About AerialDancing.com
Our Mission
Purpose of Born to Fly Curriculum
Rebekah Leach started brainstorming ideas for this website in June 2009. The basic outline of the current site launched in September 2013. We switched over to our Born to Fly brand at the beginning of 2018. The Born to Fly brand represents the best in aerial education and there are many layers of the program that support aerial teachers and aerial students worldwide.
Here on our curriculum website, it is free to become a basic member. At this level, you can place a listing in a worldwide studio directory. While most of our members are in the United States, this site has a huge audience around the globe.
During the past decade, we have been deligently working on documenting aerial moves through pictures, words and video. Many projects (more books, expanded video library, posters, etc) are currently underway as you read this. Here at this site, paying members gain access to a full Video Library that demonstrates the moves described in all the manuals and beyond. The videos and manuals are designed to go hand in hand to cover all the angles of your aerial curriculum.
Our Born to Fly Teacher Training Program is also designed to go hand-in-hand with our curriculum. If you are looking for more information about teacher training, please visit our sister site: www.BornToFlyTeachers.com.
As it stands currently, the Video Library (accessible to paying members) includes over 1000 videos in the categories listed below. Each apparatus is conveniently broken into Levels 1-4: 1 = Beginning, 2=Beginning Intermediate, 3=Advanced Intermediate and 4=Advanced.
- 100+ Fabric Videos
- 150+ Hoop Videos & Beginner Sequences
- 40+ Duo Hoop Videos
- 80+ Trapeze Videos
- 100+ Rope Videos
- 100+ Aerial Sling Videos (not including aerial yoga, which is considered a separate art form)
- 100+ Aerial Yoga videos (including sequences and full length classes with voice-over instruction in some cases)
- 10+ videos of rigging workshops (Brett Copes), important videos on safety (example: Kamikaze Video), equipment, etc.
We have video contributions from many talented aerialists who are experts in their field. Among those who will find featured in our video library are (and more to come in the future!):
- Allie Cooper (Rope Contributor)
- Rain Anya, of Paper Doll Militia (Rope Contributor)
- Melissa Roberts, of Canopy Studio (Trapeze Contributor)
- Alex Allan (Rope Contributor)
- Clayton Woodson (Aerial Yoga)
- Jordan Anderson (Aerial Yoga)
- Amy Tynan of AerialCLT (Aerial Yoga)
- Julianna Hane (Lyra)
- Julia Langenberg (Fabric/Silks)
- Jessica Jay (Fabric/Silks)
- Constance Echo Palmer (Rope Contributor)
- McKinley Vitale (Trapeze Contributor)
- Jenn Bruyer (Sling, Fabric and Trapeze Contributor)
We hope that you will find aerial happiness in this site. There is a lot of depth in teaching and learning the aerial arts, and we are here to help you dive deeper into both.
About the Founders
Rebekah Leach
Rebekah Leach is an aerial dancer who is very passionate about the teaching process through which students absord and then explore skills in the air.
She has performed everywhere from benefits with Grammy winners to symphony orchestras, to mega-church celebrations. She has also enjoyed many a tour with Aerial Experience Productions. She has also enjoyed working with Rina van de Kamp with the Daughter of Zion Aerial Dance Company in Santa Ynez, California, where she fell in love with the creative, collaborative process involved in putting together works of art. She appreciates work that evokes the whole range of human emotion, but her favorite is joy. Her choreography seeks to inspire and bring together a community. Rebekah has a background in many traditional dance styles, as well as some not-so-traditional, which come together in a unique blend to influence the way in which she approaches the aerial arts. Here's a small taste of the movement forms she has enjoyed studying at some point in her life: modern dance, ballet, tap, hip hop, breakdancing, yoga, ballet, Pilates, salsa, baton twirling, rhythmic gymnastics (specialty: ribbon), hula hooping, stunt-focused cheerleading, and even some pop 'n lock learned from street artists.
Rebekah's first big girl job was a high school math teacher. At this post, one of her jobs was to write math textbooks. After some twist and turns in the story, she joined the Navy and served for 10 years. Her active duty job was as a Master Training Specialist in the area of nuclear physics. All this brainy stuff and the movement arts in her background blended beautifully with the way that she approaches creating aerial curriculum. Rebekah uses the power of analytical thinking to guide aerial teachers and students into thinking more deeply about the possibilities that aerial offers.
Rebekah is responsible for an entire line of beloved aerial manuals that cover hoop, sling, rope, fabric and will soon include trapeze! She is also the founder of Born to Fly Aerial Teacher Training Programs.
After a long journey ,Rebekah and her family have settled down in Castle Rock, Colorado. They have opened a local studio which you can visit at www.AerialWorksCastleRock.com. If you are ever in the area, come by for a visit!
Matthew Leach
Matthew is Rebekah's other half and a huge reason why Rebekah is able to do what she does. If you send an e-mail to info@aerialdancing.com, you are most likely to hear back from Matthew. While Rebekah creates the content, Matthew manages the content once it is made. He does all of the hard work of administration, bookkeeping, customer service, etc. He makes sure books are shipped out on time, everyone gets their downloads, etc. Matthew is a high school physics teacher, and the best dad in the world to two beautiful kids.
Collaborators
Director of Teacher Training