Flying Fantastic - Club of the Month February 2025

Flying Fantastic are opening the world of inclusive aerials to more of the disabled community than ever before, and it's easy to see why they're our #EveryBodyMoves powered by Toyota Club of the Month Award winners for February 2025 here at ParalympicsGB.

Built on the 3 principles of Inclusivity, Accessibility and Community, this London based club aim to help every body enjoy the freedom of participating in aerials at a level that suits the individual. General Manager and aerials coach, Molly Shooter, told us:

"The fact that aerial does have a rich history in circus means that we look at it and we go, it is something fun, it is something silly and we fully lean into that."

Flying Fantastic's first adaptive client, Meg, shared her experiences: "We have all different kinds of people with disabilities come to the class and it never ceases to amaze me what the instructors come up with. They never really say no to anyone. They're like, okay, we'll find a way."

All participants and coaches told us that there's not a single person that they can't get flying and enjoying aerials in an adapted format. Molly explained more behind that coaching ethos: "it's not the person that needs to adapt to what we're doing. We adapt around them, and to change that mindset of 'everything needs to be so specific'. Because in a lot of places
it's aerial dance and everything is done professionally and perfectly... We don't buy into that."

Ellie, another participant who had actually driven over 90 minutes to join the session, said:

"I didn't know I could do aerial being a wheelchair user but basically that's why it's called accessible aerial, because they always try and make accessibility open to everyone."

Reinforcing the supportive and inclusive environment that aerials and Flying Fantastic create, Alex, a seaoned participant told us: "It's a space where everybody's welcome... I've never been in a space which is so inclusive and I'm able to be myself and I don't have to worry about my disability getting in the way. It (finding the club) meant everything."

With London venues in Union Street and Peckham, the inclusive aerial scence is growing. The club also run training for other coaches and instructors, sharing their experience and knowledge to further expand the culture and skillset to other clubs and venues around the country. 

Congratulations once again to everyone involved with the club and all participants for making us feel so welcome... and even letting the EBM team have a little try ourselves, highly recommended.