Spring Is In The Air!
Well, Spring is in My Step Anyways! In pole class this week, we worked on some really cool Flips and Walk Overs!!!!!! We worked on Lever Back Flip and Lever Walk Over. The Lever Walk over isn’t truly a flip, but looks like one if done fast enough. Through my years at Aerial Dance, I have learned that I am pretty afraid of dropping or flipping towards the floor. I don’t like to see the floor coming at me. It always feels like I am going to smash my face. I don’t know about you, but I am pretty fond of my face. Back Flips for me on the other hand are not as scary. In the middle of the flip I already have my eyes shut before actually seeing the floor. Well to be honest, my eyes are shut throughout the whole flip. Enough about me and my fears! Let’s talk Lever Back Flips! Flip Inspiration Two years ago, Instructor Leah performed at the Christmas Show. The song she danced to has slipped my mind, but what I do remember was she had a broken foot/toe. As she performed it was like watching a sunset ripple across a lake. So strong, so inspiring, so vibrant full of color! It is always an honor and privilege to watch her! One move from her performance was forever engraved in my mind. It was the Lever Back Flip! The first reason I never forgot the back flip was she back flipped on a BROKEN TOE/FOOT! I couldn’t imagine the pain she must of felt! BUT! She continued to dance through the whole show! Talk about dedication! The second reason I never forgot it was the crowd went absolutely wild, myself included! Since then I have always wanted to learn how to do a Lever Back Flip! Lever Back Flip During Extreme Pole on Monday, we were given the opportunity to try this back flip! Watching Instructor Leah demonstrate was pretty awesome! We were given variations to prepare ourselves for the flip, but in the end when doing the back flip you had to give it 100%. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t make it over. It is certainly one of those tricks that you need a little extra encouragement! Being it my first time flipping, I needed Instructor Leah to spot me/be near me to be successful. Do you have any moves/tricks like that? Where you just feel much more comfortable with an instructor near you? While doing the Lever Back Flip it is key to tuck up into this neat little ball……….Well videos at the end of class proved that the neat little balls we thought we were tucking up into were a myth…. Take a look for yourself. These are a few of my screen shots from flipping. My legs are flailing all over the place. I also whacked my ankle on the pole. Our pole class this week was full of trying new things, laughter, and growth! The Lever Back Flip is a trick that you need to practice anywhere from 7 to 700 times to get. I feel that I have many tricks, spins, moves that fall under the 7 to 700 rule. So what is my take away from this weeks blog? Don’t be afraid to try! Most of all don’t be afraid to fail! It took me a good three or four attempts to flip before I even got all the way over!!!!! Even after I flipped over it still wasn’t a complete success. TAKE VIDEOS/PICTURES, they will help you on your journey! They help you see growth and help you to improve your art! All aspects of the Aerial Arts have parts that may scare you. Step out of that comfort zone and grow into the beautiful aerialist you were meant to be!!!! Until Next Time, Janelle
A compassion challenge for International Women's Day
It’s March 8 so women all over are celebrating International Women’s Day. And I woke up ANGRY at society because women are still hiding all they are facing to make everyone else comfortable. Let me be clear, I have never been pregnant. In the past two years I’ve had to come to terms with the likely fact I will never be a mom due to my choice of staying in a relationship that wasn’t reciprocated for far too long. And it sucks. I still grieve what I likely won’t have. I don’t talk about it because when I try people say “you can have a kid right now if you wanted” or “you don’t know what the future holds” or other things that trivialize what I see as my loss. So I don’t talk about it. And as I’ve been coming to terms with my own loss I’ve watched countless friends not get pregnant while trying or get pregnant and then not carry to full term and not have the baby they wanted. And I can’t imagine. This week a good girlfriend called me and told me she is pregnant! Super excited for her. I knew her and her husband were trying. I could hear the edge of fear in her voice as she talked about her upcoming first ultrasound. And I said the totally insensitive “well, you know you can carry a full term pregnancy because you have your son so everything will be great!” As soon as I said it she changed topics to positive and avoided fear, because why wouldn’t she, I just shut her down. Before her healthy pregnancy she had a brutal loss. One that I didn’t know about until long after it was over and she was trying to recover. How does that not affect her now? How does that not make her concerned or worried or fearful now? We as a culture don’t talk about miscarriages or pregnancy that doesn’t end with a baby. Why? Because it is super uncomfortable. And I think there is also fear that if we talk about it maybe it could happen to us. But it CAN happen to you. It can happen to anyone. Not having a full term pregnancy is extremely common. But shhh, don’t talk about. We don’t tell people we are pregnant until it is “safe” to. Safe for