Everyone Is Your Workout Buddy
I Need My Buddy I have heard a reoccurring whisper throughout the studio lately. With the new term just around the corner, many women are registering for classes. The whisper I continue to hear goes something like this, “Well I can’t do that class, because my friend is not in that class.” Or I have even heard,” Well so so couldn’t make it, so I just didn’t go.” I understand the comfort of having a friend in class, but I always find myself thinking, “do you know that everyone here is ready and willing to support you?” You don’t need one specific friend in class in order to be successful. You are successful, because you came to the studio in the first place! At one point, I was even one of those people. Years ago, I heard many women talking about pole dancing for bachelorette parties and some even as their fitness program. I wanted to take a class so bad, but I did not have friend to take it with. I let not having a friend to go with me stop me from finding my love of pole for two whole years!!!! Could you imagine where I would be today if I would have stopped relying on needing someone else to attempt something new?!?!? Finally, I made the brave decision and signed up for my first pole term BY MYSELF! My goal here is not to make you think having a workout buddy is bad, because countless studies have proven that they provide wonderful support! What I am trying to tell you is that when you attend classes at Aerial Dance every student and instructor are your workout buddies! At the studio, we take work out buddies to a whole new level. Aerial Dance provides you with a workout community! I want to tell you how this community saved me. My Story One of my favorite things in life is to share with people my love of Aerial Dance. I honestly love the studio and the community of women it has created. The best way for me to share with you the kind of community Aerial Dance has created is to tell you my story. Two years ago, I was in a mentally and verbally abusive relationship. I had been with my boyfriend for almost five years. Right around Halloween our relationship took a turn for the worse. The abuse went from verbally and mentally, to physical. I had found out that he was cheating. For finding out, he beat me. I had bruises around my neck, my head, arms, and legs. He had even pulled my hair out to the point I had a bald spot. I was a mess. My whole world had just come crashing down and I finally had a reality check. At that time, I was still pretty new to the studio and did not know many people. I was embarrassed and ashamed of what I had let happen to me. It wasn’t long before, I found myself in a downward spiral. Thankfully, someone I had met only a few times at the studio stepped in. She didn’t know me very well, but she had noticed that the bright shining light that came out within me at the studio was gone. She noticed that my smile was almost nonexistent and my enthusiasm for working had vanished. This person did something amazing that day. She said, “I don’t know your situation, but if you need a someone to talk to I am here for you.” That was all it took for me to truly understand the type of community Aerial Dance was building. In this space, I was safe and I could rebuild the broken woman I had become. Aerial Dance’s Community Aerial Dance has built a sanctuary for women of all ages, shapes, and sizes. This is one of the many reasons why I feel that it is so important to have community like ours to work out in. Each women is strong and beautiful in their own ways. Those strengths and that beauty is reflected in how each women treats one another at the studio. Like I said before, we are all each others work out buddies. We all are striving to reach our goals and to help others reach theirs. We build each other up, when so many women focus on breaking each other down. When taking a class at Aerial Dance, it is a safe space to share the happy parts and crappy parts of life. There have been countless times that I have laughed until I have cried in the middle of the workout, and there have been times where we have stopped class to show love and support. Aerial Dance’s Community helps women to establish and understand the importance of self worth to build women up. The community of women at Aerial Dance are strong and supportive. It is blessing to have this type of community in a cities of Appleton and Green Bay! There are countless reasons why I have been with Aerial Dance for almost five years. What keeps me coming back are the ladies and the environment of the studio. It really has very little to do with the actual classes I take. Many women at Aerial Dance have made an astounding impact on my life. I wouldn’t know where to begin to thank them all. I try to share my “thanks” by repaying the favor. To repay my thanks, I do this by giving other women a hand up, whether that is physical hand or an emotional hand. I do this because at Aerial Dance, we are all family and all are welcome!
