Alley Aerial Fest 2011 - What Weekly Magazine

Graffiti Alley in Station North is a veritable gallery of work by some of Baltimore’s less than conventional visual artists. There’s an explosion of color and profusion of inventive urban design waiting to meet you once you enter the corridors behind Load of Fun Studios. It’s absolutely stunning and one of the most unique art spaces in the city. Here lies the perfect setting for an annual festival that typifies the individuality and idiosyncrasy that has come to define the Baltimore art scene.

In-Flight Theater’s Alley Arial Festival is a showcase for the exploration of aerial theater that broadens the definition of the art form. Here is where we get to see Baltimore artists setting trends instead of following them. This year’s festival featured an eclectic assemblage of performers, from those who displayed an impressive level of strength, endurance, and grace, to yet others who explored music, prose, and performance art with rigging as their stage. The entire afternoon was framed by a quirky, comical, vaudevillian narrative expertly acted out by founders of the festival and hosts, Mara Neimanis and Tim Scofield.

One can’t help but believe that this is a festival that will continue to grow and work its way into the mythos that will define the brilliant convergence of creativity that is currently shaping our city.