Trapeze, Flying

in the circus, an act of aerial gymnastics. It consists of leaps by a gymnast from one trapeze to another or from a trapeze to the hands of a partner (catcher). The act was created in 1859 by the French performer J. Léotard, who installed trapezes at a low height. Later the apparatus was placed under the dome of the circus. Acrobats now perform cross-leaps and as many as three somersaults in the air.