Susan Murphy has had a profound influence on my work in aerial dance, and I am thrilled to introduce her to the AerialDancing.com community. Susan began training with Terry Sendgraff, a gymnast in California who saw potential for expression in the air. Terry is credited with inventing the single point dance trapeze and starting a movement of self expression and healing through aerial dance. As one of her proteges, Susan has performed her work at Lincoln Center and currently tours with Girls on Trapeze, an all-female aerial troupe whose work, Herself Rising, recently won Circus Now’s International Contemporary Circus Exposure competition in 2014. If you’ll be in New York January 8th, 2015, you should check it out! Susan will be performing a solo about her grandmother and great-grandmother with plenty of other fabulous pieces from the company at the show. Also Upcoming: Susan is also hosting a retreat this September 2014 at her studio. (See the end of the article for more on that!)
Interview with Ilona Jäntti: Creator of a One Woman Show
Ilona Jäntti studied circus at Circus Piloterna in Stockholm and contemporary dance at Laban Centre in London obtaining a master’s degree in choreography. Ilona has collaborated with a diverse range of circus, dance and theatre companies and venues including Shakespeare’s Globe, Royal Opera House, The Place and Darwin Centre at National History Museum in the UK, Circo Aereo and Flow Productions in Finland and Cirkus Cirkör in Sweden. She has been a resident artist at V&A Museum of Childhood since 2010. Ilona has been awarded a three-year Artist Grant by the Finnish Government, starting in 2012. We were lucky enough to snag an interview with her between shows at the 2014 Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC. Special thanks to Circus Building for hosting the Meet & Greet event. Continue reading “Interview with Ilona Jäntti: Creator of a One Woman Show”
Staying Centered and Compact, Dance Belts for the Male Aerialists
“Hello,
I am new to teaching aerial silks and just looking for tips and advice as a woman teaching male students. There are some anatomical differences for my male students that make certain moves like the thigh lock harvest painful. I’ve advised my male students to invest in a jock strap or dance belt but not actually sure this will help. Will this help or is it more about positioning and technique? Any advice on how I can help these students would be much appreciated as there are certain moves they are giving up on. Thanks”
Thanks for the inquiry! You are right about the anatomical difference occasionally getting in the way…literally! Thankfully, Clayton Woodson is an awesome team-member on our advisory board and an expert on this subject. He has been advising me on which moves are “male-friendly” and which ones aren’t as I write my teacher training program. As for the dance belt topic, ultimately, it’s going to be different for every male. Each will have to form their own opinions, but the important part is disseminating the information and at least letting them know that this option exists! It will help in some moves, and others are just doomed. I’ve asked Clayton to chime in more specifics on the resource board. See there for more!
For the rest of you, here is an informative article written by advisory board member Clayton Woodson on the subject of dance belts. Continue reading “Staying Centered and Compact, Dance Belts for the Male Aerialists”