Duluth dancer's act reaches new heights

Suspended dancing
Aerialist Ernesto Lea Place is suspended about 25 feet in the air as he does the splits during a performance at the Clyde Iron Works on Sunday, Jan. 9, 2011, in Duluth, Minn. Lea Place performs various aerial stunts using a 30-foot piece of fabric suspended from the rafters of the restaurant.
AP Photo/Duluth News Tribune, Clint Austin

By CHRISTA LAWLER, Duluth News Tribune

DULUTH, Minn. (AP) - If you didn't know better, you might think the 30-foot length of red silk hanging from the rafters of Clyde Iron Works is a leftover holiday decoration.

That is, until the noise of the football game playing on the televisions in the bar area is muted in favor of dance music, and Ernesto Lea Place begins his Spider-Manish ascent - bucking and pulling himself up the stretchy fabric.

Lea Place, one of the newer company members at the Minnesota Ballet, has picked up a weekend gig spiraling, posing and twisting in the air.

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The aerialist performs two shows, each about the length of two and a half songs, at about 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Sundays, entertaining diners at Clyde Iron Works.

"I'm kind of a daredevil," he admitted after his first performance on a recent day.

Lea Place, barefoot and in a pair of tight pants and a tight shirt, climbed to the upper third of the silks. He flipped upside down. He wrapped the fabric around his body and posed, his toes pointed and his hands sculpted in a way that nodded toward his background in ballet.

Suspended-dancing
Aerialist Ernesto Lea Place hangs from a 30-foot piece of fabric during a performance at the Clyde Iron Works on Sunday, Jan. 9, 2011, in Duluth, Minn.
AP Photo/Duluth News Tribune, Clint Austin

He climbed higher, his body itself a sort of wave. His movements created a harness from the fabric from which he could dangle and spin. He wrapped himself up, and performed a few 15-foot drops, like controlled free falls. He posed in the splits, red fabric gathered at his ankle. He also hung from one leg above the cement floor of the lobby of the restaurant.

Lea Place doesn't fear falling, he said. He does fear getting tied up in a position he cannot get out of.

"It's making knots with your body that you can get in and out of," he said.

The restaurant's kitchen staff wandered out to watch the show recently. They were a handful of white coats on the sidelines.

Zach Moniz, a cook, said he has seen Lea Place's show about six times, and he always tries to get a peek when he begins performing.

"It's pretty crazy," Moniz said. "It takes a lot of upper body strength. I don't think I could do it."

Lucy Fabeck had balcony rail side seats for both performance and provided applause.

"It's something I've never seen," she said. She had come to Clyde Iron Works with her granddaughter specifically to see the show. "It was all so good."

Mike O'Hara, who helps with events at the restaurant and entertainment space, said he has friends in common with the dancer and thought it would make a nice fit in the restaurant. Lea Place also has a silk hanging in the entertainment venue, where he practices his moves.

"This is a fantastic opportunity for both of us," O'Hara said. "It's great for the city. A regular artistic display you wouldn't seen anywhere else in town. We're probably the only ones with a high enough ceiling."

Alex Loch, who also trains with the Minnesota Ballet, is learning to perform with Lea Place. On a recent Sunday, he worked as an assistant, getting the silks ready, watching the performance, and re-grouping with Lea Place after each bit.

Loch, who has a gymnastics background, said he still needs to work on strengthening his hands.

Lea Place moved to the United States from Argentina was he was 14 years old. Back in Buenos Aires, he had been heavily involved in theater. He didn't know English when his family moved to Florida, and wasn't able to perform in that same way. Instead, he graduated to dance. He has performed with the Orlando Ballet and Nashville Ballet, and got into the cirque-style performances about two years ago.

"I've always loved acrobatics and the flying aspect of it," he said.

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Information from: Duluth News Tribune

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)