Aerial Silks Near Me in San Francisco: Circus Center's Old Gym

Circus Center teaches aerial silks inside the old West Gym of Polytechnic High School at 755 Frederick Street, just past Arguello and a five-minute walk from Golden Gate Park. Its Intro to Silks class meets Thursdays from 7:30 to 8:55pm, holds six students, and costs $45 as a drop-in. The nonprofit school traces its history to the Pickle Family Circus, which makes it the most storied answer in the city to a search for aerial silks near me.

The story begins in 1974, when Peggy Snider and Larry Pisoni founded the Pickle Family Circus, the Bay Area troupe the school credits with kicking off America's circus renaissance. Ten years later, two Pickle members, Wendy Parkman and Judy Finelli, opened the San Francisco School for Circus Arts to train young performers. It was renamed Circus Center in 2001, and the school still holds memorial shows in Finelli's name.

In 1993 the school moved from its first home in an old church into the vacant West Gym of Polytechnic High School, where it remains. Master Lu Yi, a teacher of Chinese acrobatics, trained students here until he retired in 2014. Russian trapeze artist Elena Panova, a graduate of Moscow's Circus and Variety College, still teaches on Saturdays and Sundays. Several former students went on to Cirque du Soleil and The 7 Fingers.

There are two starting points. Intro to Silks, also listed as tissu or fabric, runs Thursdays from 7:30 to 8:55pm with Ashe Giovanni and is the direct route if you already know silks is the apparatus you want. Intro to Mixed Aerials, taught on weekends by Elena Panova, rotates through static trapeze, rope and silks and covers the foot key, hip key, knee hang and basic beats, with no prerequisites. A third option, Intro to Sling & Silks, meets Tuesdays at 6pm.

Beyond the intro classes, Silks 1 on Wednesdays at 8pm with Landyn Endo works on climbs, locks, holds and the first drops, and Silks 2 meets Thursdays at 6pm. Any class above intro needs instructor approval. Silks Performance, on Wednesday evenings and Sunday afternoons, asks students to commit to the whole session for the winter showcase, and the school warns that costume fees may be added.

Every regular silks class lasts 85 minutes and caps at six students, which leaves plenty of time on the fabric but also means intro dates fill. In the Momence booking system, several late-October and early-November Intro to Silks dates already showed every spot taken, so book a week or two out, or join the waitlist and keep the Tuesday sling class as a backup.

The fall 2026 term runs from September 8 to December 13, with no classes from November 23 to 27. You can enroll for the whole session and get 15 percent off; for Intro to Silks that came to $497.25 for the term. Or you can drop in, where an 85-minute class costs $45, or 1.5 credits. The school recommends session enrollment because it guarantees your spot every week.

Credit packs are the middle ground. A six-pack costs $171 and expires one month after its first use, a twelve-pack costs $324 and lasts three months, and a twenty-four-pack costs $612 for six months. Credits start counting down from the day of your first booked class, not the day you buy them. Card payments carry a 2 percent fee, and the school states plainly that it does not offer refunds or extensions.

Private lessons are an option if group classes keep filling up. Ashe Giovanni lists $90 an hour for one student or $140 for two, and Sidonie Horn lists $100 for one or $150 for two. One private hour before your first group class can be worth it if you are nervous about climbing in front of others.

Adult classes are for ages 16 and up; anyone under 18 needs a guardian to sign the waiver. Wear fitted clothes like yoga or dance wear, nothing baggy, and pants that cover your knees for apparatus classes. Drop-in students can cancel more than 24 hours ahead and keep the credit, while later cancellations lose it. If you enroll for the whole session, missed classes are not made up.

The building is a historic school gym, and the school says it is not completely wheelchair accessible. It also warns visitors that the AcroSports building next door looks just like it, so check the number before you walk in. The front desk is staffed until 9pm on weekdays and 4:30pm on weekends, and the gym itself is open Monday to Friday from noon to 10pm and on weekends from 10am to 5pm.

The room mixes absolute beginners with people who are much further along. The same building runs the audition-only San Francisco Youth Circus, a full-size indoor flying trapeze rig the school calls the Bay Area's only permanent one, and classes in acrobatics, contortion, juggling and clowning. So the building you train in is shared with students heading for professional careers, which is part of the appeal for many adult beginners.

Google reviewers rate the school 4.7 out of 5 across about 250 reviews, praising encouraging and knowledgeable staff, though some reviews mention concerns about leadership changes and instructors running late. That matches the honest picture: the teaching pedigree is real, but this is a busy nonprofit, not a boutique studio, so expect a shared front desk and a gym that feels like a gym.

Golden Gate Park's southeastern corner is a five-minute walk north. Kezar Stadium, at 670 Stanyan Street in that corner of the park, is the 1925 stadium where the 49ers played their early decades and the home ground of San Francisco City FC today. A loop past the stadium and along the park's eastern edge is a gentle way to cool down after an evening silks class.

If you arrive early, Cole Valley's small shopping strip around Cole and Carl Streets is a few blocks south, a short walk if you want a coffee before class. Parking is hard here, and the school itself says so: the ABC lot at Frederick and Stanyan charges $3 for the first hour and $20 at most, and free three-hour spots exist inside Golden Gate Park.

Address: Circus Center, 755 Frederick Street, San Francisco, CA 94117. Muni: N Judah to Carl and Hillway, then walk through Parkview Commons; the 7 bus stops at Frederick and Arguello; the 6, 33 and 43 stop a short walk away. Hours: Monday to Friday noon to 10pm, Saturday and Sunday 10am to 5pm. No classes November 23 to 27, 2026.

Book through the Momence schedule on circuscenter.org, check the class length (85 minutes for silks) and keep your credits' one-month expiry in mind if you buy the six-pack. Bring water, long fitted leggings and a top that will not ride up when you invert. Circus Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and a scholarship program supports young artists who cannot afford training.