Specialty Workshop Choreography
Typically during a specialty workshop we charge extra for the work the instructor puts into the content they are bringing you. An instructor may teach anywhere from 1:30-3:00 minutes of choreography depending on how difficult. Speaking for myself, creating about 2:00 minutes of choreography can take 2-3 hours if I am feeling creative, sometimes days if I am not feeling so creative. This week I am teaching 3 separate routines! That is a lot of planning! During our online classes we have decided to offer up fun choreography for our students more frequently! Why am I busting my butt to deliver something we usually charge as a specialty? Because I LOVE my students and I love seeing them happy! As a sisterhood we are strong and I will continue to bring amazing content to them not matter what the circumstance. We are offering choreography from everything to Broadway style, to Jazz, to Hip Hop, and Burlesque. Come see us virtually and say “Hi” while learning awesome routines!
This amazing community….
It was two weeks ago that I knew I had to announce our community minded plans to not run in-person classes for a while. I was so upset and scared that I was literally nauseous. Would our members stick with us and support our community through this unprecedented time of uncertainty? I owe all of you an apology for even wondering that. The Aerial Dance Sisterhood is simply amazing. First to our Pole Members, thank you for continuing with your payment plans knowing we will get back to it as soon as we can. Thank you for becoming more active on our Member Motivation FB page so we know how you’re doing during this. A few of you have added a Fitness Membership during this to take classes at home and that is truly helpful and appreciated. Thank you for trusting that you will get every class and practice in your package as soon as we can resume in person. And you will. And then some. Because I am so grateful I haven’t been inundated with emails and you’re calmly trusting Aerial Dance to deliver on the flip side. Thank you! To our Fitness Members, thank you for making the switch to online classes seamlessly. Thank you for using your monthly package in that format and choosing to continue to grow, from home, during this time. Thank you for becoming more active on our Member Motivation FB page and for bringing your positive energy to our online classes! We love seeing you during this time and learning even more about you. To our All Inclusive Members, thank you for rolling with the change to online. Your attendance in classes has been awesome. You are keeping our community strong by being more active than ever in both FB groups. Your positive comments about the FB LIVE workouts and the new online content has been amazing. I appreciate the respectful way you’re making requests for different types of classes or workouts. I appreciate that you are bringing enthusiasm to our online classes and that because those classes are running we are able to continue to employ our Instructors. Your choice to stand with us during this time is impacting a lot of lives for the better and I am so grateful to each and every one of you. The the anonymous women who upped the game by donating to the Sisterhood Scholarship. Wow. When it was founded a year ago there was no global pandemic on the horizon with a 20% increase in unemployment. And yet here we are. The scholarship is more appreciated now than ever because so many of our members are in need. By allowing members to apply and use scholarship funds keeps memberships current and revenue coming in, which in turn allows me to pay my instructors; this truly means the world to me. Even more amazing is that number of women that have stepped up the last week and added to the scholarship fund to help others during this time. Seeing such kindness brings me such joy. Thank you for being part of our community. To my Instructors, I simply don’t have words. You pivoted on short notice to become online teachers. You haven’t been trained properly for a one sided workout but you’re knocking it out of the park. You’ve learned new technology and welcomed our students into your homes. You’ve innovated with household goods and continue to bring creativity to every class to keep things interesting. Workshops that we normally offer sparingly because of the time they take to create you are now offering multiple times a week. I am in awe of you. And you do it all the extra work with positivity and a smile. You are motivating me daily as I watch you motivate our community. To my Instructors, you are the heart of the community. So many hugs (at a six foot distance, of course). I just made a post on the member page for “Monday Motivation”. Reminding our members that they can choose to focus on what they can’t do or to focus on what they can do. I am focusing on what I can do today and moving forward. Our Sisterhood is going to come out of this stronger than ever. Maybe someday I’ll post the blog I wrote about what it’s truly like being a small business owner right now with all the fear and uncertainty. But what I’ve come to realize in the last week is that I don’t own a small business, I lead an amazing community of strong, kind, caring women. I am so very blessed to be part of Aerial Dance. Thank you to every woman who is part of this Sisterhood.
Flash Fun Dance Breaks!
