Acrobat hire in Australia: the complete guide

There are two kinds of acrobatic booking and the difference between them is about eight metres of air. A ground act needs a patch of floor and a mat. An aerial act needs something structural to hang from, rated and signed off by someone who knows what they're doing. Confuse the two and you'll be halfway through planning before the venue tells you no.

The prices below come live from the acrobatic acts listed on this site. Read them alongside the rigging section, because an aerial quote often has a truss or a rigger inside it and a floor act almost never does.

The live figures are in the table below, by city. A solo floor acrobat doing short roving spots is the accessible end of this category. Duo adagio work, where one performer lifts and balances another, costs more because two skilled bodies rehearse together for years to make it look easy.

Aerial pricing works differently and it's worth understanding before you compare. The performer's fee is only part of it. If your venue has no rigging point, somebody has to supply a freestanding rig or truss, transport it, build it and certify it, and that can cost as much again as the act. Ask for it broken out so you can see both halves.

An aerial silks, hoop or trapeze act hangs from a single point carrying dynamic load, which is far more than the performer's body weight. That point has to be engineered for it. A venue beam, a ceiling hook, a marquee frame or a tree is not rated until somebody qualified says it is, in writing, with the load in kilograms.

So the first call is to the venue, not the performer: do you have a rated rigging point, what's the load rating, how high is it, and who signs off on using it? Plenty of Australian venues have them because they host this work regularly. Plenty don't. If yours doesn't, ask acts about a freestanding rig, and be aware it needs floor space around its base and a ceiling well above the performer's highest point.

Hand balancing, tumbling, partner acrobatics, hand to hand and Chinese pole work all happen at ground level and skip the entire rigging conversation. For a function room, a corporate dinner or a backyard party, this is usually the smarter booking, and the skill on display is every bit as impressive.

They still need real space: a clear area with room to run and land, a level surface, and mats for anything being thrown or dropped. Ceiling height matters here too, because a person standing on another person's shoulders and then jumping is taller than any room you'd assume is fine. Give the act the height figure and let them tell you what fits.

Ask what matting the performer brings and what they expect from you, and take the answer seriously even when the act looks effortless. Ask too who's keeping guests out of the landing area, because at a party with a bar open, somebody will wander into it. That's a job for a named person, not a hopeful assumption.

Insurance and rigging certification are things to request directly from the act, in your first few messages. We list performers and we don't verify anyone's cover, training or certificates, so the only version that protects you is one you have in writing. Most working aerialists will send a certificate the same day, because venues ask them for it constantly.

The strongest use is a short feature with the room's full attention. Five to seven minutes, lights on the act, everybody seated or gathered around, then it's over and the night moves on. Longer than that and even remarkable skill starts to lose a crowd that came to talk and drink.

The other good use is roving between courses or through a cocktail hour, short bursts of ground work near small groups. And if you want the aerial photograph everyone imagines, book the act while there's still enough light and a photographer in position. The best moment of the night is worth thirty seconds of planning.

Is this a ground act or an aerial one, and what does it need from the building? What ceiling height and floor area do you require? Do you bring your own rig and matting, or do we supply them? Who rigs it and who certifies the point? And can you send us your insurance certificate for the venue?

One more that saves a lot of grief: what's your required time on site ahead of the show? Aerial setup and a safety check are not fifteen minute jobs, and they usually have to happen before guests are in the room.