AerialDancing.com

2016 – The Year in Review

Hey faithful followers of AerialDancing.com –

Every year, I like to take some time to reflect on what we have accomplished, assess our vision, and see where we are headed. This has been a tough year. It was a time of transition, which is always a struggle. But I don’t feel this on simply an individual level. I feel like our country has been in transition, and it has been a rocky year for many. In addition, the aerial community saw the loss of a couple of beloved artists and teachers. Our hearts have been heavy.

However glum the world looks, there is always glimmer of HOPE so long as DREAMS are alive. This website-Born to Fly Productions-has seen hope appears in three major forms this past year, as we make our way toward our life-long dreams. Thank you for still believing in us.

Dream Number 1: Birth a Studio

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For the past 7 years, the website has been selling memberships and books in order to raise funds to build a dedicated aerial space. We have been saving like crazy and everything went into the new studio this year.

I am proud to report that Born to Fly Productions now has an official headquarters in Castle Rock, Colorado. Prior to this year, we were operating out of our home and rented space. We spent the summer putting together an amazing space.

In one way, it was the finish line to an extraordinary fundraiser. In another way, it was just the beginning to another extraordinary journey. The local studio is called AerialWorks.

Here is the video of the construction:

Nightly classes help to pay the monthly expenses of the space. We put on regular shows which are an absolute blast. However, all this is helping to forge the path for the next dream: Having guest artists come as residents to create new creative work. I am in LOVE with the creative process and creating new things. It is what will spur me on till the day I die. In my opinion, there is always something new waiting to be danced.

Plug for Resident Artists: If you are looking for collaboration or looking for a space in which to create, please contact us at info@aerialworkscastlerock.com. We are hoping to have spots starting August 2017.

Dream Number 2: Birth a World-Class Aerial Teacher Training Program

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Two words: Julianna Hane. If it hadn’t been for her leadership and hard work, it wouldn’t have happened. When I exited the military and we were moving back to Colorado from South Carolina, I begged Julianna to come with me so that we can finish what we started. I am so happy to say that she is here now at Born to Fly Headquarters, teaching classes, helping to create high-quality resources, and leading amazing teacher trainings. This next summer of 2017 is PACKED FULL of every teacher training that we offer so far – from aerial lyra to fabric to sling (which will be my first time revealing my sling secrets!!) — it’s going to be rewarding and refreshing to connect with others who love the educational process as much as I do.

Not only is the Born to Fly Teacher Training Program a way to connect with great training, it’s a way to connect with amazing mentors that include industry leaders such as Sarah Bebe Holmes, Rain Anya, Amy Tynan, and others who are excelling at what they do. I’m excited for the partnerships and collaboration taking place within the program. The Born to Fly Secret Facebook group is now my go-to place to chat with other high-quality teachers, and I appreciate having them there.

For more information, please visit www.borntoflyaerial.com.

Dream Number 3: Continue to Create Resources for the Aerial Community

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While this may have been our least productive year so far, things are still moving forward. We spent a lot of energy moving and building our new studio (and I have two young kids at home which sucks up a ton of energy!). However, we still managed to find time to release a new product: This year saw the launch of our first set of flash cards; our Hoop Choreography Cards, which features over 250 moves from our Born to Fly Lyra Curriculum. We hope to make a set for each apparatus as well as posters. (Below are the posters in our studio which are soo helpful when you are in the middle of class-planning and draw a blank. They have saved me numerous times this past 6 months! They’ll be released for sale once they are perfected. For now, I’m still testing them out on our ~~test-subjects~~ students.)

The next couple months will see the release of our next manual, An Aerialist’s Guide to Surviving Pregnancy. It’s a look at what a mother-to-be goes through as their body changes over the 9 months of human-growing. The movement focus is aerial yoga, since it is gentle and the most approachable form of aerial during pregnancy.

We are almost done releasing our first set of trapeze videos here in the AerialDancing.com Video Library. This set included roughly 100 videos featuring Melissa Roberts of Canopy Studio. The curriculum that Canopy has established over the past 15 years has helped to make the single-point trapeze a very approachable form of movement. I am forever grateful that they opened up their curriculum to us through the video project (and manual to follow in 2018!).

Next-up in 2017: Sling Videos! I have started work on a sling manual (or two). It makes sense to create the videos as I create the manual, so expect to see sling videos soon.

