YOUR Journey
I love watching other people dance. Brand new or veteran, it doesn’t matter – I love watching how different people interpret music in their body. I find it fascinating to learn how long someone has been dancing, how each person learns things at their own pace. However, I do find myself being a little jealous sometimes if others master some difficult trick faster than I did. I find myself in that place lately – seeing how quickly some people pick up on certain tricks that took me MONTHS or even YEARS to do! I’m still super excited for them, but at the same time in the back of my mind a little voice is saying “well how come it took you so long?” And I’m here to remind us all today that WE ARE ALL ON OUR OWN JOURNEY!!! Every body is different, and sometimes moves feel natural to one body but completely foreign to another – that’s okay. Some of us come in with ripped shoulders and arms – handsprings may be a piece of cake, and that’s okay. Some of us have the flexibility of a toothpick, so spatchcock will not be in our wheelhouse any time soon, and that is okay too! Each person’s pole journey is unique to her/him – and there is no right or wrong, too fast or too slow. It’s okay to be a little envious of another’s tricks, but always remember what YOU and YOUR BODY are capable of too. We all do some pretty amazing things in our own way, and in our own time.
Practice Makes PROGRESS
I’ve been seeing this phrase so much lately, “Practice makes progress”. I love it, but I am a bit of a hypocrite these days. I have felt stuck in my own skills journey, and haven’t been following my own advice that I give to students all the time! Practice. It sounds like such a dirty word to me lately. I lost a lot of strength during the shut down, and my personal skills took a huge step backwards. Since reopening, I started off strong! Working on my basics, building my strength and skills back up. Somewhere along the way, I fell off the wagon. I want my skills back, but I stopped doing the conditioning, and putting in the practice time. I have come to rest atop the plateau. My most recent kick in the pants to get back after it was a lesson (via zoom) with Heidi Coker. She had more confidence in me and my skills than I had in myself. That lesson and what I accomplished when I put my mind to it has given me the reboot that I needed. I was reminded how amazing what we do is, and how important it is to celebrate EVERY accomplishment. Every practice has something to celebrate, tiny progress is still progress. Keep going!
All By Myself
Many of our members start taking their first class with a friend. That is awesome for those lucky women who have a friend willing to try something new with them. I was not so lucky. I couldn’t talk any of my friend into making the drive to Appleton (the Green Bay studio didn’t exist…) to try pole dancing with me. So I went alone. And I loved it anyway – all by myself. I made an amazing group of new friends in my classes in no time at all! After I became an instructor, I started to pay attention to who signed up after intro classes. It was rare for friends to sign up without each other. I heard this a lot “But my friend isn’t able to”. So what??? I know we all want that comfort of someone familiar to be with. But if they aren’t there, you’ll make new friends! Our community at Aerial Dance is an AMAZING place to do that. Our classes are filled with other interesting, adult women that you already have something unique in common with! Ladies – have a friend who wants to take class with you? Awesome! No takers in your current circle? Awesome! Come make some new friends doing something amazing.
Unplug
I know it’s hard, especially in today’s half open, half still shut world. Now more than ever it is important to unplug yourself! We spend so much time on technology, always “on” that it is so important to remove yourself from it every now and then. I’m not saying uninstall Facebook, Insta, Twitter, etc… I’m saying leave your phone behind once in a while, put it in another room, or turn it off. In my role at Aerial Dance I do a lot of online work with our social media accounts. I also have my personal accounts that I use to keep in touch with friends and family. Between the two, I spend A LOT of time on social media platforms. Each week, I try to take one day that I don’t open my personal or work social medias. One day free from it all – it’s rare that I make it the whole day honestly, but I try. In doing this I have actively reduced the amount of my free time I spend on social media just mindlessly scrolling. I go on less as a “time filler” than I used to. Small changes like this have made a noticeable impact on my amount of free time to do other things. For many of us, being plugged in in ways other than social media (emails, texts, messaging platforms) is necessary for our jobs. This can be just as draining on us! Make sure you set boundaries and keep your YOU time. Starting with simple boundaries like “After 7:30pm I will not check my work email” or “Before I’ve had my coffee, I will not open my computer” are small, easy ways to start to set boundaries for yourself. I still struggle with this one. I have set boundaries like these, but often find myself saying “It’s just one email to respond to” and making exceptions. It is a work in progress. I have the boundaries in my head though, and most of the time I do try to abide by them. This has caused me some anxiety in getting used to it, but that email will be there in the morning! If it were a true emergency, I know that a phone call would be made to alert me to it. The moral here is that we all need to actively take time for ourselves WITHOUT being on call all the time. Just having our technology on us, knowing that it could go off triggers our brain to be slightly in response mode. Take some time to separate yourself from it all. Small doses even, can make a huge impact.
