Looking to try something new? Circus arts are part of the focus for this new State College gym

At a Tuesday night practice at the Phoenix Academy, after the gymnasts had warmed up with forward and backward rolls and practiced their floor routines, their instructor, Finda Reichert, called them all to the mat.

Their teammate Jenna was on “injured reserve,” Reichert said, but she wanted to do her Michael Jackson routine. “So we have to do it for her.”

The gymnasts, who ranged from pre-teens to high schoolers, all lined up on the mat and struck a pose like they were holding the brims of imaginary hats.

When the music — a medley of “Smooth Criminal” and “Beat It” — started, the gymnasts launched into the floor routine, with varying degrees of success. Jenna led them, laughing and calling out each move; the group skipped the tumbling passes but included the moonwalking.

When they finished, several girls declared they wanted to do the Michael Jackson routine next year. Reichert told them they could take a break. The practice would last for at least another hour.

Reichert and Dmitry Myers had been working with this team of gymnasts for years before recently opening the Phoenix Academy of Performing Arts of Pennsylvania, where they now teach gymnastics, circus arts and dance. On some levels, not much has changed for the academy’s core group of gymnasts.

But for Reichert and Myers, their new gym — located at 118 Hawbaker Industrial Drive in State College — is an opportunity not just to introduce circus arts to Centre County, but to foster an environment for positivity that prioritizes students’ well-being.

Rising from the ashes

Two years ago, Reichert and Myers were working at Nittany Gymnastics. Reichert was the head coach of the USA International Gymnastics Club team and Myers was an instructor and an “honorary member” of the USAIGC team, Reichert said.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nittany Gymnastics closed for good last fall.

Sophia Andrzhievsky, 11, said Nittany Gymnastics was still reeling from the “devastating” loss of its founder, Mike Rizzuto, when the pandemic started, and COVID was the final nail in the coffin.

Reichert’s team’s future at that point was entirely uncertain, and she told the gymnasts she would have “zero hard feelings” if they moved to another gym.

“They were very, very vocal and adamant about ‘we are not going anywhere else,’” Reichert said.

So Reichert and her team met over Zoom, sometimes with other IGC teams. Once they could meet in person, Reichert and Myers started holding practices with just five gymnasts, all socially distanced. They spent a couple of months practicing at Fearless Athletics, then rented an empty gym for a while.

Meanwhile, gymnast Emma Regel said, the team would wildly speculate with every new development, like when new tape marks would show up on the floor.

“All the teammates were (sharing) conspiracy theories,” the high school senior said. “Like, ‘Oh my gosh, are Finda and Dmitry gonna buy equipment for the gym?’”

After about a year of looking, Reichert and Myers found their current location — which is big enough to hold multiple gymnastics classes, with tall enough ceilings to hold circus equipment.

Much of the equipment in the Phoenix Academy is from Nittany Gymnastics, which has sentimental value to Reichert, Myers and the team.

“I remember where everything was in the old gym, how we stocked it in the storage place. I really feel connected to the gym that way,” Regel said. “Underneath the floor, even though the floor covering is new, it’s the same springs as Nittany (Gymnastics).”

“That’s where our name comes from,” Reichert said. “We chose the Phoenix because of the literal meaning and the beauty of it. Things can fall down and burn around you but you can build back up from the ashes and build something even stronger, even more beautiful.”

An introduction to circus arts

Myers and Reichert always planned to include circus arts and dance in the Phoenix Academy. Myers, who started taking gymnastics classes when he was three, said he’s been interested in circus arts since he was six or seven.

“Gymnastics is circus, it’s dance, it’s theater, you can really express yourself within routines,” Myers said. “Bringing those three things together really made sense to us.”

Myers trained at a circus school in Canada and then at Circus Warehouse in New York City, then spent several years performing for companies including Cirque du Soleil. He returned to State College, his hometown, excited to bring circus arts to the area.

“You can really do a lot with a small town,” Myers said. “It is such a blank canvas to build a new foundation for the culture of an art form.”

Myers already has several students, including some adults.

“We love when men and women come in and they’re like, ‘I just always wanted to try this. Do you have space for me? Would they be OK if I tried it?’” Reichert said. “The answer is always absolutely yes. That’s exactly what we’re here for.”

Brielle Long, one of Myers’ younger students, became interested in circus arts after watching “The Greatest Showman.” She said she was surprised at how quickly she’s progressed.

Long has learned tricks including “half angel,” “bluebird” and “mermaid” on the hoop.

“It’s just super cool to learn something different that not a lot of people think about doing,” Long said.

After warm-ups and conditioning, Myers will help his students into an apparatus — like the hoop or trapeeze — and they practice different grips and tricks. The average practice ends with handstands and stretching, Myers said.

Myers said the skills Phoenix Academy students learn are the same skills professional circus performers use, and he hopes to create a professional circus class in the next few years.

“We do straps, we have hand balancing, we have ropes. We will have swinging trapeze in the coming year. We have lyra. We have some juggling stuff,” Myers said. “It’s the real deal.”

A focus on well-being, meeting goals

Since the Phoenix Academy opened, the gymnastics students on Reichert’s team now take weekly ballet lessons with Myers and have tried out some of the circus equipment.

Reichert said one of the benefits of the Phoenix Academy is that she can run the gym using her approach to teaching, which emphasizes positivity and students’ well-being.

Reichert said she hopes the Phoenix Academy develops a reputation for having a holistic approach to their students, and she’s “serious about (hiring) teachers and professionals in here that know how to work with kids in a very positive manner.”

“A few of my gymnasts have tried other places or started at other places. And one compliment that I got would just be that like, ‘Oh, you have fun and you win,’” Reichert said. “The two can go hand in hand. You can still have fun at practice and be successful at competition.”

Reichert said part of the reason she and Myers work so well together is their shared view of their goals as teachers.

“We’re here to help anybody that comes in, whatever discipline they’re talking about, whether it’s gymnastics, circus or dance, we want to help them set the goal that they want to accomplish,” Reichert said. “And the biggest thing for me is when they leave this gym for the last time, my goal ... is that they walk out stronger and more confident and just ready to take on their next challenge in life.”