Flash Fun Workouts are a new Facebook Live activity to break up the day while we are all practicing social distancing Things I have learned from in my first week of doing this:· How to rotate the view of the video so I am not dancing outside of the frame of the camera.· The wind is a little loud if I video outside. Guess that is why the pro’s have wind screens on their microphones!· My phone has to be on “do not disturb”. Getting a text notification while recording isn’t good!· It’s easier with a DJ. I recorded my first Flash Fun Workout by myself and I’ll never do that again if I can help it. I hated running in and out of the frame. I much rather prefer saying “hit it DJ”.· It’s just easier to keep the living room arranged for doing a workout instead moving everything around each time I record a new Flash Fun Workout.· Lighting – I want as much as possible. So, open up those drapes and turn on the lights!· The music must be at an appropriate sound level to not get flagged by Facebook and muted. Because of this, the music volume will be kept low during the video. So feel free to put the recommended song on yourself (or any song of your choice), turn it up, and just keep moving.· Coordinating it all can be difficult, so if I’m looking a little disheveled, please forgive me. As I’m working from home for KC, meetings and work are always getting bounced around and sometimes I only have a short window to change, shoot a Flash Fun Workout (& reshoot it if Facebook mutes it for song copyright!), eat, and get back to my home office.· But on the flip side, doing the Flash Fun Workout during the day is the bomb diggity! I always feel awesome after taking that break to mentally disconnect from the world and move my body. I feel less stressed when I return to work and my body is definitely more awake and limber afterwards. So please join me and the other instructors for Flash Fun to reenergize during your day!!
We got this!
The world is a dumpster fire. There. I said it. Many things are closed. Everyone is home. Many are scared and battling anxiety. Our “leaders” are changing ideas and solutions by the minute. And lives are in the balance. By definition “dumpster fire: a chaotic or disastrously mishandled situation.” So now we have two options: 1. we can sit around wondering if the building next to us is going to catch fire or 2. we can grab some marshmallows and chocolate and look to a sister for a laugh. If you’ve ever been to Aerial Dance you know, we like our desserts. Since the end of February I have been watching the international situation and planning what it would mean for Aerial Dance. Initially I planned to stay open through this thinking our cleaning procedures, which are extensive, would be enough. But then I found myself telling an instructor who is pregnant that the risk to her teaching isn’t worth her staying on the schedule right now. And that was an ethics check for me. If I don’t think it’s safe for her, I don’t think it’s safe and I need to make other plans. So I did. And Aerial Dance put in place a plan to close before we were “required” to because it was the right thing to do. We always put our people first. What’s great about being proactive in this is we have so many things in place. We started doing our FB LIVES before we closed. This is an hour workout on our FB All Inclusive Member Page that they can access any time. This makes working out at home completely flexible. When we initially conceptualized this, the workout was going to be up for 24 hours and then removed. But our members requested longer. So right now they are accumulating for our members on the closed group so they can refer back to and workout with us at any point. How cool is that?!?! The interaction with our members is critical to us. Yes, we are a fitness program, but we are a sanctuary. Our women look to us to brighten their days and give them a safe space to exhale. Doing classes that were one way (like the FB LIVE) didn’t provide the community and interaction that our program requires. So we have multiple zoom accounts and are running online classes. I just need to take a second here to say that even in the midst of a state of emergency and international pandemic my amazing team is offering ~60+ online live classes PER WEEK. Most pole and aerial studios don’t even offer that many class during a week when they are up and running healthy. Many studios are currently offering 1-2 per classes online day. Aerial Dance is offering on average 10 live classes per day. Most other studios are only offering one option, live or record. Aerial Dance is offering both. We are killing it! Aerial Dance is creating new and interesting content and bringing our members so many options from their houses. I’m super proud about the number of online classes and options we are running because: Our instructors are willing to go way outside their usual space to be creative in this time of need. Our membership makes running so many classes possible. Our sisterhood is strong and staying together through this difficult time! <3 so many thanks to all our amazing members for rolling with the changes and getting excited with us as we innovate in this unsettling time. Because our membership is so awesome I’m able to keep my instructors employed. This means the world to me. So thank you members!!!! We are very aware at Aerial Dance that some of our members come more for the community than the workout. So we are also doing free activities multiple times per week that involve learning and socializing. We’ve had a cooking/meal prep event; salsa dancing and book club so far. Coming up is a make-up tutorial; wine Wednesday; and more couples dancing fun. We have an entire spreadsheet filled with ideas to keep our women entertained from their homes as this continues. We know that stir crazy is a thing and is going to happen. Aerial Dance plans to bring our members so many options and so much joy that this period of “stay at home” flies by! So yes, the world is crazy. But our community is strong. The dumpster fire is raging, but we’ll all be fine together. I personally like my marshmallows golden brown.
