The silk banner strung high from the ceiling hangs limp in waiting. She takes a step forward, determination set in her eyes. The material wraps tight around her hands as she flips herself into the air. She climbs, drops, flips, creating nothing but a skilled and calculated routine to supply beauty for all who witness it.

Embracing the sky with silks supporting her flight, sophomore Layla Harris performs an uncommon hobby by doing   acrobatics using aerial silks.

“If I could describe silks to someone I would describe it as flying,” Harris said.

Harris has been doing silks for a year and was inspired to do them by her mom Toni Harris, who has always had a passion for the activity and circus related sports for quite a while.

“I was a gymnast my whole childhood until senior year of high school, and have always been fascinated with circus arts,” Toni said. “I choose to continue silks because it makes me feel strong, and graceful. It’s meditative, and slows me to express myself through music and dance, and give me another outlet to be acrobatic.”

Harris feels as if silks has become a huge part of who she is and holds deep value to her.

“When I was going through a rough time silks was where I went to get out of my own head,” Layla said.

Layla’s passion for the sport is known through her family, including her mother and sister Sophia Harris, who is a level two in silks.

“Silks is a big part of Layla’s life. Layla loves silks and she works really hard for what she wants,” Sophia said.

Silks requires a lot of focus and can only be done well through relaxing the body, clearing away a person’s stress and putting all focus on performance.

“If I couldn’t do silks anymore I would be very sad because silks is what I do to calm down after a long day,” Layla said.

The sport of aerial silks is as strenuous as it is uncommon. Watching a performance the toll it takes on the performer’s body and mind is evident. Layla always strives to do her best though and can only be described as undeniably driven, which is what it takes to do aerial stunts.

“I’ve seen Layla do silks a lot and I think she’s amazing,” Sophia said. “You can tell she really tries to be good and she is.”

Silks is considered a sport, meaning it is time consuming, but Layla still manages to balance her schedule around everything to make time for what she enjoys, such as silks and theatre as well.

“Yes, Layla is dedicated to silks, however she is also dedicated to theatre so silks only occupies fifty percent of her extracurricular activities, which is perfect,” Toni said.

There are many parts to performing on silks, such as falling and twisting the performer’s bodies in ways to reflect a dance that entice the watcher and are fun for the performer.

“My favorite part is dropping and being caught by the silk,” Layla said.

Silks is enjoyed by many and can be done by almost anyone. It’s an eye-catching activity that is possible to stick with a person forever, like it has with Layla.

“I plan to do silks until I physically cannot,” Layla said.

Layla enjoys her aerial talent and plans to stick with it for as long as she can. She’s accompanied by her mother and sister, who both seeing how much Layla’s uncommon passion means to her. Aerial silks is a complicated sport that when it comes down to it is a major portion of what makes Layla who she is.

“People should do silks because it builds muscle and is very relaxing experience,” Layla said. “Once you get the ‘hang’ of it.”