As our nation feels a new kind of cultural depression, it is all the more important that we are here for each other. Aerial is a part of that circus family that helps breathe wonderful energy into people, as they learn how to express themselves and create art. We don’t create resources just to create resources. We are hoping that the bottom line happens by the end of the day: People’s mind, body and spirit are nurtured by their opportunities to enjoy aerial movement. Whatever form that takes will differ by local venue, but I hope that it’s all going towards creating sustainable communities that support and love on one another. We have the great privilege of sharing the art of play with the world. Let’s keep pressing on.

Internship Opportunity Summer 2017

There are so many resources that the community is waiting to see created. If you are an energetic aerialist who wants to get involved in the community in a unique way, see if you fit the criteria to apply for an internship at Born to Fly Productions during the summer of 2017. Includes monthly stipend.

Applicants would need to:

– live locally to Castle Rock, Colorado, USA for the summer of 2017 (mid-May through end of July)

– be fluent in all major adobe products including Photoshop, InDesign, Premier and Adobe Acrobat Reader. (nothing too fancy, but enough to get in there and tackle projects.)

– help with social media advertising; create regular posts on various platforms, gather blog postings, put together newsletters, coordinate campaigns for prize giveaways, etc.

– have excellent customer service skills, able to communicate effectively, write and answer e-mails warmly

– be available to assist with various projects in the studio to include helping with photoshoots and organizing teacher trainings

– have the gift of organization; be able to take a ton of information and organize it in an effective manner

– ready to tackle a variety of projects that support creating aerial resources and curriculum; the more knowledge of various aerial apparatuses, the better

– a great bonus: be as obsessed as Rebekah about collecting moves and organizing them into their appropriate levels for teaching aerial 🙂

Benefits of the Job include: monthly stipend, access to studio time to create or workout, be a part of the Born to Fly teacher trainings (a great way to learn more about the depths of teaching aerial!), great job satisfaction in seeing projects completed, learn another side to the aerial industry

To apply, please send your resume to info@aerialworkscastlerock.com.

How to Perform the Perfect Aerial Photoshoot

You’re performance ready, but are you photoshoot ready?

A performance usually lasts 3-5 minutes, but a photoshoot lasts at least a half hour (usually more). A performance is about flow, movement, and suspense. A photoshoot is about accentuating body lines and capturing the feeling of the movement. Here are some tips to help you be as prepared as possible:

1. Pick your poses wisely.

This isn’t about showing off every move you’ve ever learned, so be picky.

Choose poses that photograph well. Not all poses do. You and other aerialists know how difficult certain poses are to get into, and how much strength some require. Assume that most people looking at your photos don’t. Before you choose an advanced move to showcase, ask yourself if it shows the lines of your body well. The answer may be no because of the nature of the pose or because it doesn’t show your particular flexibility or strength well (which can change over time). Which brings me to the second part of choosing your poses.

Choose the poses that will really show your best flexibility and strength. For me, this means showing off my back flexibility, but not focusing on splits and straddles. For many of my friends, it’s the opposite – great splits, not so great back bend. Of course you can throw in one or two of your not-best poses in order to be able to compare it to future photos and see your progress, but it shouldn’t be your focus for the shoot.

Choose poses that allow you to conserve energy. Because a photoshoot lasts a lot longer than a performance, it is in your best interest to choose poses from which you can easily transition into a good rest position. There will be times that your photographer wants you to keep the same pose, but they want to change angles, adjust lighting, or switch lenses. This may take a minute – or ten minutes – so you need to be able to rest. In a studio, you might decide just to come down to the ground during these times, so the pose must not take up all of your energy to get into.

The other side of saving your energy is simply planning an array of poses that doesn’t target the same muscle set. For example, if you can’t hold yourself up by your arms for a half hour straight, then don’t choose all poses that require a lot of arm strength. Instead, stagger them so that an arm-heavy pose is followed by a core strength pose, followed by a hang, and so on.

2. Pick your costume wisely.

Looking your best in photos is also somewhat determined by your wardrobe. Instead of simply picking your favorite workout outfit or costume, consider your location and apparatus, and choose what will stand out from those.

Choose the right color. If you wear too much black, you will often blend into at least part of the background, making it difficult to see your body lines. Intricate patterns also sometimes get lost in the background or make it difficult to see your body lines. If you wear the same color as your apparatus, (white on white as I most often see), then your body lines will again be difficult to see as it’s hard to differentiate between you and the apparatus. Bright colors are always a good idea. Which specific colors depends on your personal style, and the feeling you want to evoke in the photoshoot.