Rise to the Occasion
Social Distancing/Quarantine……. It won’t stop us! We are now on day 6 of our social distancing. As an aerial community we are feeling it full force. That won’t stop us though! Right now I am beyond grateful for AERIAL DANCE! Our Founder Paula and our instructors hit the ground running. They rose to the occasion and met this social distancing on full force! They found a way to continue teaching classes and a way to connect us all during this crazy time. Seemingly over night, Aerial Dance revamped their whole curriculum to ensure that we can still build our strength. Our studio offers 12 classes a night during this time. That is a tremendous undertaking, but they did! They did it because they truly care about their students! They care about our community, our physical and mental health! They put their heart and soul in all they do and will continue to work to help us be successful! I have taken several Zoom classes and I have also taken Facebook live classes! Is my workout environment different? Yes, because I am in my own home, but the energy in these classes are contagious! I am not an at home workout type of person, but seeing my aerial sisters and instructors is exactly what I need! The energy that the instructors bring to each online class is the same as face to face classes! Thank you Paula and all of our instructors at Aerial Dance! You are true heroes that we need during this time. Your commitment to making our sisterhood thrive!
Trust Your Instructors
We’re fortunate to have a supportive community at Aerial Dance and throughout the pole community in general. We cheer each other on, offer tips for moves and stretches, and encourage dance and flow. Because of the guidance of our peers, we sometimes forget our biggest cheerleaders – our instructors! The instructors at Aerial Dance go through hundreds of hours of training and certification in order to teach classes, not to mention the years they’ve put in to learning pole on their own time. If you are having trouble with a certain move or need to stretch a specific muscle group, your instructor will almost certainly be able to help you. If they don’t know, they will ask a reliable source. Too often, I see people soliciting advice from strangers on the internet. These people, however well-meaning, do not know your body and likely don’t have any training that validates their advice. Aerial Dance instructors undergo continuing education to make sure they are teaching to the best of their ability. Utilize this wonderful resource! If an instructor offers a suggestion during class or practice, listen and try it out! It might not work, but at least you know they wouldn’t ask you to try something that might be dangerous. Take strangers’ advice with some caution and a grain of salt, and always consult a medical professional if you experience unusual physical pain while performing a trick.
Dance Makes Me (And Hopefully You) Happy
Hey friends! We all know there is a lot of crazy going on right now. It is definitely not the first time life has gotten crazy for any of us. For me, when the anxiety, or sadness, or anger, or even happiness kicks in, I Dance. I dance through all my emotions, it is the best way for me to let out whatever I need to in a positive way, plus it keeps my body moving. It is my passion, it is my career, it is my art and it is my constant. It is also fortunately something I can do at home that makes me happy even if my dog is involved. Anytime something has happened in my life, I keep dancing, from national tragedies, to personal or family situations, I keep dancing. I encourage you to keep doing the things that you love as much as possible, regardless of how it comes out. Grab a piece of paper and draw, write something, move your body, get creative in a way you haven’t even thought of or done yet! If you are a student at Aerial Dance I am going to go ahead and bet that you love to dance too in some form or another. Dance while you do the dishes! Try getting your kids involved that are out of school for a lesson that uses dance or movement! FaceTime your family and a dance party! I look forward to moving with you all via video in the coming days and I can’t wait to see your beautiful faces in person very soon!
Evolve
There are so many definitions for the word evolve, but there is one thing they all have in common! CHANGE! Change can be a terrifying thing as it is met with uncertainty. There is one change you should not be afraid of! Aerial Dance has recently partnered with Evolve Healing which is a mental health clinic that specializes in eating disorders. You have seen their posters at both studio locations. I am floored by some of the information these posters share. Most of all I was blown away by the member seminar that Aerial Dance hosted on Feb 27. We were given a plethora of information and it has taken me quite some time to figure how to best share my view on the information I received. First off let me start by saying THANK YOU AERIAL DANCE! This seminar was very informative not only in the sense that it applied to me, but I feel it applies to all women. This seminar addressed the struggles women face trying to fit “society’s beauty standard”. We all know that our society is skewed and frankly just f**ked up when it comes to how women should look, weigh, and act. The perceptions of others can truly make or break someone’s mental health and that is not remotely okay! The most shocking fact I learned at this seminar was that the diet industry has grossed over $60 billion dollars! Did you hear that!?!? Over 60 billion! No wonder we are always being bombarded with “Lose weight fast”, “This Magic Pill”,”This drink will”, “This the weight loss fix you’ve been waiting for!” Well I call BS on all of those adds. There are so many people advocating to change the definition of heath! Our presenter shared this definition of health and I find it to be spot on! Definition of health – American Association for Size Diversity and Health Health, Wellness, and Self Acceptance are all scary things with blurred definitions depending on what source you use to define them. Health is traditionally categorized as the absence of physical/ mental health(see link for better definition). Merriam Webster defines wellness as the quality or state of being in good health especially as an actively sought goal. I agree