who? Surely not the lady who is excited and nervous and then she doesn’t have a baby and is now dealing with a devastating loss alone. We need to fix this as a culture and society. We as women need to say enough of this silence and to hold each other through the devastation. And to keep supporting long after, because grief can last a lifetime. Another close friend had a traumatic miscarriage, needed a D & C, and then went into work directly after. She was just supposed to pretend that nothing happened. And she did. HOW SAD IS THAT!?!?! She just lost the chance at a child she wanted, had an invasive medical procedure, and is now sitting at her desk pretending nothing happened a few hours later. Shouldn’t she get a sick day? Or sick week? And maybe some trauma counseling? And this, this right here is why I woke up angry at society. We need to normalize pregnancy and all the risks. We need to listen to the fears of the women in our life and sit there through the discomfort of loss. We need to check in months and years after a loss and listen. I challenge you this International Women’s Day to truly be a supporter of women and show compassion to someone you know who is struggling with a loss they don’t speak of. All of us know someone. But it is taboo to ask “how are you doing since your miscarriage?” “How are you doing since your abortion?” “How are you doing being pregnant right now after your previous difficulties?” “How are you doing during your in vitro?” and all the other super uncomfortable questions we don’t ask. We don’t ask because maybe they aren’t thinking about it and we don’t want to remind them. They remember. We need to ask them. We need to show compassion and care. Our sisterhood needs to extend to the uncomfortable to truly liberate women. Me personally, today I’ll be calling back my friend. I’ll be acknowledging how insensitive my comment was and to ask her how she is feeling and what she needs. I’ll give her a safe space to talk about whatever she needs to talk about because I love her. And even though I know I won’t know what to say, I’ll keep trying to be compassionate and loving because that’s all I can do to help.
Girl Show Yourself Some Love!
Self Love Party! The Aerial Dance Self Love Party marked the end of Aerial Dance’s Self Love Challenge. Challenge isn’t really the best word. I feel that Self Love February was suppose make each of us a little more aware of what we need to love ourselves. The Self Love Challenge was a way for many women to give themselves permission to do acts of self love without feeling guilty. If you were not able to make the party, it was a blast! It was so nice to mix and mingle with pole sisters you don’t get to see too often! It was especially nice to see sisters from the Green Bay studio! Miss you ladies! At the start of the party each lady was given a card with icebreaker questions. You needed to answer the question by finding someone else who shared your answer and write their name down. I thought this was really great. I know many of the women at the studio, but the new ladies I am still getting to know. It was a nice way to put faces with names! After the ice breaker, we had an obstacle relay course. This part was a lot of fun and a little scary with socks on. During the course we had to exercise our skills as a team, but also show sportsmanship for the other teams. Being that we are all adults one would think it is easy to always utilize those skills, but some people don’t. I am proud to say in true Aerial Dance fashion, we all came together and cheered for one another. We all might have wanted to win, but we were able to see the bigger picture and support each other as we ran. I say this all the time, but I am still in awe of the community of women Aerial Dance has helped build! I love each and everyone of my pole and aerial sisters! You make going through day to day life amazing and memorable! You are shining stars each in your own way. Thank you for being supportive, caring, generous, and just being there. As we move through spring and into summer, I ask that you don’t lose all of the ways that you learned to love yourself last month. You love with the fullest of hearts, but YOU above all else deserve your love! Showcase Update Steve and I will be having our first Student Showcase lesson this Saturday! I am so excited! Steve is a little petrified, but I know he will be okay! I am proud to share that I was able to download and cut our song! It took some time, but I was successful! Add that to a list of skills I now have thanks to Aerial Dance! As we are preparing for our first lesson, Instructor Kelly asked me to count out the music to the words in the song to be able to plan our routine. I initially thought this would not be a problem……. Turns out it is a big problem…… You remember that old saying, “If you don’t use it, you lose it?” Well, I haven’t truly counted out a song since high school. I sat for hours trying to figure it out, without any luck. I had to admit my defeat to Instructor Kelly, hopefully she will be able to reteach me on Saturday. Oh the things you learn about yourself! I hope all of my fellow Showcase students are rocking their routines! I cannot wait to see them! The count down is on! We are just over a month out. My pole sisters who have competed or performed before, could you give us Showcase students a tidbit of advice? Please leave that advice in the comments on the Facebook Blog Post. Thank you in advance! Until Next Time, Janelle
