Jordan Anderson and Clayton Woodson are business partners and life partners. They are the owners and lead instructors for Aerial Fit, Charleston’s first dedicated aerial circus school. When they started in 2009, there were no other aerial studios, or anything even similar, in the entire state of South Carolina! Jordan and Clayton created their aerial studio from the ground up, building out the facility to handle the unique safety requirements of aerial and assembling the community of students and teachers who give life to their space.
Q: Please tell us a little bit about your family.
We are business partners, performance partners, and life partners. When not flipping through the air, we spend our time at home relaxing with our two cats.
Q: Please tell us about your current, past, or future career. What do you love most about what you do?
Teaching comes naturally to us. We’ve been teaching in some form or another for most of our lives! In fact, between the two of us we have nearly 40 years of cumulative teaching experience. We also perform together under the stage name Wonderson Duo, and we founded our own performance company, Circus Building Entertainment. But our first love is teaching, and that is our main focus right now.
We strongly believe that aerial is truly for every body. We’ve spent well over a decade honing our curriculum and progressions to give anybody who wants it a deep learning experience in aerial arts. Seeing the effects on 5,000+ students and how many “Ah-ha” moments have been generated because of our creative drills and progressions has inspired us to create Aerial Fit Online.
This video tutorial library designed for teachers is the post-covid growth for our business. Aerial Fit Online currently has members in over 40 countries and it’s growing quickly.
Q: What are a couple of your favorite restaurants in our community?
Jordan: We haven’t been eating out much in the past few years, so I’d have to say Clayton’s home cooking. Nothing beats simple ingredients with lots of vegetables and large servings.
Q: How long have you lived or worked in our community?
Clayton: When we first moved to Charleston from New York City our plan was to just spend a year in the South and then move out West. That was in 2004, and we are still here! We built a community of friends and students, and that makes it very appealing to stay.
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would it be and why?
Oh there are so many places we want to go. Anyplace where women are treated as equal citizens, where gun violence isn’t the norm, and where healthcare is available to everyone who seeks it really tops our list right now.
Q: What is one of your favorite movies? TV shows?
We spend a lot more time reading than watching, but we always keep an eye out for science education videos on Youtube. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is one show we always look forward to.
Q: What advice would you give to people?
Give your energy to the things that make your life better. Choose the people you spend time with wisely, and find your niche. Then, be sure to step out of it every once it awhile to experience a different side of life.
Q: What is something on your bucket list?
Now that our online video library has so many members across the wold, we want to go visit each and every one of them and learn about their communities!
Q: What is your go to band when you cant decide what to listen to?
Anything from the 80’s
Q: What current or former local business makes you the most nostalgic about our community?
Clayton: I share a lot of history with the people from Five Loaves Cafe and Papa Zuzu’s. I will always remember them as good people and good places.
Q: What is your favorite thing or something unique about our community?
We love how small Charleston is but how there is still a lot to discover. We’re always thrilled to meet like-minded people even though we are so far from home.
Q: Where do you see yourself in 5 to 10 years?
Traveling the world, visiting our video library members, and teaching aerial to anyone who is interested.
Q: (Even for friends or family), what is something interesting that most people don’t know about you?
We are pretty open people. Even though we are introverts, once you get to know us you’ll learn that we don’t have many secrets.
Q: What is the most beautiful place you have ever been?
We tend to live in the moment no matter where we are. But we recently vacationed to Iceland, and that definitely wins the prize! The hot springs there were especially memorable.
Q: Favorite month? favorite holiday? and best single day on the calendar?
Our birthdays are a week apart in the same month. So, birthday month which is March!
Q: What would you rate a 10 out of 10?
Equal rights for all!
Q: Who inspires you to be better?
It’s gonna sound cheesy, but we each try to inspire the other.
Q: What is one or two of your favorite smells?
We love snuggling with our cats, so does cat fur count?
Q: Finally, what 3 words or phrases come to mind when you think of the word HOME?
Quiet, calm, cats
