Today we’d like to introduce you to Becca Battoe.
Becca, before we jump into specific questions about your work, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
My first memories of feeling like I had a dream were when I was around 2 or 3, and it was at the circus. Watching the girls spinning in the air from the ropes, I knew I wanted to be up there, in front of a crowd. Living in Kentucky, in the 80s, we didn’t have much access to circus arts training, and even if there were, my parents wouldn’t have been able to afford to send me. Instead, I opted to start making up my own dances and creating choreography at home in my living room, where I directed my sisters and friends to perform with me as well. I finally was able to convince my mother to let me take dance classes, and despite my lessons over-drawing her account every month, I had my first professional dance experience with the Louisville Ballet, in The Nutcracker, when I was 12.
In high school, I majored in dance, going to the youth performing arts school in Louisville, Kentucky. I got into acting in college as well and graduated Magna Cum Laude with my BFA (in theatre, emphasis in musical theatre, concentration in dance) early from NKU. Moved to LA to pursue my dream of becoming a successful actor or dancer. It didn’t take me long to land one of my first dream roles, Bombalurina in CATS, and not long after that I got into SAG and booked my first roles in TV series. The first project where a reviewer recognized me as a “rising star” was in a musical called HEAD: THE MUSICAL. The year after that long-running (for LA standards) show ended, I landed the opportunity to voice one of the highest-selling audiobooks of all time, The Fifty Shades of Grey series. That was a wild experience about which I’m currently still working on writing the novel.
As a matter of fact, voicing that series is the thing that got me into writing, and along with my writing partner, Seth Brown, we had two TV series nearly go – one had a development agreement with AdultSwim, and the other, a shopping deal with Electus (a division of IAC). It was during this time that I discovered circus arts and started to become obsessed with Aerial hoop (Lyra). I got super into pole dancing and aerial training and found a home at a local studio. Unfortunately, that studio closed suddenly and left the new family I had created there and me with nowhere like it to train. A couple of the girls and I started training together at parks and one another’s homes, then later decided we would just try to open our own studio. We had tons of visions of programs, events, and other streams of revenue for the studio.
We were all set up, had a business plan, an investor, and everything we needed – but we couldn’t find a location! At the time there was only 1% vacancy in commercial real estate, and our requirements were intense. During this time, I had been working at a bar in Beverly Hills, (as most struggling actors and writers do), and I had been hired out for an event around the corner at Sam Edelman for a special sale day they were having. There was a lovely woman who came into the store, and she was in the back by the bar, talking with me. She complimented my figure, and when I shared with her that I was an aerialist, she jolted and reached for my arm. She said, “baby girl, I was sent here to give you a message…” Me, being the super-spiritual being that I am, was all ears – I’m always ready to receive guidance when it comes, lol – and waited eagerly for her to finish. She continued, “you’re supposed to start an aerial bar catering business, where you pour drinks from the sky.” I thanked her.
I was intrigued and kind of laughed it off, as my business partner for the gym and I had talked about hiring out aerialists for events, but I had never thought of using them to bartend! I brought it up to my partner, to offer it as a service we could add for events hosted at the studio, and put that idea away. Since we couldn’t find a location in a certain amount of time, we ended up losing our investor for the studio. Bummed, I went back to working the bar job in Beverly Hills. I was frustrated working there because it was a fantastic bar, but I found myself, once again, being the only bartender that really cared about being there, and I felt desperate to be working for myself, where I could be in charge of my employees being impassioned. Then, it suddenly hit me one day while I was at work. The night before, a woman had come into my bar, and her name happened to be Angel.
Standing there, my back to where Angel had been sitting the night before, it hits me that she reminded me of the woman from Sam Edelman a few months back. I realize in that moment, that this was the business I was meant to start. I had never seen or even heard of aerial Bartending, but I knew right then that this was my next move. I rushed home to share the idea with my roommate, fellow aerialist, and one of my best friends, Lauren Avon, and together we came up with the name of the business, started brainstorming how it could work and made plans to put this all into effect. That was around august of 2018, and by the end of September, I had formed the LLC, gotten all my insurance and licenses, and decided it was time to take the plunge.
Our first party was a soft launch/promo shoot/what the hell are we doing and how will this work(!?!) event, hosted in my home, with about 30 of our closest friends and supporters as attendees. From that media, I started building the website and social platforms, cut our first promo commercial, and learned A LOT about what was needed for this to be successful and to work. We had our first few paying parties by spring 2019, one being for a small (30 person) birthday party in Beverly Hills, hosted by Red Bull, and another 1000 person event at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. We have an exciting holiday season coming up, a couple of weddings early 2020, and I’m really hoping we continue to grow and expand more as we get to be more well known in the industry.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Oh, man… the road is all about the bumps and struggles. If I had been super successful in any of the other avenues in my life up to this point, I wouldn’t have even found this lifelong passion of mine, nor been able to create something so incredibly unique. My struggles have been many, from real physical trauma and assault to being blacklisted in certain industries, I’ve been through so much. But, I have to say, I’m honestly so incredibly grateful for each and every obstacle that I’ve faced. They’ve made me stronger, smarter, more intuitive, and I’m finally learning to trust myself and the universe for whatever happens next.
Please tell us more about your work.
We are an aerial bar catering company. Meaning, we serve drinks from the sky at events and weddings. Think Cirque du Soleil performers serving drinks to event guests. We specialize in craft cocktails, and we pour specialty drinks, wine & beer from the air. We also have bartenders on the floor and can provide any type of circus entertainment for events and festivals.
I didn’t know until after starting the business that there even was such a thing as aerial bartending… Apparently, there are aerialists who get hired out to events that will do 10-15 minute sets of pouring wine or champagne from a static trapeze, or most often, aerial hammock, at an event, a couple of times per night. Aerialogists, on the other hand, work on a Lyra, and spend most of the hour in the air for each hour we are hired to perform. Bonus: you always get two of us, so at the end of the night, or at the end of each hour, we also perform a duo act on the hoop as well.
Being completely licensed and insured as both a bar catering business and as specialty performers, having a background in both the catering industry as well as the performance industry, and having an amazing team of incredibly beautiful and talented contractors, makes what Aerialogists has to offer, unlike anything other aerial bar companies are able to provide.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I could never get enough of anything. I wanted to do it all, and I worked my butt off in everything that I set my mind to do. I was always top of my class, started taking advanced classes in third grade, and continued this scholastic aptitude through college, even taking 29 credit hours the first semester of my senior year, all while having two jobs and partying like a rockstar every weekend. As a child, I was always a producer. For my birthday parties, instead of pin the tail on the donkey or other party games, I’d pair up my friends and other guests, and assign each team a skill or talent to provide. Then, at the end of the party, I’d sit all the parents down, and we would perform a show for everyone. I was always going and creating throughout my adolescence, all the way up into my adulthood, to now.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.Aerialogists.com
- Phone: 310-497-7889
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @aerialogists
- Facebook: Facebook.com/aerialogists
- Twitter: @aerialogists
- Other: www.beccabattoe.com
Image Credit:
Daniel Sliwa, Zach Villa, photographers
Lauren Avon, Amber Boumenot, Amilia Brady, pictured
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