Acrobatic aerial act amazes Aggie fans
Spectators at Utah State men’s basketball games usually expect to see high-flying dunks by tall guys.
What they don’t count on seeing is an arial act that doesn’t involve a round leather ball, but last Thursday’s half time show featured a Cirque du Soleil-type act starring Ramsi Stoker, an junior in accounting at Utah State.
Performing in front of basketball crowds is nothing unusual for Stoker, who is an Aggiette, but her “aerial tissue” act was something new for the crowd.
Climbing up two pieces of 35-foot-long fabric hanging from the Jumbotron, Stoker twisted the fabric around her arms and legs, spininng and flipping in the air while onlookers gasped.
Learning to perform the aerial tissue act had been a dream for Stoker for a long time.
“When I was 14, I saw [the Cirque du Soleil act] ‘Mystere’ in Vegas and I just fell in love and I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve got to learn this stuff someday,'” she said.
She got her chance when she moved to Orlando after her freshman year at Utah State to perform at Disney World.
“I obviously don’t have a fear of heights, really,” Stoker said. “I’ve never fallen. People always ask, “Have you ever fallen?” or “Do you think you’ll ever fall?” but when you’re 30 feet in the air you hold on pretty tight.”
Stoker, who is from Murray, started in gymnastics at age 3, then traded gymnastics for dancing at age 11.
As a senior in high school, she tried out in an audition held in Provo for a position as a dancer at Disney World. She got the job but couldn’t go because she would have had to start before school ended.
The next year the producers remembered Stoker and she won a position again. This time she was able to go, moving to Orlando where she thought she’d spend a year.
Stoker ended up staying for three, performing in a production of Disney’s “Tarzan,” first as a dancer and skater, then winning the role of Jane.
The role of Jane was a full-time job, but Stoker taught herself the aerial tissue act, and started finding freelance jobs performing at conventions and theme parks.
“There were lots of jobs and I just wanted them, so I’d say ‘Oh yeah, I can do that,’ and then figure out to do it.”
“I had done some aerial work with ropes and swings, and I knew how to climb,” she said. “I’d kind of get up there and play with tricks and see what worked. I’d watch Cirque du Soleil tapes in slow motion and try to figure out how they were wrapping things.”
Living in Florida was a good learning experience, Stoker said.
“It was interesting because there were lots of people from everywhere,” she said. “I kind of have this theory that no one is from Florida, they just go there for Disney. It was interesting. There were lots of different cultures and lots of different people.”
Stoker moved back to Utah in July 2002 and became an Aggie dancer. Her performance was the second time she has done the act in the Spectrum. She provided the halftime entertainment at the final men’s basketball game at home last season.
Even with her experience, Stoker said she was a little nervous about the performance last week.
“I think it was just because I’m kind of out of practice and I wasn’t sure how it would go, but the second I started climbing, I kind of zoned out,” she said. “I didn’t really hear anybody, or see anything, I just focused on what I was doing.”
While she is not afraid of heights, Stoker said there is one thing that scares her.
“The only thing that makes me nervous is getting too fatigued,” she said. “Being that high up, you can’t just let go and relax.”
Ramsi wasn’t the only one who was nervous about the show. She has been married for two months to Brian Stoker, who was pretty on-edge as well, she said.
“He thinks its awesome, but he was really nervous watching,” she said.
Having only been married for two months, Ramsi said she’s still getting used to having a new last name, but there’s a story behind her uncommon first name.
“My mom’s name is Rondi, so she just wanted all the girls’ names to start with ‘R,'” she said. “She knew that I would be born in April and that my sign would be Aries, which is the sign of the ram, and that kind of got her thinking. She’d heard ‘Ramsey’ as a last name, so she just changed the spelling.”
Her middle name is also an interesting story. It’s “Nia,” after a mermaid on the late 70s, early 80s televison show “Fantasy Island.”
“The day [my mom] brought me home from the hospital the same episode with the mermaid was on, so she figured she’d picked the right name,” she said.
-royburton@cc.usu.edu
(Photo by Ryan Talbot)