If you get vertigo just putting up and taking down your holiday decorations, you wouldn't want Shana Lord's job.

High in the air, she twirls on diaphanous fabric drapes. She swings in hammocks, on poles and from bungee cords. She swoops with grace over dazzled onlookers, who must direct their gazes upward to see the 38-year-old performer do her thing.

All the while, those onlookers — symphony fans across America — try to keep an eye on the classical performers onstage.

Lord and her fellow aerial dancers, acrobats, jugglers and contortionists from Cirque de La Symphonie will head to American Music Theatre for a performance Saturday, Dec. 31 — New Year's Eve — during Lancaster Symphony Orchestra's annual gala.

The "Cirque" moniker is familiar to many via Quebec's Cirque du Soleil. And like that artistic, acrobatic group, Cirque de la Symphonie features jaw-dropping feats of flying, backed by a contributing orchestra, in this case LSO.

Lord knows both Cirques well. She started with Cirque du Soleil in 1994.

"I just had a natural ability to climb things" Lord said in a cellphone interview while dashing through the Newark, N.J., airport on her way to Portland, Maine. A freelance performer, she has worked with Cirque de la Symphonie since 2008.

"My parents thought gymnastics would be a natural fit for me."

Her childhood love of gymnastics was shaped by her fondness for ballet. Both come together in her work with Cirque de la Symphonie. Lord said she enjoys combining her feats of derring-do with live symphonic music.

Cirque de la Symphonie has played with orchestras in Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati and San Francisco, among other cities across the U.S. and Canada. Lancaster Symphony will accompany the group with selections from composers ranging from Antonin Dvorak to Camille Saint-Saens to John Williams, of movie soundtrack fame.

Classical music isn't Lord's only backdrop; she has appeared with such artists as Will Smith, No Doubt and pop sensation Anastacia.

And Cirque de la Symphonie isn't Lord's only Cirque.

The Los Angeles-based Pilates exercise instructor is busy putting together a new workout program, titled "Cirquates," which — you guessed it — combines Cirque-type moves with Pilates.

Lord is teaching the next generation to appreciate flips and dips by helping to establish Le Petite Cirque, a movement school for children.

Lord also is working on putting together a show with her fiance, stuntman Chris Solomon.

She's got a lot of projects to keep up in the air, but Lord doesn't really worry about that, even when she's sailing 30 feet off the ground. Lord has her training, and the backup of the technicians who keep her flying, in whom she has great confidence.

"Things can go awry," she said. "But all in all, we're pretty safe."

Cirque de la Symphonie will appear with Lancaster Symphony Orchestra at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 31, and 2 p.m. Monday, Jan. 2, at American Music Theatre, 2425 Lincoln Highway East. For ticket information, visit amtshows.com or call 800-648-4102.