Bermudian Tyler Barker has a job most would agree is unusual.

He's suspended from a length of silk part of the time; the rest is spent giving instructions on how to complete such acrobatic feats as cartwheels and handstands.

In case you hadn't guessed, he's an aerialist fitness instructor. The 26-year-old got his start at Lizz Pimental's In Motion School of Dance in Bermuda.

Following schooling abroad, he accepted the teaching role at South Florida Circus Arts School earlier this year.

"Lizz had me doing anything new and different because I had the strength and the background and so that is how I got into it," he said. "When I was at college a friend of mine saw that I liked playing and being upside down, so she introduced me to some people who were doing it and it just kind of stemmed off from there.

"I try to make it look easier than it is, but it is hard. My students come in and I say, 'let's see you climb the fabric', and they can't, because it's not as easy as it looks."

The "fabric" is the length of silk he uses to help with strength training and muscle conditioning.

The method became better known after pop singer Pink performed while suspended on a silk rope above the audience at this year's Grammy Awards.

"I have been doing just the silks now for three years, but if you go to a circus college for four years you won't even [be able to perform] a full act because the strength training and the discipline that you need are so immense," he said.

"Sometimes people come in and say they want to perform in three months. I have to tell them that that's not going to happen, even with dance backgrounds and the like.

"I had ten years of dance training behind me and it took me a year before I was able to perform.

"There are people that perform without training. You can fake it so it's pretty, but to get to a professional level it takes a long time."

Following his studies at In Motion School, Mr. Barker attended the New World School of the Arts with scholarship assistance from the Ross Blackie Talbot charity, the Bermuda Musical and Dramatic Society and the National Dance Foundation.

He met his wife, Taylor, at the Florida school. Together they perform as aerialists under the title T&T in the Miami area.

"It is nice to be able to work with somebody who is as knowledgeable as you, if not more," said Mr. Barker. "We spend a lot of time training together."

The South Florida Circus Arts school, which operates the Rainbow Circus Performance Company, is the only Miami-based full circus performance group.

The group was recently commissioned by Cirque du Soleil for a performance; Mr. Barker is also shortlisted as a regular performer with Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas.

"I auditioned for them and did very well when they were auditioning for future replacements," he said. "However you have to wait for someone to leave the company before you go to that list and today, if you are at a company where you are getting insurance, a retirement fund, you are not going to leave.

"So I don't know if that is going to happen in the near future. But for me personally, to go and make this cut, to be one of the few that makes it through, it reinforces that what I am doing is working."

He continued: "It's hard to be an artist and survive, and that's what we're doing right now.

"I was very lucky to have this teaching job and it is opening avenues. I am getting a good reputation in Miami, so it is working out well."