The 10 teenagers in Anne Lawton’s small Willoughby studio bend and stretch and clamber overtop of one another, treating each other like human ladders.

No, it’s not some crazy high school prank which has them trying to stuff as many people as they can into a phone booth or a Volkswagen.

They’re at West Coast Contortion and Acrobatics on a Friday afternoon taking contortion classes from one of the best in the world.

For 45 minutes a day, the students are benefitting from the instruction of Otgo Waller, a Mongolian-born contortionist, whose impressive resumé includes performing alongside Britney Spears, a stretch with Cirque du Soleil’s O at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, appearing on The Tonight Show, when it was hosted by Jay Leno, as well as Ripley’s Believe It Or Not and during half time shows at professional sporting events.

Ranging from 14 to 16 years old, several members of this group have been at it for four or five years by now and possess the (almost inhuman) flexibility to prove it.

Others are newer to the form but practicing some pretty impressive maneuvers, nonetheless.

In one corner, Nate and Jamaal are working on a particularly challenging pose as Nate prepares to launch himself into a handstand, resting his hands on Jamaal’s shoulders as Jamaal leans forward, his own hands flat on the floor, supporting himself on one leg while pointing the other straight up toward the ceiling.

“Use your head, focus, help each other,” Waller tells the teens as she stops to observe their poses and give them some direction.

As she demonstrates the slow, controlled movement she’s looking for from the the eight girls and two boys, who are working in pairs around the studio, extraordinary balance, strength and flexibility combine to create temporary human works of art.

“Sometimes you just have to take the pain to do it,” Waller advises.

That’s not to say any of the poses should be attempted with reckless abandon, however.

Necks and backs have been broken in attempts to achieve difficult poses, says Waller. So it’s crucial that teachers know exactly what they’re doing.

“You have to be very aware, and know your body,” she insists.

The 39-year-old instructor, who was born and raised in Mongolia’s capital city, Ulan Bator, and now calls Las Vegas home, has more than three decades of experience to draw on.

The youngest of six children, she started training at eight and within a year and a half was supporting her family through her earnings as a contortionist.

“I knew how poor we were,” she says, explaining she was happy to make the contribution, even at such a young age.

“She (Waller’s mother) worked so many hours for so little money.

“For me, it was the opposite. I got paid well for relatively little work, and I was happy to help my family.”

Natural ability and the benefit of a world-class coach sped her progress.

“I was gifted, really flexible and it didn’t take me long until I was pretty strong.”

From there, barring injury, her future was pretty much set out for her.

“In Mongolia, contortion and acrobatics are a very traditional, cultural art form,” she says.

But it was also a communist country, where people’s roles were often dictated by the government.

“We knew Western society existed, but we didn’t talk about it or learn about it,” she says.

As her career took her around Eastern Europe, Waller would see performers from the West, but seldom had any contact with them.

“We were not allowed to talk to them. We were always watched,” she says.

In 1989, the same year the Berlin Wall fell, a representative from Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus came to Mongolia.

He and Waller formed a friendship, and though it took a few years of negotiation with the government, eventually she was among 40 performers chosen to join the circus and move to the U.S.

Today, she runs her own contortion studio in Vegas, where she instructs students in not only the technical and artistic sides of the form, but also makeup and costuming.

Waller and Lawton met a number of years ago in Las Vegas, where the Langley woman was working for Disney, and reconnected in 2003 at a contortionists’ conference in the same city.

This is the first time the two have worked together in Lawton’s studio.

“It was unbelievable,” said Lawton, of Waller’s visit.

“The students have never had that kind of training. She’s strict; she had a few of them in tears, but they respect her.”

Waller was also in town to scout for a show she’s going to produce, said Lawton. Her classes drew participants from all over the Lower Mainland.

“She was quite amazed with the talent that came.”

Waller will return to the Lower Mainland on July 18 to perform at a Viva Las Vegas party hosted by Lawton. The event, at Lake City Studios in Burnaby, is a fundraiser to help send a group of local contortionists to Las Vegas in September.

Tickets are $25 each and can be purchased by calling Lawton at 604-767-4617.

Also in September, Waller is set to return to the Lower Mainland to once again teach classes. For more information about that, contact Lawton at the same number.