Competition Season!
I love performing and being in front of an audience. I am so excited to be able to help our women prepare for competition. I have competed and judged several competitions, and I love being able to share that aspect of our sport with others. This year’s competitions are of course going to be a bit different. Many of our women are preparing for virtual competitions. What this means is that they are still putting in the hours of preparation and hard work, but won’t get to perform on stage in front of a live audience. Instead, most will be recording their routine and submitting the video to be judged. There are pro’s and con’s to competing this way of course. First – it means that competitors can record as many takes as they want to get it right! However, we are our own worst critics, and having a flawless run of a routine NEVER happens. It requires competitors to make the call when they’ve done the best they can, and submit what they have. For me, performing is fun and exciting because I play off of the energy from the audience. Without an audience I have a really hard time getting into character and feeling my routine. For some of the women I’m working with for this year, the only reason they are willing to compete is because it is a video submission, and they DON’T have to be in front of an audience. They are using this year to write and submit a routine to build courage in their skills so maybe in the future they’ll be willing to get up on that stage by themselves. The way the pole and aerial world has adapted to still be able to compete has been amazing to me. Some are hoping to be in-person by fall, but most are still offering virtual options. Competitions may not look the same right now, but I am so grateful that they are still happening.
Avoid Winter Funk
It is now the middle of February, and we are all well aware that it is winter in Wisconsin. The fresh snow outside my window is absolutely beautiful… but my goodness do I wish it would go away already! I miss being outside and not having my face hurt. At this time of year I always seem to find my way into a funk. I don’t have the ambition or energy to do much of anything. This year I’m trying something new. I am trying to combat my lethargy with self care. I am carving out time to do things that I enjoy, whether I think I have time for them or not! Making the time to take care of myself and recharge has been helping me stay on track. Things I’ve been setting aside time for include the following. Coloring – I have a pretty good selection of adult coloring books, and love how calming it is for me. Reading – I prefer murder mysteries and suspense. Taking online classes – currently I’m working on my 200 hour yoga certification. Watching my TV shows – I don’t watch a ton of TV, but I enjoy some random shows with my husband. And of course shnuggling with my dogs, 2 of whom are pictured with us. Taking just a little bit of time each week and dedicating it to these activities is really helping. These are just a few of my common things I do to recharge myself and prevent the winter blues! Find what helps you!
As Old As You Feel
Today is my birthday. I used to LOVE birthdays, I would celebrate all month long. As I got older, something sneakily changed. For some reason getting older seemed to be a bad thing. As a woman it became normal to stop telling people my age, as if it were something to be ashamed of. It wasn’t until fairly recently that I experienced a shift to move away from this. I’m taking back my love of birthdays! I am grateful to be another year older. I am proud to say that I am 33 years young today. I am healthier and in better shape now than I was as a collegiate cheerleader. I am married to an amazing man who supports what I do and all of my crazy ideas. I have my three fur babies to snuggle up with at noopy nap time. I have learned a lot in my 33 years, and still have a lot of learning to do. Today, I am thankful for the journey that got me to where I am. I look forward to whatever is coming next, and knowing that I have the knowledge and experience to handle whatever that may be. Today, I take back enjoying my birthday.
