/p>\n
While in Japan, she visited an aerial silks studio. The difficulty and strength required left her determined. <\/p>\n
\u201cI had a real goal,\u201d Yamada said. \u201cIt had to be a job\u2026the first step was competition.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2013, Yamada won first place in the Amateur Silks Division at PSS Premier International Tournament in Hong Kong. Meeting other performers there inspired her to keep training, and she moved to New York in 2014 to perform full-time. In under four years, Yamada became a finalist in the Silks Division of the U.S. Aerial Championships. Since then, she\u2019s soared into stilt-walking in the Macy\u2019s Thanksgiving Parade, performed at arts festivals around the city and with the artist 50 Cent, and works as a teaching instructor in aerial silks, dance trapeze, and lyra hoop at Manhattan\u2019s CirqeHaus. She also routinely performs with Bindelstiff Family Circus.<\/p>\n
Gig life is busy \u2013 Yamada, fully glammed-out, will take the train with her stilts in a golf bag to an event (\u201cpeople always ask what I\u2019m carrying,\u201d she said) then turn back around within hours to teach. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s also seasonal work, with most of her annual income coming in through the summer and fall. \u201cJanuary to April is kind of quiet,\u201d she explained. \u201cMay, June, July and August \u2013 I have enough gigs.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a lifestyle that pushes performers out. Yamada watched friends and colleagues quit over the years, many during the pandemic, due to the up-and-down nature of the industry. <\/p>\n
\u201cI and some others didn\u2019t quit, because it\u2019s what we want to do for life,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd only those kinds of people survived. We have to practice, and pay for the place [to practice], and everything\u2019s going up \u2026 I try not to get depressed when I\u2019m not getting a lot of gigs\u2026because if my mental is up and down, I\u2019m tired, and not giving my full energy to the audience.\u201d<\/p>\n
She stressed the importance of contracts for artists in keeping stable incomes, but even then, life is never certain. \u201cThe contract will end eventually,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cTelling the story without words\u201d<\/p>\n
Onstage, as Yamada\u2019s body lifts, a story lands. Audience members often approach her afterward, she said, drawn in by the connection they feel to her performances.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe already did some sort of conversation,\u201d Yamada explained of her relationship to the audience. \u201cThey listen to something from me. I\u2019m bringing my energy, and basically telling the story without words.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of her recent routines is an aerial re-telling of the story of Princess Kaguya: a Japanese folktale about a princess discovered as a baby inside a stalk of bamboo and later called back to the moon. Her routine centers around Princess Kaguya\u2019s return. Suspended in silk, she folds and unfurls her body through the air, moving higher and higher as the narrative takes shape. <\/p>\n
\u201cI want to think of new ways we can make peace for the community,\u201d Yamada said. \u201cI grew up in Japan. I want them to come see my performance. Not even [for] me, but just open people\u2019s hearts to different backgrounds. Learning something from a different background \u2013 it\u2019s so fun. Learning from others is a beautiful thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Continuing to fly <\/p>\n
Five years from when Yamada approached her favorite cherry tree in her pajamas, things are looking up: she\u2019s healed enough to be able to soar through the air again, and is working on a new routine. <\/p>\n
\u201cI finally feel my body back to the same sort of level as before, and I feel confident to keep improving my skills\u2026it definitely helped me grow,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Her work hasn\u2019t changed; it still requires time and strength and discipline. But success also relies on the openness within the tight-knit circus community; to be able to lean on others when life gets hard. In teaching, Yamada says that she gets the most joy out of not just supporting students through their challenges, but celebrating their victories. Among her friends, peers and colleagues within the community, it\u2019s similar. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to keep training,\u201d she said. \u201cNot just physically, but mentally\u2026if someone is training, we don\u2019t disturb [them], but if someone needs to talk, we talk. We are strong, but we are very sensitive.\u201d<\/p>\n
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