Meet April and Justin Chodkowski | Leads, The Flying Royals

We had the good fortune of connecting with April and Justin Chodkowski and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi April and Justin, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
It was easy really… The show we were performing on closed, so to keep doing what we love (and what we’re really good at!) we had to create our own troupe! Justin and April have been professional trapeze artists for 15+ years and had worked for a few troupes before joining Cirque du Soleil’s La Nouba in early 2014. That show closed Dec 31, 2017 and we had the equipment for this completely unique criss crossing apparatus. The team from La Nouba helped with some initial creation, but eventually they went to work for other shows around the world. ‘The Flying Royals’ was born and it took months to recruit enough flyers to really build an act. It took even longer to book our first gig, despite our deep connections in the industry.
“You’re too new.”
“You’re too expensive!”
“You’re too big.”
We almost gave up, but Bello Nock was producing a show and that was our launchpad, 10 months later. We were then able to book a few more performances in 2019 and 2020 was looking to be a promising year for the act. We all know how that year panned out for everyone in any industry.

We had focused on promoting our trapeze act only, and Justin was constantly seeking out opportunity with any and every agent, producer, and colleague we could get in touch with. Looking back, it’s incredible we survived it- a team of 6 with a new baby and a 4 year old; our house went into foreclosure, juggling which bills to delay and no work on the horizon. The entertainment industry was the last to recover from the Pandemic and as a very small business in a very niche market, it’s not like we were suddenly swimming with opportunity when the world reopened.

A friend of ours, also a former trapeze performer, opened a school in Santa Barbara, CA and wanted it to become a mecca for pros and enthusiasts alike. Randy Kohn extended an open offer for us to relocate from Florida to California when the timing was right and finally pulling the trigger on that move had to be the scariest thing we’ve ever done. April was 37 weeks pregnant with baby #3 when we loaded (nearly) everything into our rigging trailer, RV, and a Uhaul and drove across the country.
A week after landing in Ventura, CA we were called by a Carnival director to do an 11-day outdoor performance for Date Fest. We had been avoiding fairs and festivals because our prior experiences hadn’t been stellar, and it requires so much more than just doing the trapeze. It made sense, especially as entertainers in a post-Covid industry. Indoor dates were hard to come by and often were cancelled last minute. Outdoor shows were the way to go, and the only way to get hired was to be our own production. Randy, in his vast sales experience, helped us broker an incredible deal and Royals’ Spectacular was born! Together, the three of us really nailed down a plan and we got the Flying Royals back together on the West Coast. The growth we experienced that first year was truly mind blowing- and not just as a performance troupe. Our business acumen continues to grow under Randy’s guidance and we have had success after success. In 2022, we worked some of the largest Fairs in the country, plus had a special event with Cirque du Soleil in Saudi Arabia. Our 2023 Schedule doubled those working dates and we are on-course to be one of the most successful outdoor performance entities in the business.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
A criss crossing trapeze act was first innovated in the 1960s by the Otaris Troupe, and in the early 1990s, the Flying Caballeros performed a similar act on the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Tour. The Flying Farfans revived this style of trapeze in 2015 to short lived success and in 2018, The Flying Royals became the only crisscrossing trapeze act in the world. We have worked tirelessly and diligently to create an act of both quality and style, honoring the tributes of the greatest trapeze acts in history. The maneuvers you see performed on our rigging are completely unique and entirely created by us. There are no tutorials for what we’re doing, so it’s a testament to the confidence and trust in our team when exploring something new together. Traditional trapeze acts fly in one direction, and the way a flyer twists and turns before reaching the catcher can be truly remarkable. We take this incredible skill set and add the element of sharing the fly space simultaneously with another trapeze artist. Our ever-evolving act is the result of hours and hours of training, on and off the rig, to set ourselves up for success. Often, new combinations are dreamed up and discussed around the dinner table- all of us with hands in the air mimicking timings, making sure to avoid collisions. We just have to go for it come practice time!

The lifestyle of a traveling circus performer is also not decidedly glamorous- not every lot is ideal, not every schedule is easy and sometimes the traveling can take it out of you. With a team as large as the Flying Royals, personalities can clash from time to time. Gaps in performances also puts strain on the team. The Royals have had more consistent work in the last year or so, but the calendar doesn’t fill itself. Since relocating to California, we’ve had amazing growth, but we are still hustling for the next gig, doing what we can to keep working. We do have some of the most talented performers, so members are recruited by other troupes. Integrating new flyers to the team takes additional work from everyone. We scale our act to reflect the strengths of the team, so taking a step backward to launch forward doesn’t always feel good in the moment, especially when it happens mid-season.

We have learned to separate ourselves from the act as a whole, but the business/pleasure line is very fuzzy in this regard. Living and working with each other, we grow close and it can be hard to not take things personally. As leaders of the team, Justin and April make the best decisions they can with the information and opportunities in front of them. Life happens and as circumstances change, the Royals keep moving forward.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Accustomed to frequent travel, we are typically in a different city week to week. Performing in one place for an extended period of time is a treat. Six weeks in Phoenix gives the team a chance to explore and find favorite places we look forward to re-visiting.

Last year we really enjoyed dining at Vovomeena; Sake Haus; Wren & Wolf; and Fame Cafe. Taking the kids to Pangaea Land of Dinosaurs was a highlight and this year we look forward to visiting the Phoenix Zoo, and hopefully getting in a Diamondbacks game!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Randy Kohn and his crew at Trapeze Co. Randy all but begged for us to relocate and his team at SBTC welcomed the Flying Royals into their space with open arms. They have given us the opportunity to operate as guest instructors when we’re home training and still enjoy the freedom to travel and perform. It’s a “best of both worlds” in the trapeze community. Randy also continues to share his knowledge and resources in several industries to ensure the success of the Flying Royals. Without his pushing, this is something we never would’ve tried, and without his guidance it’s not something we would continue to succeed at.

Also, our troupe members. A successful act is not about the 12 minutes in the air performing; it is wholly dependent on the hours spent training, learning, setting up, tearing down, creating, and living together that make a team successful in this business. Over the years we have gone though some dynamic shifts in both personnel and opportunity, and the resiliency shown in our team mates is to be applauded. Justin and April pay attention to the culture of the team and do their best to ensure everyone has a space to be their best. The Royals would be nothing if it weren’t for the shared respect of the troupe.

Website: theflyingroyals.com

Instagram: theflyingroyals

Facebook: The Flying Royals

Youtube: The Flying Royals

Image Credits
Ciena Lennon