All Apparatus are NOT Created Equal
At Aerial Dance we train on 4 different apparatus: Hoop, hammock, silks, and pole. We also offer specialty workshops with other apparatus like chair and heels (yes, I consider them an apparatus). Each one is unique and has its own special challenges. Each person enjoys different aspects of their choice apparatus. Pole is a hard metal object that we like to wrap our bodies around. Dancers can twist and contort, right-side-up or up-side-down into all sorts of amazing shapes. You can climb to the top and slowly changes poses as we descend, or flow around the base using the floor to help create different lines. You can use it to spin like a top, or challenge yourself by making the pole static, and trying to create your own momentum. Once you get used to the fact that the pole is a metal object and can (and usually does when starting) cause bruising, it is such a versatile apparatus that I can’t imagine running out of things to learn! Hammock is a wide piece of fabric attached to the ceiling from both of its ends so it creates a sling. Wrapping and rolling into different shapes in the hammock is so different from pole, but you can create an amazing variety of shapes here too! The hammock can also be switched between spinning and not – however even when the hammock is not attached to a swivel to spin, it is still going to swing and spin a bit. With hammock the drawback that I find is that it pinches/squeezes the user. As you wrap up, it literally starts to squish you a bit. Silks is the same type of fabric as hammock, but tied in the middle leaving two long tails hanging down. By climbing and tying yourself in the silks, amazing shapes and poses are made. One of my favorite parts of silks is doing drops. By strategically tying and wrapping up in the silks, you can release to roll and drop into different poses in a most dramatic fashion! As with hammock, the downside to me for silks is that again, it squishes you as you tie and wrap up in it. Hoop, also formally known as lyra, is my personal favorite. It is a metal ring hanging from the ceiling, so it swings and spins in all directions. The hardest part of hoop is getting into the hoop since it tries to run away with your own momentum as you lift in. Once you’re in though, the shapes are endless! Since the hoop is like pole, a metal object, it can also cause some bruising. I enjoy all of our apparatus, and as I mentioned I do have my favorite, we all do. I highly recommend trying them all at least twice before deciding they might not be for you. Once you get used to the feel of them, they might not be so uncomfortable anymore!
Bendy Babe Conversations
If you’ve never taken a Bendy Babe class, first of all you should because it’s amazing to stretch for an hour, but the conversations we have in that class are phenomenal. I love teaching bendy because you never know where the conversation is going to go. In a quiet room with only other adult women, I have had some of the most amazing and thought provoking conversations over bendy. In my classes, the only “off limits” topic that I try to steer clear of is politics. Everything else is fair game, and has been brought up at some point. Sometimes we get into more serious subjects and the ladies need advice on what to do in relationships or how to handle an overbearing mother-in-law… other times we laugh and giggle about the finer points of how to shave our nether regions. Sometimes I have no idea how we got to the topics we did or how we jumped from one to another, but I love being along for the ride and the unpredictability of it. I love the experience of great conversation in bendy, and it really helps me get to know our members better. I mean we have conversations in other classes too, but it’s different because we are out of breathe and concentrating on not dying. Bendy has a much slower pace that it is easy to hold conversations, ask each other questions, and have back and forth dialogue. Our members have such diverse backgrounds and life experiences, and in bendy I really feel like we all open up a little bit more and share a bit more. Regardless of the topics, serious or silly, the conversations had over foam rollers and pinky balls are by far my favorite and make Bendy Babe one of my favorite classes to teach.
Lesson Planning 101
As an instructor, there is a lot more that goes on behind the scenes than most realize. The biggest thing is lesson planning – figuring out what we are going to do in a given class period. When I start planning, the first thing I do is look at who is enrolled in the class. Most of the time, I know all the ladies in the class and can cater the class to meet them where they are at. I like to be able to think about variations I might use and how to word things as I’m teaching before I’m put on the spot. When I have classes that there are multiple curve balls in (women I don’t yet know) I try to keep it simple, but have options for how to make it more difficult, since I find that modifying to make things harder is easier to do on the fly. If I’m working on an apparatus class, I look at the students’ cards to see if there are any moves that they haven’t been introduced to or that they are not proficient at. I try to include moves that multiple students need to work on and build sequences using those moves. For writing a workshop everything changes. I start with a song. I listen to different Spotify stations to try to find a song that speaks to me. Once I hone in on a song I start to visualize while I listen to it. I listen to see if there are any spots that stand out for good spots for specific moves and move out from there. I listen to the song over and over dancing until it feels right. As more moves fit together I continue to build the routine. Different class types require different amounts of planning time, and the longer I’ve been instructing the better and faster I’ve gotten at it. However, I still need to think ahead and plan out each class I teach. I like being able to modify classes to my students’ needs and meet them where they are at that day.
