Welcome to shape diving practice.

Where does one practice diving through shapes, you ask?

Under the big top at Cirque du Soleil’s Volta, in Tampa through March 18, of course!

“The basics of it is to get through the hoop without knocking them down,” explained Ahmahd Thomas, an English athlete whose specialties are the rings (like the ones gymnasts perform on) and shape diving.

As part of Volta, Thomas, along with the rest of the cast, perform a dizzying array of kinetic, athletic and balletic feats.

The aesthetically pleasing, eye-popping show is about a popular game show host named Waz, who embarks on a kaleidoscopic journey to find his true inner self.

Shape divers performing in Cirque du Soleil's Volta. (Photo: Michael Kass)

Thomas and I are also embarking on a journey— albeit one with much lower goals. I just want to jump and roll through a hoop like a circus performer without breaking anything.

“We’re gonna start you with the hula hoop,” he said. “it is our like main sort of training, because the hoops that we'll use are pretty hard and pretty heavy, so this is basically the safest option for everybody to start.”

It looks a lot scarier than it is — I mean, it’s like tumbling class from when you were in grade school, and you get giddy like a little kid, too.

Everyone pumps you up and cheers and jumps through the hoop, some twisting with their flips, some running down the long mat and doing a back flip over the entire hoop.

They are crazy.

But who are they?

“So we’ve got Brad from America, we have Dino, he’s from Cambodia, we have Dutchie from China and you have me from England,” said Thomas.

After we dive-rolled through the hula hoop successfully, we graduated to the show’s heavy hard hexagon.

One by one we made it through. I was last — I made it, too — and I was so shocked and giddy, the acrobats had to remind me to do the final pose.

Presentation, man — it’s important!

What a feeling! (Bobby Collins, staff)

(Important ... and embarrassing: I sweat way more than I was proud of in my green-pleated flowy tunic and black capri dress pants. For the record, I flipped off my black leather and cork wedges, and I coupled my work -- and now workout -- outfit with secretly mismatched black and white Jack Skellington ankle socks and black Chuck Taylors.)

How did I do?

These are Ahmahd’s words—I swear on a stack of hexagons.

“You are grade A!”

My work here is done. Next stop: stowing away in the big top trucks and join the circus.