Just A Little Drop
Aerial is Always Full of Surprises I have been taking classes at Aerial Dance WI for almost five years, and classes are still surprising me! Surprises are not always a good thing in my book, but Aerial Dance always seems to make me surprise myself in a positive way. My first surprise was that I actually fell in love with pole! By taking baby steps, I was able to stand, to sit on the pole, and to finally climbing the pole! I was surprised by how much fun the classes were and how much strength I was building. Now, I am flying high in Extreme Pole, which comes with its own surprises. After my love of pole, the surprises just kept coming! I fell in love with hammock, hoop, and I am slowly building an affection for silks. When I started at Aerial Dance WI, the aerial classes were not leveled. When you went to classes it was a mix basket of what tricks, poses, or sequences you would learn. I didn’t mind this as it lead you to learn a wide variety of things in one class. Early on in my aerial journey, I had seen women doing drop tricks. My first thought when I saw someone do a drop was, “WOW, that was really amazing, but I am never going to do that!” There was no way in H that I was plummeting towards the floor face first. I am not a afraid of many things, but falling face first really gets my blood pumping. Fast forward five years and…….. 5 Years Later Drops are still not my cup of tea, but I am slowly making them tolerable. A few weeks ago, I over came my fear of falling towards the ground in Revolving Door on hammock. In order to do Revolving Door, I had to have instructor Chrissy stand near me. For me, just having an instructor close makes a world of difference in my fear level. When they are standing near all things are possible! This past week, I gave Seal Drop on hammock a go. It took A LOT of encouragement from my aerial sisters and instructors. I watched the ladies in my class several times before finding my courage. I did the full sequence up until the seal drop and I froze…….. Hanging there, looking at the floor, I was terrified. I couldn’t do it, I came down from the hammock shaking. As I watched a few more ladies give Seal Drop a try, I was pep talking the heck out of myself! Round two, I was going to do it! I was going to SEAL DROP! Through the sequence I went, I could feel my heart pounding in my ears! Chopper, Show Girl, Mermaid, Fallen Tree, roll to Straddle Back, pull up to Upright Straddle, to Seal, and then Seal Drop……. I closed my eyes, held my breath, and let go! Arms out, I tumbled forward, and landed on my feet. I laughed out loud! I had forgot to tuck my feet up and ended up standing. That was the worst that could happen, land on my feet! Seal Drop didn’t seem so bad now. Round three went a little more smoothly, but I still had a bit of hesitation on the actual drop, but I did remember to tuck my feet up to complete the drop! Surprises lurk around every corner at Aerial Dance WI! I want to you to reflect this week and think about what have you been surprised by while attending Aerial Dance? Was it the first class you took? Was it overcoming a fear or was it having enough courage to believe in yourself? Remember ladies, we are strong beautiful women and anything is possible! Until Next Time, Janelle
Register for November Pole!
[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]Register now for Beginner Pole courses in November! The new Pole Term starts November 4th and ends of December 15th, just before the holidays. We have new pole courses starting at both our Appleton & Green Bay locations. Select the time that works best for your schedule and register online to reserve your place. There are only 9 spots per class![/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]The cost for the full 6-weeks is $120. This includes 6 classes and 6 practices to use over the term. If you need to miss a class, you can reschedule it! You basically have all 6 weeks to get in all 6 classes and 6 practices however fit your schedule.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”39582″ img_size=”large”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_btn title=”Register for Beginner Pole in Appleton” color=”purple” size=”lg” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wellnessliving.com%2Fschedule%2Faerialdance%3Fid_class_tab%3D1%26k_class%3D91961%26k_class_tab%3D11735%23%26%26%26%26%26dt_date%3D2018-11-07%26f_distance%3D50%26f_latitude%3D43.8001%26f_longitude%3D-79.4829%26filter%3D1%26%26is_appointment_cancel_recurring%3D%26is_appointment_cancel_single%3D%26is_class_cancel%3D0%26%26is_remove%3D0%26is_week%3D1%26%26%26k_business%3D252598%26%26%26k_class_tab%3D11735%26%26k_location%3D211826%26k_promotion%3D0%26k_skin%3D0%26%26s_period%3Dweek%26%26sort%3D%26a_day%5B%5D%3D%26k_location%3D211826%26k_time%3D1%2C2%2C3|||”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_btn title=”Register for Beginner Pole in Green Bay” color=”purple” size=”lg” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wellnessliving.com%2Fschedule%2Faerialdance%3Fid_class_tab%3D1%26k_class%3D91961%26k_class_tab%3D11735%23%26%26%26%26%26dt_date%3D2018-11-07%26f_distance%3D50%26f_latitude%3D43.8001%26f_longitude%3D-79.4829%26filter%3D1%26%26is_appointment_cancel_recurring%3D%26is_appointment_cancel_single%3D%26is_class_cancel%3D0%26%26is_remove%3D0%26is_week%3D1%26%26%26k_business%3D252598%26%26%26k_class_tab%3D11735%26%26k_location%3D211851%26k_promotion%3D0%26k_skin%3D0%26%26s_period%3Dweek%26%26sort%3D%26a_day%5B%5D%3D%26k_class%3D91961%26k_location%3D211851%26k_time%3D1%2C2%2C3|||”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Something New
