Prince George native 18-year-old Aidan Bryant claimed the top spot as the best of the best in the America’s Got Talent All-Stars show.
Monday night’s America’s Got Talent: All-Stars finale featured the top eleven finalists completing for the coveted title, but in the end, it was Prince George native 18-year-old Aidan Bryant who took the top spot as the best of the best.
Aidan’s death-defying aerial act — he doesn’t use any nets or safety devices — was the backdrop along with acrobats the Bello Sisters as singer Adam Lambert belted out “Chandelier.” Aidan kept his composure throughout the night, but broke down in tears when his name was called as the winner. What a glowing tribute for a teen who taught himself aerial routines using a tree in his grandmother’s yard.
Inspiration in the Air: Meet Prince George County’s Aidan Bryant
[Originally published in 2021] Aerialist Aidan Bryant of Prince George finished in second place in last night’s AGT season finale.
Sixteen-year-old Aidan Bryant embodies the word resourceful. At at the age of fourteen he was so enamored with the acrobatic aerial moves he saw superstar singer P!nk perform during one of her concerts, he decided to learn all he could about aerial performance.
“I didn’t know this existed. I started researching aerial and what I could do with it,” says Bryant who is a finalist on NBC’s hit show America’s Got Talent. “I wanted to try all these moves and try to perfect them.”
He began rummaging around in a closet in his home, found a bedsheet, tied two straps to it and went outside and put it up in a tree using a ladder.
“I did flips upside down. It was fun,” says the Prince George high school junior. “It was like being a kid. It was like doing the monkey bars to me.”
Each day Bryant would show his mom his new tricks when she came home from work. It wasn’t long before she began using the family’s riding lawn mower to help pull the rope that would hoist Bryant into the air. “Then we got a golf cart so it would be faster,” he says. “I saved up and got a giant aerial rig. We did all of this in our backyard.”
Bryant has gained more strength and flexibility in the past two years. “It’s great to have [the aerial work] because I don’t like to exercise,” he says. “I do my exercise on the apparatus. I normally practice three hours a day.”
After perfecting his routine, he sent a video to America’s Got Talent. Next came a virtual audition and later, a live stage audition in front of the show’s four celebrity judges. “I made up my routine for my audition and picked the song,” he says.
Bryant uses the flow of the music to help determine the moves he will add to each routine. “I can play with the apparatus and see what comes out of it to find different moves,” he says.
He has performed using the aerial hoop, aerial straps, and a combination of both on the AGT stage. The teenager isn’t afraid to try something new each time he performs for an audience. His last two live performances have featured tricks he had never done before.
“When you listen to the music like dancers do, you start getting into it. It’s like dancing on an apparatus in the air,” he says.
His classmates and teachers in Prince George have been very supportive as has his mom. “She watches everything I do,” he says. “She was my first fan.”
He was thrilled when celebrity judge Sophia Vergara told him that he was an inspiration to others.
“I want to be an inspiration to everybody,” he says.
Bryant says he wants to continue performing, but his end goal is to open up an aerial studio. “I want to teach kids and all people how to learn aerial,” he says.
