Our Story

Airborne Arts started with a question that most people would never think to ask: what if you took everything you knew about flying trapeze, aerial performance and human development and moved it all into the mountains of Costa Rica?

That is exactly what Jonathon Conant did. After co-founding Trapeze School New York and spending years building one of the most recognized aerial schools in the world, Jonathon relocated from New York City to the mountains between Dominical and San Isidro in South-West Costa Rica. He found a piece of land overlooking the Diamante valley, with views of the Pacific Ocean in the distance and an 1,800-foot waterfall, the second tallest in the country, falling down the mountainside. He decided to build something there.

The property was constructed by hand over the course of more than a decade. Every structure on the land was designed and built with natural materials, open-air architecture and a philosophy that the space itself should be part of the experience. The buildings are surrounded by jungle on all sides, with views of ocean, mountains and waterfalls from nearly every room. The training facilities include a full-height flying trapeze rig with an 8-meter platform and a 20-meter swing arc, plus a covered open-air aerial studio called the Temple of Light, with 20 to 25-foot ceilings perfect for silks, lyra and hand to hand acrobatics.

The vision was never just about training. It was about creating a place where people come to train, create, explore and reconnect.

A place where the jungle does as much of the teaching as the coaches do. Where a morning trapeze session is followed by a hike to a 200-foot double waterfall, where dinner is three courses of locally sourced organic food eaten at a hand-carved wooden table and where the stars come out at night over an infinity pool overlooking the valley.

Christine Van Loo, a 7-time National Champion and one of the most accomplished aerialists in the history of the sport, co-founded the retreat and brought a level of expertise that transformed it into a world-class training destination. Together, Christine and Jonathon built Airborne Arts into what it is today: a place where beginners learn to fly, professionals push their boundaries and everyone leaves feeling like they have done something they never thought possible.

The property that houses Airborne Arts is called Aerial Avalon. It sits in the mountains midway between Playa Dominical and San Isidro, in the southwest corner of Costa Rica. From the property, you can see the Pacific Ocean, 300 miles of mountain range and Diamante Falls, an 1,800-foot waterfall and the second tallest in the country.

Every building was designed and constructed by hand using natural materials. The Master Suite features thirty-foot painted ceilings, a hand-made sleigh bed, a giant stone bathtub and a sink carved from a massive indigenous tree root. The open-air pavilion, the dining area, the pool deck and the aerial studio were all built with the same philosophy: use what the land provides and let the jungle in.

Guests wake to howler monkeys and toucans. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are prepared daily by an in-house chef using locally sourced, mostly organic ingredients, including Costa Rican coffee from nearby farms. Between training sessions, you can swim in the infinity pool, relax on the sun deck, hike to waterfalls, or simply sit and watch the clouds roll across the valley.

The property accommodates guests in several options, from the romantic Master Suite to the Avalon Guest Room, an aerial studio dorm, Lotus Belle glamping tents and rustic A-frame jungle cabins tucked into the canopy. Whatever your preference, the experience is the same: immersion in one of the most spectacular natural settings in Central America, with world-class training and genuine hospitality at its center.