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New hangout: Inversions Circus Arts & Performance Center finds new home near sculpture fields
If you go
Inversions Circus Arts & Performance Center is located at 2315 Cannon Ave., just off Rossville Boulevard near E. 23rd Street. Learn more online at www.southsideinversions.com or at www.facebook.com/southsideinversions or call 423-682-8219.
One woman had on a pair of Birkenstock sandals - and another wore clear plastic 7-inch heels - one recent afternoon at Inversions Circus Arts & Performance Center.
It's a new Chattanooga business that's a mecca for those interested in learning "circus arts."
These arts range from the gravity-defying skill of dangling from two long strips of fabric called "aerial silks" like those used in Cirque du Soleil performances to "pole arts," which is based on pole dancing, a staple of strip clubs that's gone mainstream as a fun way to exercise.
Hula-hooping, juggling and swinging from trapezes are some of the other skills taught by the center at 2315 Cannon Ave. near Rossville Boulevard and E. 23rd Street in an industrial-looking building with ceilings that vary in height from 30 feet to 20 feet to 12 feet.
"What we do here as a circus center is training," said Jen Keehn, the business' owner and director.
Keehn recently bought the building, which formerly housed an automotive business, and launched the Inversions Circus Arts & Performance Center.
Her business is sort of the big tent that houses a variety of smaller business.
For example, Keehn runs her other business there, Chattanooga Aerials, which focuses on teaching Cirque du Soleil-style skills. And Keehn leases space to other businesses, including Party Girls Dance & Fitness Studio, which specializes in pole arts.
"Chattanooga's finally big enough to sustain a circus community," Keehn said.
Chattanooga Aerials previously was housed in leased space on Lee Highway in East Brainerd, but Keehn had to find a new location because that building was sold.
On a recent afternoon, women hung from the aerial silks, while men and women juggled, practiced acrobatic formations on the ground and swung from circus rings.
Keehn plans to introduce other circus arts, such as slacklining, a form of tightrope walking along a strip of webbing suspended between two anchors.
"The big thing now is slacklining," Keehn said. She may introduce actual tightrope walking, too.
Pole arts - an Olympic sport?
The separate section of the building used by Party Girls Dance & Fitness Studio has a strip club feel to it, with mirrors along the walls, music pumping, and party lights flashing rainbow colors on the walls, floors and ceiling of the dimly-lit space.
The business' owner - an experienced burlesque dancer who legally changed her name to Dorothy Demure - wears 7-inch, clear, plastic heels as she instructs students in such classes as go-go dancing, burlesque and twerk fit.
Participants can grab a feather boa or hula-hoop as they work out and get a hard workout - that's fun, Demure said.
"That's the fun of it - you're dancing and you don't realize that you're working out," she said.
Participants are mainly women.
"A few [men]. Not many," Demure said. "They want to come and watch, but they don't want to participate, and this is a participatory class."
Pole arts is growing in popularity, she said. The International Pole Dance Fitness Association would like to see it become an Olympic event.
"They're trying to get pole arts in the Olympics," Demure said.
Party Girls charges package prices for classes. For example, six twerk fit classes cost $50. Keehn uses a membership model for Chattanooga Aerials, with monthly memberships starting at $50.
Keehn, 30, majored in dance at Chattanooga State University and got interested in circus arts a number of years ago through Chattanooga Aerials, a business founded by Amy Powell. Keehn worked there as an instructor, and then bought Chattanooga Aerials in 2013.
Keehn paid $265,000 for the Cannon Avenue building.
BrightBridge, a private, non-profit corporation in Chattanooga that's dedicated to economic development, helped Keehn get a $250,000 Community Advantage loan through the federal Small Business Administration (SBA).
That made Inversions Circus Arts & Performance Center the first building to be purchased in Chattanooga under this SBA program, said BrightBridge's President Mike Ohlman.
"As an alternative funding source, BrightBridge does not compete with commercial lenders but uses its funding in combination with bank loans," Ohlman said. "Our goal is to bridge the gap between the level of funding needed by small business and what private lenders can offer."
Contact staff writer Tim Omarzu at tomarzu@timesfreepress.com or www.facebook.com/MeetsForBusiness or on Twitter @meetforbusiness or 423-757-6651.