When Rosa Rivera first looks up at the obscure 20-foot tall apparatus of robes and nets she’s both terrified and anxious. She’s nervously laughing with her boyfriend, crossing her arms uncomfortably as a trapeze flyer warming up leaps from the top, swinging from a bar above her.

Rivera, 27, breathes heavily as the other student flyers gather under a tall narrow pedestal. As an instructor walks out with harnesses, all she can think about is the impending plunge.

“Just listen to the instructor,” coordinator Katy Nielsen tells the group of seven students. “And don’t do what your body tells you to do.”

After listening closely and literally bracing herself, it’s Rivera’s turn to jump. She climbs the latter and chalks up her hands. After an instructor yells “Hep!” she flies across the air yelling down, “Sorry, I can’t!” when manager and instructor Steve Hammes tells her to flip her legs up on the bar. She hesitates and falls into the net below.

After missing the knee-hang trick, she gets a pep talk from Hammes and is eager to redeem herself, she says. She can’t wait to get back up there.

“I’m still so nervous,” the Lakeview resident says waiting for her turn. “It was really fun once I was up there but I think the fear really overtook the rest of my emotions — I was really scared.”

You don’t have to run off and join the circus to fly through the air with the greatest of ease. This summer, the Trapeze School New York opened its fifth U.S. location for a limited time at Belmont Harbor at 3158 Lakefront Trail in May, with classes running every day until October.

Beginner and intensive classes cost anywhere from $47 to $65, with cheaper classes generally on weekdays, and a one-time $22 registration fee. While times vary when the two-hour flying sessions are set, a schedule is posted online with class packages available for multiple sessions.

“You’re actually sort of fighting against the bar,” Nielsen says. “It’s a lot of balance, body control, trusting yourself and overcoming your fear. And it’s not just physical fears but mental ones.”

For beginner flyers, you progress from the knee hang, where you let your hands go and swing by your knees, and then move on to learn to flip off the bar and be caught by a catcher on the other side of the podium. At a class of seven on Thursday, there were first timers and third or fourth timers.

By the end of the session former strangers are cheering each other on, high-fiving and even hugging after learning new tricks. It’s a friendly experience, Nielsen says.

“These people don’t know each other,” Nielsen says. “But they’re going through the process of getting over a fear together.”

For Eric Duncan, 27, today’s visit is his third visit to the trapeze school.

“The experience is a little indescribable, it’s like being a kid again,” says Duncan, who just signed up for a ten week class. “It stays fun; it hasn’t gotten old yet.”

Duncan’s visit was sparked by a $1 Groupon Now promotion he scored a few weeks back.

TSNY says the Groupon promotion has been so successful for them they’re going to launch another one on June 10 offering a class for $40 without registration fees for 1000 participants to try out the trapeze school, Hammes said.

By the end of Thursday evening’s session, Rivera is perfecting her flips and landings, awaiting high-fives below. On her last assent, she’s beaming. But her final leap will be the toughest. It’s where student flyers let go and hope to be caught in a waiting catcher’s arms. This trick is all about timing and confidence.

With ease, she nails it to cheers and applause.

“On the third try I almost quit,” Rivera says, almost out of breath. “But I was determined. I’d definitely do this again and I really recommend it.”