From small gym to international contenders, aerial athletes and coach find fast success

Inside an unassuming warehouse in northwest Sioux Falls, young girls are combining dance, gymnastics and acrobatics while suspended high above the ground.

This is the new training ground for Midwest Aerial Athletics, a gym that marks its grand opening at 800 N. Ebenezer Ave. this weekend while finding such early success that several of its athletes soon will head to international competition.

Owner Tasha Jenson has coached a competitive team for five years, “but this is the first time we’ve gone to a competition of this magnitude,” she said. “I tend to be a more competitive coach. I like competition and training athletes to be the best they can be.”

Earlier this summer, five of her athletes scored well enough at a qualifier for the USAAO, or U.S. Aerial Arts Organization, that they will represent Team USA at the World Championships in Aruba in August — one as an alternate. For context, there are about two dozen members of the entire team. Five, ranging in age from 12 to 17, are from the Sioux Falls program.

“That is really good,” Jenson acknowledged. “What made them stand out is we had a very high focus on technique. That was the biggest difference I saw. All my athletes had straight legs, pointed toes, dance and gymnastics training, and they had the musicality. So they were expressing themselves with their faces and movements as they’re doing a really hard routine.”

A top finisher, 12-year-old Blythe Halfpop from Sioux Falls who is headed to Aruba, has participated in the sport for only about two years after being introduced to it at a camp, then a birthday party.

She now trains five days a week.

“She found out she was good at it, and it got a lot more exciting,” her mother, Sarah Halfpop said. “We bought an aerial rig for our house, and she started training on that every day and got some more advanced moves by just hanging on the lyra down in our basement.”

Athletes in aerial compete as individuals in disciplines such as aerial hoop, hammock and silks.

The sport itself is pursuing a path toward becoming an Olympic event. It follows the same rules as Olympic gymnastics in that athletes perform to music without lyrics and wear the same attire. Scores start at 150 points and are deduced from there, with judges assessing difficulty and execution with an eye toward strength, flexibility and power moves.

“I’ve never been one to watch sports, but watching aerial is so artistic and beautiful,” Halfpop said. “But at the same time, there’s the athletic part because there’s so much strength that goes into it. I’ve tried it and can hardly pull myself up off the ground, so to see the strength she’s gaining as a young girl is so impressive to me.”

They connected with Jenson shortly after she returned to Sioux Falls. The coach, now gym owner, started training here 11 years ago at age 15 before earning a degree in exercise science from Minnesota State University.

She founded her gym inside 605 Ninja in 2021 before moving to her own space in recent months.

“We were at 605 a really long time, and I saw how much aerial could grow if we were given more space and attention, and I decided it was time to branch out and start a new thing,” Jenson said. “I don’t take risks. I take very educated guesses, so I knew it would be OK. But I didn’t know it would be this successful this quickly.”

Most athletes competing with her today have trained with her from three to seven years and come from Sioux Falls and the surrounding area.

“She is such an incredible coach and has been so pivotal in Blythe advancing so quickly,” Halfpop said. “She’s only been doing it a couple years, and during that time, she’s moved from being a beginner to an elite aerialist. The level of coaching is just absolutely incredible.”

As an athlete, “I love Tasha. She has helped me out a lot,” Blythe Halfpop said. “She pushes me and is just very supportive.”

The 12-year-old said she’s working on her strength and flexibility while continually learning new skills. At the new gym, “it’s really fun because our ceilings are higher,” she added. “You can do a little more than you could at our old gym, and I really like that.”

The new gym gives a 40-foot height for routines, “which is crazy, so it’s a big advantage for them to get used to any type of rigging,” Jenson said. “That changes how the silk and apparatus feels, so when they travel there’s no shock.”

The new gym even will host the USAAO Team USA Midwest Qualifiers in November.

“We’re hoping gyms come to us and want to make this bigger,” Jenson said.

In addition to its high-level competitive team, Midwest Aerial Athletics has capacity for more than 100 students of all levels.

“We’re able to offer classes whenever people are available because of the flexibility of where we’re located and the instructors,” Jenson said.

Midwest Aerial Athletics will host a grand opening from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, July 19, at 800 N. Ebenezer Ave., including “try it” stations for kids, athlete performances and interactive activities.

For the Halfpop family,  aerial has “been like a whirlwind,” Sarah Halfpop said. “This isn’t like what I expected to come out of aerial. Blythe will say, ‘I can’t even believe this is my life, that we get to travel and do all this fun stuff.’ We just signed up after a birthday party to keep them active, and now our world revolves around it. But in a good way.”