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      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.


      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.


      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.

Gallery

Arts and Culture

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 at Duluth's Clyde Iron Works.

Duluth dancer's act reaches new heights

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