Capital of Texas Aerial Championships, Austin

Once a year inside the Palmer Events Center, aerialists and pole dancers come together to put on quite the show. Like a menagerie of fauna in a jungle, they perform acrobatic moves midair and seemingly defy gravity thanks to toned cores and upper-body strength gained from months or years of practice. But they don't work in unison to create their performance. Rather, they compete against one another as entrants in the Capital of Texas Aerial Championships. In this two-day event, they split into various groups based on their specialty, be it silks, aerial hoops, trapeze, or pole for a range of experience levels, which gives them a chance to take their individual practice into the realm of competitive showmanship.