Prince George Has Talent

16-year-old aerialist Aidan Bryant will appear on Tuesday’s ‘America’s Got Talent’ premiere | Photos by Trae Patton courtesy NBC

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From a young age, Prince George County resident Aidan Bryant possessed a propensity for flexibility, and in 2018 he decided to try his hand, or rather his body, at aerial arts. Inspired by an online video of pop/rock singer Pink performing an aerial routine, he taught himself how to become an aerialist by watching YouTube videos and practicing using a tree and bed sheets in his backyard. A fan of the NBC reality competition show “America’s Got Talent,” 15-year-old Bryant (now 16) decided to submit a virtual audition video and was selected to fly out to Pasadena, California, to audition in front of season 16 judges Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel and Sofia Vergara. Bryant’s audition will air during the season premiere, Tuesday, June 1, at 8 p.m. We caught up with the rising junior at Prince George High School via phone at his home to learn about his aerial skills and “AGT” experience.

Richmond magazine: You’re self-taught from watching online videos, but what prompted you to learn aerial arts?

Aidan Bryant: When I was younger, I was really flexible, and I could do the splits when I was really young, and I could fold in half like a burrito really young, and then I started doing handstands and just backbends everywhere, and I just love that, and I really wanted to get more into it. So, I saw a Pink concert on YouTube, and she really inspired me, and she taught me what aerial was, and so I looked up aerial and I saw that there were many other things that you can do and many other apparatuses [in addition to silks] that you could hang from, twist and turn, and do these different poses that are really unique. So, I started watching more videos about it every night, and then I went to my grandma’s closet and got out a bed sheet and I took two straps and hung it on a tree, and that was my first apparatus, and that’s how I started to practice and get these moves down. I would videotape everything that I did to see if I was doing it correctly or not, to see if my posture was good and the technique was good. So, I videotaped it, and videotaped it, and videotaped it, until it was perfect.

RM: Have you done anything else to hone your skills?

Bryant: No, I haven’t. … I like heights and everything, so it’s really just fun for me to do it. I go out in the backyard and have fun with it, so it’s like a hobby for me.

RM: Do you have any specific moves or contortions you favor?

Bryant: I would say mine is probably like a teardrop, where I put hands to my feet bending backwards. I don’t know if you can picture that, but I’m in a silk and it looks like a teardrop because I’m bent backwards like a teardrop, fully flexed back.

RM: What does a typical training day normally look like? 

Bryant: Normally I warm up and then I crack my neck. I warm up my body, do a little bit of contortion and then I go outside. You have to be warmed up to be safe on it. So, you warm up and you go out and practice different things that you’ve seen on the internet, and if you don’t get them right the first time, you keep doing it over and over again.

RM: Do you use safety equipment during practice?

Bryant: That’s a fun fact about me, too, is I’ve never used a mat in my life. I’ve never used any kind of safety harness or anything like that.

RM: Have you ever been injured?

Bryant: I have not gotten injured; I’ve never [fallen] in my life. I’m doing just fine, and I don’t want to fall. I do not want to fall from 25 feet in the air.

RM: How does your mom feel about you performing 25 feet in the air?

Bryant: My mom really supports it, and she knows that I’m safe on it and she knows what my capabilities are and I’m not gonna get stuck hanging from my foot in the tree or something. She actually lifts me up with a golf cart to hoist me up in the air, so she gets on the golf cart and we hook the rope up to it and she goes backwards, and I go up.

RM: Why did you decide to audition for “America’s Got Talent”?

Bryant: It was the biggest stage [where] I could show my talent, and I really wanted to bring something different to the show, a little bit more dangerous, a little bit more exciting for the judges and everybody that’s watching on TV, and then I really wanted just to be a little bit different than all the aerialists that have [previously performed] on “AGT”.

RM: Had you performed anywhere prior to your “AGT” audition?

Bryant: I did perform at a campground [in 2019, and I had] saved up to buy this gigantic rig that was expensive, and I set that up at one of [the campground’s] events, and I did perform once in front of a small crowd and it went well. It was perfect, I wasn’t that nervous, I just went into my zone and I knew what I was doing.

RM: Were you nervous to perform in front of the “AGT” judges?

Bryant: I went out there and at first, I was a little nervous, but after I got out on the stage, I wasn’t nervous at all. I knew what I was doing, and I knew that I was safe doing it. The only thing I was worried about is the up and down part for [the stage assistant] to hoist me up in the air, that was really it. … Once you get out on stage, I was really comfortable and I was confident that I could really do this, because these were really hard moves that I was doing over and over again, [but] I knew I could do them, so I was very confident in myself.

RM: Though you can’t share whether you advance after your audition, it does sound like you’re at least satisfied with your own performance.

Bryant: Yes, I was satisfied.

RM: Was it surreal at all going from watching “AGT” in your living room to being on the physical stage?

Bryant: Yeah, it was definitely a little crazy for me. I looked at the judges and I thought I was looking through a screen. It was scary, they all were, like, professional, and I was up there on stage with no shirt on. It was a little scary, but yes, it was awesome, it was definitely different.

RM: As a fan of the show, do you have a favorite “AGT” performer from the past?

Bryant: Sofie Dossi [also a self-taught contortionist and aerialist] is definitely one of my biggest [favorites]. We’re like the same act, kind of. I just want to make my act a little bit [different, but] she’s just awesome, she’s so good, she’s so talented.

RM: Do you have a favorite judge?

Bryant: I love Heidi. She always loves aerial performances, she definitely loved mine … and she had good things to say.

RM: What about a favorite moment from your audition experience that you’re able to share?

Bryant: It was probably … when I was rehearsing, this guy came up to me, this stage manager, and he said that I was very inspiring, and he really liked my act and [said] I was gonna go places.

Catch Aidan Bryant’s audition performance during the premiere episode of “America’s Got Talent” on NBC, Tuesday, June 1, at 8 p.m.