Choose for your purpose and your body. If your photoshoot is for advertising an upcoming show, then use your show costume or something that fits into the style of the show. Likewise, you can do a themed photoshoot based around a certain idea, using your costume, location, and possibly props to add to the theme – as long as these don’t make it difficult for you to move safely and effectively.

For portfolio photoshoots that are meant to simply showcase your work, dress to impress your clientele: if you do a variety of show types, either bring more than one costume or use a fairly conservative outfit that is unlikely to have malfunctions. I’ve made the mistakes of picking clothing that moved when I came upside down, and a top that the “ladies” came out of after 20 minutes in the silk (luckily my husband is my photographer, so no harm done!).

Solid colors and vertical lines add to the appearance of a long body. Likewise, leggings and catsuits make your legs look longer than they will look in shorts or briefs. Horizontal lines and too many breaks in your outfit will make you look shorter and wider. You can definitely still choose some fun elements to your outfit, but try to choose ones that are flattering and don’t get in the way of your movement.

3. Think about extension and feeling.

The same passion and feeling that shows in your performances should show in your photos. Even though you don’t have the flow of movement to convey your message, you can still convey emotion through facial expression and lines of the body. This concept is the same for aerialists and ground dancers alike.

Point eyes and hands with purpose. The most telling part of your body is your eyes. This doesn’t change in photos, even when you can’t clearly see your eyes in the photo. That’s because where your eyes look, your head follows, and your head position changes the position of your body. Generally, if you have one arm extended, look toward your extended hand for the most feeling. Both your hand and your eyes should either point out from your body line or in line with the apparatus (especially with vertical apparatuses such as silks). Below is an example from one of our recent photoshoots. Notice the feeling you get from the photo on the left versus the right, though they are technically the same pose.

When you have both arms wrapped or in use in the apparatus, look along the lines of your apparatus (up or down, whichever’s most natural in that position), or wherever keeps your head in “neutral position” in line with your body, neck elongated. You can still look toward your hands in most positions.

When both arms are free from your apparatus, they should contribute to the feeling of movement either by extending back in line with your body or above your head into a natural, slightly bent position such as ballet’s “fifth position.” Of course you aren’t limited to these, but take cues from ballet and other dance forms for arm and hand placement. When both arms are out, your eyes no longer follow your arms, but instead your head maintains a “neutral position.” First photo below shows me (Kaydee Barker) in extension, second is of the stunning Jocelynn Rudig at a recent festival in my hometown of Steamboat Springs.

Find your full extension in the pose. Extension is important in evoking feeling as well as showing off body lines. Often, you want to lengthen every part of your body. Extend your arms, your neck, and your legs, and engage your core. Ask your photographer to tell you when your body isn’t straight in poses like plank and mermaid, or when your straight leg isn’t extended all the way in poses like gazelle.

Closing notes:

Show up well fed, warmed up, and ready to have some fun! To help you get into the right mindset, consider bringing a playlist with some of your favorite songs to play to. Your preparedness and most of all, your joy, will show up in photos. Have fun!

About the Author:

Kaydee Barker and her husband Devon Barker (the photographer of all the photographs in this article) travel around the United States and abroad connecting the beauty of the great outdoors with the beauty of the human spirit, as shown through aerial dance. This began as a project they called the “Aerialist in the Wild” project, but grew into a lifestyle, and a lifework of inspiring people – starting with Kaydee herself – to connect with nature and learn to love themselves.

Check out Kaydee’s website or Instagram for more of her work as Aerialist in the Wild, and Devon’s blog or Instagram to learn more about his photography and contact him about booking a photoshoot.

Aerial Dance Festival Wrap Up 2016

The 18th annual Aerial Dance Festival in Boulder, CO recently brought together aerial artists from across the U.S., as well as abroad, for two weeks of training, networking, and soaking up the beauty of Boulder. Attendees came from all over ranging from Lake Tahoe, CA to Madison WI, to Hawaii, to New Zealand, Costa Rica, and Canada. August 1-12th , 2016 was jam packed for attendees and faculty alike with a full schedule of various aerial technique and composition classes, floor based “give your arms a rest” classes, open gyms, and evening workshops covering topics like industry promotion, object manipulation, make-up and costuming, clowning, Thai massage, and more. Continue reading “Aerial Dance Festival Wrap Up 2016”