Salla-Maaria Laaksonen (D.Soc.Sc.) is a postdoctoral researcher in the Consumer Society Research Centre at the University of Helsinki. Her research areas are technology, organizations and new media, and she often works with digital and computational methods.

How did you start to be involved in acrobatics?

I started by trying out aerial yoga and aerial hoop at a pole dancing club back in 2012 and also had a weekend course of dance acrobatics. I was soon addicted and started doing both floor acrobatics and aerial acrobatics regularly at Circus Helsinki and in a few other places too. Currently I am mostly training vertical rope and aerial hoop. That means climbing up and performing movements a few metres off the ground. It's like dancing on air, actually, with a non-human partner!

What would you say is your biggest achievement in acrobatics?

Probably performing in a group show in front of an audience of over 100 people at our spring party this year! But there are also minor personal achievements all the time when you dare to exceed your own limits and try something new, like performing a salto or doing a big drop on air.

What is different in acrobatics from your academic career? And what is similar?

There are some similarities: you need to develop some basic skills and muscles for both, and you also need some courage to try new things. I started both at the same time and based on my progress it seems acrobatics is actually more difficult than academic work – then again, I do not train circus 40 hours a week :)

Does this task conflict with your academic work, such as missing deadlines or having to choose between events?

Not really; it's more like the best reason ever to stop your work day early enough and head to my circus class. On work trips, however, it's not so easy to find a space for training circus as it is to go jogging or swimming.

Would you recommend your hobby to other academics?

I would recommend doing any sports for academics to compensate for all the sitting and brain work, but why aerial acrobatics in particular works so well is because in the air you definitely cannot think about your research, but you have to concentrate to wrap yourself correctly. So it is a perfect way to clear your head!

Photo credits: Salla-Maaria Laaksonen (Instagram)