Aerial Silks Near Me in Chelsea: Body & Pole's Intro to Silk

Body & Pole teaches aerial silks from a storefront at 115 W. 27th St., between Sixth and Seventh Avenues in Chelsea, and your first Intro to Silk class costs $25 if you have never booked there before. The 10,000-square-foot building holds five studios, two changing rooms and a front-desk shop, and the schedule lists more than 170 classes a week across pole, hoop, hammock, flexibility and silk. If you typed aerial silks near me from Midtown or Penn Station, this is the biggest aerial floor within a short walk.

The studio started as a pole program, not a circus school. Co-founder Lian Tal Lebret, a former Israeli army soldier turned video editor, met dancer Kyra Johannesen in 2006 when she wandered out of a gym yoga class and into Kyra's pole class. Lian later taught from her apartment, rented a small room in a Nolita yoga studio in December 2009, and opened a single-room space on Fifth Avenue in April 2010.

Aerial came with the move. In January 2012 Body & Pole relocated to the current Chelsea building and added aerial classes to the schedule, then in 2013 took over the storefront and the basement as well. That history explains the layout: Studio D sits on the ground floor behind the lounge, Studios A, B and C share the second floor, and Studio E is in the basement next to a second changing room.

Intro to Silk assumes zero experience. According to the studio's silk page, class starts on the floor with strength, flexibility and conditioning drills, then moves to basic climbs, wrist locks and foot locks, and finishes with using the fabric to practice inversions. Classes put two people on each apparatus, so you will spend part of the time spotting your partner, catching your breath and watching how their foot wrap sits before you try it yourself.

The studio recommends taking Intro to Silk at least five times before moving up, unless an instructor approves you sooner. The shortcut checklist for Aerial Silk Level 1 is specific: figure-8 foot locks in the air, a basic climb on both sides to the top of the fabric, wrist locks, and holding the top of a pull-up for three seconds. Level 2 adds spinning and drops, and expects hip keys, catcher's wraps and inverting at the top.

If the long fabric feels intimidating, Intro to Hammock uses a single loop of fabric instead, and teaches you to enter and exit the sling before moving on to wraps above it. Students who like it continue to Aerial Hammock Level 1, whose prerequisites include an unassisted pull-up, a straddle inversion in the sling and a climb to hip key. Many regulars rotate between silk, hoop and hammock in the same week.

Body & Pole's pricing page lists two first-visit offers for new clients. The single First Visit Rate is $25 for one class, valid for 30 days. The more popular option is the First Visit Package, $99 for your first five classes, which works out to $20 a class and also expires 30 days after purchase. You can only buy one of the two, and they apply to any intro class, including Intro to Silk.

After that, a single class is $48, a five-class package is $210 and a ten-class package is $399, both valid for three months from purchase. A ten-class auto-renew package costs $359 with a two-package commitment. Committed students can take the Monthly Unlimited membership at $545 a month with a three-month minimum, which includes open workouts and free mat rental. Private sessions run $135 an hour for one person or $195 for two.

The late policy is printed in capital letters for a reason: if you arrive after class starts, you will not be let in, you cannot switch to another day and you will not be refunded. The FAQ adds that the studio does not let students in earlier than 10 minutes before their class, so plan to arrive almost exactly on time. On your first visit you must show photo ID, and the desk takes a photo for your account after you sign the electronic waiver.

For silk and hoop, wear fitted clothes that cover the backs of your knees and your torso, because fabric friction burns bare skin. Jewelry is banned in every aerial class, since rings and earrings can snag or damage the equipment and you will be held responsible. There are open locker rooms and private changing stations but no showers, so most people who come at lunch keep a spare shirt in their bag.

Cancellation is a 12-hour window. Cancel earlier and the credit returns to your account; cancel later and it is gone, while unlimited members pay a $25 late-cancel or no-show fee. Classes with fewer than six students can be cancelled as late as two hours before start. If a class is full, join the waitlist, but treat it as a booking, because you can be added automatically until three hours before class.

The studio's testimonial page gives a fair picture of the crowd. One student wrote that she started with pole classes seven years earlier to lose weight and stayed for the friends she made; another said that even as a newcomer she was welcomed by the regular students. The studio's press list leans on pole, with 2019 coverage of Jennifer Lopez's Hustlers training, but one listed feature follows instructor Chiara through a student's very first silk class.

Classes fill quickly, and the FAQ says walk-ins are accepted only when a class has space. Book through the Mindbody schedule or the Body & Pole app a few days ahead rather than gambling on a walk-in spot. If every Intro to Silk slot that week is full, Intro to Hoop or Intro to Hammock are the closest alternatives, and the first-visit offers apply to any intro class.

An honest note: if you only want one class to try silks for a photo, the $25 first visit is good value, but the $48 drop-in rate after that is high for a single hour. If you think you will come back, buy the $99 five-class starter instead of the single rate, because you cannot switch to it later. Open Workout at $25 is also only useful once you can climb, since no monitor is present.

Cross Seventh Avenue and The Museum at FIT, at 227 West 27th Street, is free to enter. It opens Wednesday to Friday from noon to 8pm and on weekends from 10am to 5pm, closed Monday and Tuesday, so it fits neatly after a weekend morning silk class. The museum is run by the Fashion Institute of Technology, and its galleries show rotating fashion exhibitions drawn from its permanent collection.

One block north, West 28th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues is the remaining stretch of the Chelsea flower district, where wholesalers stack buckets of branches and potted plants on the sidewalk. Your forearms will be tired after class, so keep the walk short and head to the 28th Street station on the 1, R or W line.

Address: Body & Pole, 115 W. 27th St., storefront, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues, New York, NY 10001. Subway: R, W or 1 to 28th Street, 6 to 28th Street, F or M to 23rd Street, or any line to 34th Street–Herald Square or Penn Station. PATH riders can use the 23rd or 33rd Street stops.

Bring water, fitted long leggings, a top that covers your stomach, and nothing metal. Mats and knee pads are available to rent at the front desk, and rosin and grip products are sold there. Children are not allowed in class, but kids 12 and older may wait unsupervised in the lounge after a parent signs a waiver. All purchases are non-refundable and expiry dates are not extended, so count your free evenings before you buy a package.