with this definition as longs as you are using a definition of health that meets your unique needs. Self Acceptance is knowing your authentic self. If you are like me….. I was like……. What does that even mean? Knowing my authentic self? Here is the simplest version I can come up with for you. Your authentic self is the person you are when no one else is around. It is the person who doesn’t have to put on a show to be cool or fit in. It is the person you are behind closed doors. During the seminar I was also introduced to the term Shadow Selves. Your shadow self encapsulates all the parts of yourself that are harder to accept. For me a shadow self would be identifying that I have body image issues. As a result of listening to this discussion about our shadow selves, I learned that we need to honor and respect our shadow selves, instead of acting as though they do not exist. No matter how unflattering they may be. We need to give ourselves self respect by understanding that YES! I do have individualized/unique self needs, but I have the agency to say I can accept where I am now. I can see where I want to go. I can take myself in that direction whether it by my own drive, with help, or in time! You have the control and power to make a change for yourself if you understand what is in your control and what is not! What’s in MY control and what’s NOT in MY Control – Many people have trouble accepting themselves as they truly are due to things they do not have control over. If you have constant stressor on your mind, take a step back and sincerely ask yourself do I have control over this? This isn’t just defined as a chronic illness, but also people/situations in your life. One stressor for me is being a step mom of child whose birth mother is very high conflict. I cannot control what she says about me or what she tells her child. This causes me a tremendous amount of stress and emotional pain. It effects me so much it makes me question my self worth. Each of us have only so much that we can give of ourselves each day. We need to understand our limitations and respect those boundaries to protect our health. Attending this seminar helped me to refresh my ideas of control, self acceptance, health, and wellness. I have so much more to share with you! Please stay turned for my future blogs about Health at Every Size (HAES) and Set Point Theory. Until Next Time, Janelle
Do yourself a favor and come to Book Club!
The Aerial Dance Smart is Sexy Book Club has been around for 2ish years! I’m a part of the Facebook group so I received all the posts but never read any of the books or attended the discussions. I have now discovered that I was doing myself a disservice. Because book club is awesome!!! My goal for 2020 was to read more. It was hard at first because, let’s be honest, at the end of a long day of work, who isn’t tired and would rather not think. It is all too easy to turn on Netflix or a TV show, or to mindlessly scroll through social media. But it doesn’t have to be like that. Reading isn’t hard, it’s enjoyable. Now it’s something that I just DO! And I love it. I was nervous for my first book club discussion. Did I take enough notes? Would I remember enough to be able to talk about the book? How did this whole thing work? Turns out there was nothing to worry about. It was both super chill and we were able to do a deep dive into the book. These books are meant to challenge us intellectually, emotionally and spiritually. While it’s obviously a worthwhile endeavor to read a book, it’s even better to be able to discuss that book topics with others. Doing so leads to a better understanding as you can both take in and learn from other people’s interpretations as well as express your own. Who would have thought being an adult could be so much fun?!? I seriously mean that. Your aerial sisters are super smart, so having this opportunity to further discuss the book and what can at times be personally challenging subject matters helps to reinforce the key takeaways. Plus, we laugh and have dinner! To quote David Richo from our latest book “it is not that practice makes perfect, but that practice is perfect, combining effort with an openness to grace”. This quote applies to so many things in life. In this case, it applies to my reading skills. Am I always present while reading? Do I absorb everything I read? Do I always finish the book? Have I been able to implement everything I have learned? No to all, but I am working on it and that is perfection. So pick up a copy of one (or all) of our upcoming books, and whether you finish reading it or not, I highly recommend that you come to the discussion. You’ll learn more about life, about yourself, about your aerial sisters and eat some good sushi! Upcoming Books: April 5 at 4:30PM – Unf*ck YourselfMay 21 at 4:30pm – I Thought It Was Just MeAugust 2 at 4:30PM – Body Kindness Join the Aerial Dance Smart is Sexy Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ADWiBookClub/
Progressing at your own pace
Inside and outside of pole class, we often compare ourselves to our fellow students and our pole icons. While this comparison can inspire and drive us, it can also be a source of negative energy on our pole journey. Pole dancing is an unusual sport in that most dancers and athletes don’t start training until adulthood. Still, cross-training in cardiovascular or strength sports translates to pole dance, allowing those with more experience to accelerate faster through difficult moves. As one who did not play sports or exercise regularly before pole dance, I have made slower progress with pole than some of fellow students. At times, I have been self-conscious of the lack of progress I’ve made throughout my 4.5 years of off-and-on pole exercise. When I start mulling over these thoughts, I remind myself that the only person I’m trying to be better than is myself. I make progress at every class and practice I attend. This lesson is universal. Whether in athletics, education, career, or personal development, the only person you need to be better than is the person you were yesterday. Progress is not linear; it is a rollercoaster of peaks and valleys. We fall back, make mistakes, lose hope, but we also try again and improve with each effort. We must be gracious with ourselves and others through their struggles, development, and achievement. We deserve it.
