The theme this week is to ADD WEIGHT when you do your workouts.
If you are feeling weighted down already, it may seem counter-intuitive to add weight. You might be saying, “Rebekah, I already can’t lift my blubber butt in the air. Why add weight and make it all the worse?”
It probably will feel worse when you have the weight on. But the first thing you’ll notice is that you might feel a little silly. Perfect! (Remember last week’s discussion?) Try your hardest. That is all I ask.
Now for the moment of glory. Take the weight off. I give you the gift of flight like you’ve never tasted it before. You will feel lighter than you’ve ever felt before.
This is a training secret I heavily used (get it – heavily used) when I was first starting to learn aerial fabric over 10 years ago. I would put on ankle weights, wrist weights and a waist weight and then I would climb stretchy fabric if you can believe it. And I mean the super stretchy climb. That kind that no one ever climbs on in recreational classes because it takes 7 climbs to get off the ground and discourages everyone. Yup, that’s the best kind of training ground. You climb that with weights on and there’s no wonder why I could fly around on non-stretch fabric after my muscles grew back.
Here’s the last video that I made for our pull-up series. Good luck on your pull-up journey!
One thing that I love about aerialists is the tribe of people that I belong to. Whenever I get together with a group, we always come to the conclusion that we are doing nothing more than having a playdate like we did when we were 5 years old. Almost all aerial fun is simply adult recess.
Places like Athletic Playground know it and even advertise their spaces as such! The spirit of play abounds as they workout. Look how much fun they have with their warm-up:
Can you imagine what our world would be like if everyone had this much fun everyday? Sometimes, you actually have to force yourself to go have fun. But once you’re there, you’ll wonder why you ever had to drag yourself there.
Being playful is not just about happiness, although that’s a great benefit. I believe playtime is when you start to explore and open new pathways in your physical body. You can start to thrive and find vitality because you don’t just perform some rote linear pathway. Being playful will likely encourage you off the linear plane into the realm of finding new things that will find new range of motion in your joints, and it just keeps getting better! If you turn your workout into play, you suddenly might add some variety like a subtle twist to the side while your whole body smiles. That added bit turns up your workout a degree that makes all the difference. It takes you from hot to boiling.
Being silly helps everyone – young and old – relieve tension. And so much of our flexibility issues are because we walk around holding so much tension in our muscles. If we could only take our lessons from the little ones and relax, we’d retain more of our youthful bendyness. So, let your inhibitions go. Don’t care what you look like. Oh you look silly!! Great!!
Here are some hints to bringing more movement play into your life:
Hang out with kids. They are great models for how to fully invest in playtime!
Take your next workout to the playground. This is what I did this week (see video below).
Turn on the music and just dance. If you find people to join you, even better.
Adults spend so much time rushing about trying to be productive. It’s always about getting things done and it can something be hard to be fully present. This can have an effect on your physical health. If you want to be an amazing aerialist, and especially if you want to be an amazing performer, one of your first lessons is that you must learn to be present. A distracted performer is one that will quickly lose an audience. If you are distracted in your workouts (running on a treadmill while watching a TV), you won’t achieve the kind of superior athleticism you desire. You have to be present, creative, curious, searching, and more.
The Atlanta Aerial Arts Festival 2016 took place at the tail end of March-beginning of April. I have been meaning to tell you all about it ever since I got home, but life has been a whirlwind (moving across the country and all…). Better late, than never though! I thought I would share what you missed in case you missed it – and you can get excited to go next year.
photo by James Curtis Barger
The Festival started on a Thursday, with the option of taking private lessons from your favorite instructor in the morning. After workshops Thursday afternoon, the evening kicked off with a mixer that was free and open to the public. Local students of McKinley Vitale performed, as did students of Allie Cooper from Radical Movement hailing from Santa Cruz, CA. I felt old watching them perform, and I feel old saying this, but these kids were good! They had youthful spunk and energy that radiated through the room and were the perfect way to kick off the weekend. You could clearly see Allie Cooper’s momentum training reflected in her students and it was fun to see that in action.
The next three days were filled to the brim with aerial fun. Some of Friday’s workshops included an aerial ballet class, taught by a member of the D’Air, who showed aerialists how to include graceful arms, legs and pointed toes into their work with the fabric. Shannon McKenna taught a mean straps class, or was that two or three? Everytime I looked over, she was torturing showing more students how to correct their shoulders in their strap work. Shannon’s strap work is clearly evident in her shoulders and she was breaking down technique like the pro she is.