It’s Been One of Those Terms Do you ever feel like each week you go to your pole class and nothing seems to work for you? That’s how I have felt the whole last term. My typical pole class is on Monday. For some reason this term, I felt like I have done nothing but suck it up. I wasn’t feeling as strong as I normally do. I felt even less graceful and everything we had done in class I couldn’t even begin to wrap me brain around. If you haven’t felt this way, it is extremely disheartening.My schedule has been crazy between home life and work, and I haven’t worked out or made it to a fraction of the classes I usually do. I feel that this has a lot to do with why I am struggling in my pole class. Last week, I was able to make to two classes. One was my pole class and the other was a Fabric Fit class. Instructor Chrissy was teaching the fit class. Upon my arrival to the studio, I just wanted to lift all of the heavy things and do all of the hard stuff. I just wanted to sweat and be sore the next day. Believe it or not, your body eventually begins to crave sore muscles. Call me crazy, but I wanted the difficulty of sitting down on the toilet, because my quads burned so bad. I asked Instructor Chrissy if we could do all the hard things and guess what!??! She Did It! Instructor Chrissy adjusted her original workout plan to make it even more challenging. Many of you know that Chrissy’s workouts are hard to begin with, but I wanted more. And that’s exactly what she gave me! Her class was the full body workout that I had longed for. At the end, I was exhausted, my muscles burned, but I knew I gave it my all and felt strong at the end. It is a wonderful feeling knowing that the instructors at Aerial Dance will rise to meet any challenge. After class she shared with us the original workout which would have kicked our buts alone, but she took it a step further to ensure we got what we needed! The instructors at Aerial Dance are beyond compare! Quick Shout Out I would love to just give a quick to the extreme instructors on Monday! This past term, I know that I have been kind of a poop, but you never gave up on me. I appreciate all that you do for me and all the students at Aerial Dance. Christmas Show prep is in full swing and I know you have a lot on your plates. Everything you do to go above and beyond for us students is amazing! I would like to extend a special “Thank you” to Instructor Leah who helped me overcome my fear of Russian Laybacks. I went all term feeling like my pole journey was at a complete halt and at class this week, I finally felt like this whole term wasn’t for nothing. It was so easy to get caught up in the fixed mindset of “I can’t” and I let it drag my whole term down. My pole class this week with Instructor Leah and my pole sisters showed me that I had made more progress than I thought. At times our aerial journeys may seem to be a stand still, but yet each time we set foot into the studio, we are taking a step toward our goal, no matter how small the step. Sometimes it is hard to see past the things we can’t do, to see what we can do. Try to remember to fill out that Gold Star Girl slip, so you have to reflect on what you did well. Until Next Time, Janelle
An Amazing Community
Thank you! As many of you know, student and former Instructor in Training Laura was in terrible car accident. Last Friday, October 5, Aerial Dance in collaboration with Appleton Beer Factory hosted a fundraiser for her. The turn out for the fundraiser was impeccable! Ladies and their families from the studio came out in full force to show support! In the short 2 hour time frame of the fundraiser, Aerial Dance was able to raise a total of $4,906! To me that is beyond incredible. I heard several times throughout the night that people could not believe the amount of people who should up to give their support. It made my heart swell with pride to be part of Aerial Dance community. The amount love shown for our pole sister was beyond compare. You Are Never Alone The support demonstrated by this fundraiser is exactly why Aerial Dance is such an AMAZING community! Ladies ranging from being at the studio only a few months to ladies who had been there for years all came out to support one of our pole sisters! Her travels may have taken her away from the studio, but she is still one of our own. That being said, ladies please know that wherever your journey takes you, you are always welcome back home at Aerial Dance. When you enter the Aerial Dance Family, you are not soon forgotten if your journey takes you else where. You are forever in the hearts of the students, instructors, and Paula’s. In our aerial/pole community you do not have to feel alone. We are here to support you in your time of physical or mental strife. We may not be able to fix what burdens you, but we can help to alleviate some of your pain. Everyone comes to the studio with their own story, their own experiences, their own accomplishments, or their own pain. Aerial Dance is a sanctuary for women to be free of the daily stressors that bind our time. Aerial Dance creates opportunities for you to have fun and enjoy yourself! One exciting event coming up is the Member Play Day! Girl Time Member Play Day is a wonderful experience for you to come and relax with your pole/aerial sisters. You have the opportunity to watch the move The Greatest Showman, which is one of my favorites. It is a time learn some fun mini choreographed routines to the beautiful songs throughout the movie. Plus it is an afternoon surround by strong empowering women. I don’t know about you, but with the Christmas Show only two months away I could use a little girl time. This is also a great opportunity for beginners to meet new people and build new friendships! Until Next Time, Janelle
Please Come!
