Aerial Dance tried something new this year–a Spring Student Showcase! When I heard about it, I absolutely loved the idea! With my crazy schedule, I wasn’t able to participate as a dancer, but I sure made a point to be there. I’m so glad I was!
The idea of performing can be scary for a lot of AD dancers. Many dancers like the Christmas show. It might be a huge event now, but all routines are choreographed by instructors, giving the students the opportunity to dance without having to worry about coming up with their own choreography. The Spring Showcase, though small, asked more of the dancers. They came up with everything, from the choreography to the costumes. For those who have never done this–it’s a big deal!
I am so proud to call these ladies my pole sisters. They worked hard to create these lovely works of art and performed them fantastically!
Photo credit goes to Aerial Dance/Paula 🙂
If you ever have a chance to perform your own choreographed routine, I highly recommend it–here’s why!
You get to expand your skills. No matter what level you are at Aerial Dance, you have skills. Think about it… even the simplest spins to us are things that “normal” people don’t know how to do. You have a knowledge of floor-work and spins that can be applied to music. Notice how I didn’t say “easily applied?” That’s because choreography is a whole new skill. You know these moves–but what’s the best way to show them off, to music? Once you’ve choreographed a routine, you begin to appreciate the real beauty of a pole performance and can now add your ability to choreograph pole routines to your pole resume. 😉
You get to show off your favorite moves. Anyone who has spent a class with me knows that I have my favorites, and I’ve made them into a little combination I’ve been dying to use in a routine. I definitely would have used it had I done the showcase!
When you choreograph your own routine, you aren’t at the mercy of anyone’s choices but your own.If someone else choreographed a routine, you’ll likely end up doing a few moves that aren’t your favorite. That’s just the nature of the game. When YOU create the routine, it’s different. You can put your favorite and best moves in, and leave out the ones you’re not so fond of!
You will face your fear. There are a few people in this world who have no problem with performing. For the rest of us, a pole performance is frightening. We are showing the world something so meaningful to us, and we don’t want to mess it up! Let me tell you, in my experience, the more you perform, the less frightening it gets. I was still pretty anxious before my last performance, despite the fact that I’d done this just a few times before. Once you do it, you’ll realize that it’s not nearly as frightening as you think! As I’ve said in other posts, most people coming to a pole show either 1) are fellow dancers and understand your struggle or 2) don’t know a darn thing about what you’re doing, and everything looks cool!
It’s so fun! Sure, there’s stress involved in creating a routine and actually performing it, but there’s a whole lot of fun too! You already love dancing in class–now you’re taking that experience and expanding it! You get to spend time practicing alongside some of your fellow performers, and you get to show the world all the amazing things you’re capable of! If you aren’t sure you believe me, then you ought to just try it for yourself and see!
I don’t want you to get the idea that it’s wrong to dance to a routine choreographed by someone else–there’s nothing wrong with that! I’ve just run into some people who are afraid to create their own routines, or they will literally say my least favorite phrase: “I can’t do it.” Yes, yes you can, and it is so worth doing it if you get the opportunity! I said it once and I’ll say it again—-I am so proud of the ladies who performed on Friday! They took a leap into choreographing their own routines, and they did so well!
I’m definitely signing up to do the Christmas show again this year… and this year the….
I can hardly wait to see what Aerial Dance has planned!