Allie Cooper and Molly Graves taught workshops on momentum; Megan Gendell taught duo work on trapeze; Julianna Hane taught a workshop on Somatics. You can read more about her teachings on the Born to Fly blog, where she reflected on the festival. Tara Cary taught handstand basics. One of the techniques that everyone really liked included cartwheeling up the wall while facing the wall to work on handstands from another angle, rather than always cartwheeling up with the back to the wall, which can cause you to habitually overarch.
Brett Copes was there to lift and pull, and do that thing he does. It doesn’t matter how advanced of an aerialist you are, we all come into this to fly, so Brett’s class was filled with beginners to professionals who were ready to strap in and get hoisted up. Shannon McKenna enjoyed a backflip starting at one edge of the room and landing at another. Students got to learn how to properly fly one another.
Delbert Hall was there, once again giving aerialists a chance to shock load as much as they can to see how much force they could generate. (If you haven’t ever had a chance to do this, make it a point to try and do it one day!) As usual, students were able to generate readings of over 700 pounds, surprising the skeptics in the crowd, and reminding everyone that shock loads are real. You can’t ignore the forces you are generating if you are going to be safe.
Panel Discussions include many different topics. One that I went to and enjoyed was a talk by a physical therapist, Jennifer Freeman, who had worked with several aerialists and knew what kinds of things to address with the crowd. She gave some great advice about when to see a physical therapist. I have also been practicing one of her rotator cuff exercises every day since I attended her lecture and my shoulders have been loving it!
Another panel discussion that I enjoyed was one that I got to lead alongside Julianna Hane. We talked about Teaching Philosophies. I told the story of 4 different studios and how their teaching philosophies impacted their business. It’s something I’ve been thinking a lot about as I go to open my own studio, and it was fun to share with other people who were curious. Our talk is in the process of becoming part of a module in the Born to Fly Teacher Certification Program. 🙂
Friday night’s performances ROCKED!
I was thrilled to watch flying hoops, silks, handstands, trapeze, rope, there was a little of everything. Radical Movement had spoiled us the night before with their solos, so I was a little bummed not to see more of that, but their group work was fun. The looks those girls gave the audience were of the kind that could kill! Next up, Jocelynn Rudwig demonstrated what she had been teaching the past two days – how to gracefully dance through the air. Those long legs! I’m so jealous!
photo by James Curtis Barger
Kari Nguyen’s fabric piece was emotionally intense. With every movement of her arms, reaching for the fabric or reaching out into space, you could feel her passion. One of my students from the day tapped me on the shoulder after the piece and said, “Now I get it.” In one of my classes, I had been working with students on making a statement and getting them to punctuate their aerial work. It was satisfying to know they recognized a good example of it when they saw it. That’s the first step to progress in artistry afterall. You have to know what you’re after.
photo by James Curtis Barger
Carolyn Logan also performed an emotionally intense piece on trapeze. She wore green and wore a blindfold. Everyone was on the edge of their seat as she moved with great passion through the air without her sight. There were some wonderful transitional moments that showed Carolyn’s work as an artist.
A crowd favorite of the night was a piece entitled “Lampshade,” performed by Natalie Abell and Shayna Swanson. In the piece, they are sisters who are constantly getting on each other’s nerves, picking on one another and slapping each other’s butts. They incorporated their premise into the intention behind every transition, making for a truly entertaining piece from start to finish. For example, they had scarves around their necks. As one sister tried to reach for the scarf of the other in an annoying, sisterly “gimme, I want” manner, suddenly one person was hanging by their neck with the other person basing precariously on the Lampshade apparatus.
The music cut out halfway through their piece, but they handled it like professionals. They started dialogue with the phrases that they use to get each other into character. They covered so well that most members of the audience thought the music was supposed to go out and that this was how the show went! It made the piece even stronger because you were right there, hanging with them in every breath, every word. It was a great ride.
photo by James Curtis Barger
D’AIR finished the evening with a piece that creatively involved umbrellas. Four performers took the stage. Using two single-point trapezes, they partnered with flavorful shapes and colorful costumes. For me personally, this was the most interesting piece to watch having just come from studying single-point trapeze with Canopy. Canopy and D’AIR are sister studios and share much of the same curriculum. As I was watching their choreography, I saw moves that Canopy had shared with me (which will be shared with you soon in our upcoming trapeze book!), and then I also got to see how the moves were altered and changed to become something new and fresh. I got to see the ever-happening evolution process of creating and choreographing come to life right before my eyes, and that was gratifying.
There was so much going on at this festival, that it’s hard to talk about it all. There were tons and tons of workshops and more performances and lectures, demonstrations, private lesson opportunities, and more. Bottom line is that you’ll just have to go next year and experience everything for yourself. It was a happy place for any aerialist who enjoys their craft.
