Picture it: It is a cold and snowy winter Tuesday night in January, not a single car on the road. You pull into the AD parking lot and there aren’t but a handful of cars in the usually bustling spaces. The sky is dark, as it is 7:50, and class begins in 10 minutes, but the snow on the ground makes the air seem bright and calm. You walk into the studio and see there is only one other pair of shoes as you kick off your boots, wondering if you are somehow just really early for once. As you get ready for class, you continue to listen for the door to open over the light beat of the warm-up music.
The door never opens; it is simply you and two people you have never met before: one instructor and one other student. Small class, no worries, right? What could possibly go wrong? What could possibly be different than a normal class? Well, this class ended up being more like a private lesson, which was truly a gift in disguise as we were able to focus on what skills we were struggling with or moves we were curious about.
However, roughly 35 minutes into class, I was thrown for a loop when our instructor said we were about to try something I had never done before. She was going to choose a song, and we were going to free dance for every second of the song without stopping. There were no guidelines, rules, except that we couldn’t stop dancing. WHAT?! As a type A person I was so scared- what in the world was I going to do? I didn’t have a random routine made up in my mind- you want me to be creative on the spot?
Enter my dancing alter-ego. The song came on and at first I just started moving back and forth, did some walking around, a few climbs and then something switched and I just pretended to know what I was doing and acted as if nobody could see my dancing. This resulted in 3+ minutes of non-stop dancing and an immeasurable amount of joy. Who knew I was capable of such creativity and freedom? I was so proud of what I had done and felt like my confidence was bursting through my smile. Pushing limits and comfort zones is a specialty of Aerial Dance, and regardless if you are ready for that or not, it will come to you. PS, you ARE ready!
Aerial Dance offers a variety of classes, all with different structures and styles! Come check out Intro to Pole or Intro to Aerial and find out how you like to move!