Tonight from 6-8pm at Appleton Beer Factory is the fundraiser for Laura. And I’m asking each and every one of you to take a little time to stop in. Why? Because we may be a fitness studio, we may be a circus school, but we are a community. We say all the time that once you’re one of our girls, you always are and we mean it. Laura was a student and an instructor in training before she made the life change of moving out of state. She had only moved back to the area a few days when the car accident happened. She wasn’t a current student, but that doesn’t make her any less “ours”. She is part of the community and needs us which is why I’m asking everyone to come. So if you are part of our community but you didn’t know Laura, COME because a community is only strong when we support each other. When the accident happened, I got a hysterical call from Instructor Kim. Through the crying I heard that Laura was in an accident and it was really bad. I knew it had to be REALLY bad because Kim doesn’t get emotional, not like that. I rushed to the studio to sub for Kim so she could get to the hospital. When I walked in, Kim was teaching a Hammock Fit class, she was smiling and laughing and I thought “my god, how. One of her closest friends may die tonight and here she is making sure our students have a great time.” And that is why you need to come tonight. Your instructors don’t bring their issues into your classes, they smile through whatever they have going on in their lives to make sure YOU have a positive experience. And all of your instructors are coming tonight because they care about Laura and they want to help her. So if you appreciate the instructors at Aerial Dance, COME tonight because they are asking you to be there. Laura is a fighter. Her recovery is nothing short of a miracle. But she isn’t “all better” in that she still has a long way to go. She was in a coma for a long time. During the whole time her family wasn’t releasing a lot of details about what was going on, so out of respect for that I’ll just say it was super bad. There were many times we didn’t know if she would make it. We held off doing a fundraiser right after it happened because we honestly didn’t know if it would be fundraiser for medical bills or funeral expenses. Then she woke up and started her long road to get back. We wanted to wait to do the fundraiser event until she could know it was happening and feel the love. For the last few months she’s been in a 24 hour rehab center. The medical bills must be insane. But I’ve been told she’s walking! And every time I get a text from her it makes me really happy. And even cooler, she is going to try to come to some part of the event. So if you want to see Laura and tell her she’s amazing, COME because she will be there for a short period tonight. We put on a lot of free events for our membership. We try really hard to make Aerial Dance a lot more than a fitness studio and that means doing things like Book Club, Self Care Sundays, Parties (like the upcoming “Greatest Showman”) and photoshoots that are all FREE to our members. We also dramatically subsidize the Christmas Show so ticket prices can stay low so all your family and friends feel comfortable coming. This event may seem like just another “member” event but it isn’t. We have made the event “beneficial” to our members by having an awesome photographer on site to take your pictures. We have gotten tons of cool silent auction items that you’ll find useful. We have flatbread pizzas as part of the $10 entrance cost because we like food. We’ve added a lot of little touches to make it a fun “member event” but it is so much more than that. So I’m asking you to COME. Please come tonight and help us raise money for one of ours. Please come to support the community that supports you.
