Sunday, January 29, 2012

Aerial Silk!



Last year, my family and I watched a Cirque du Soleil show  and I was in awe of the aerial acrobats  swinging high above us. It looked like a mixture of gymnastics and ballet in the air. 


Cirque du soleil arial performer


Aerial silk is aerial (in the air) acrobatics performed on a special fabric
that is suspended from the ceiling. It is very long and not made out of silk, but of polyester lycra. It is also extremely strong and a little stretchy.


Aerial silk



The performers use the silk to wrap, climb, swing, suspend, twirl and drop into lots of different positions without a net under them for safety.


Lexi, my aerial teacher. She is amazing!


As soon as my dance studio offered a class, I talked my mom into signing me up. It's lots of fun!

Before we work with the silk, we bring out mats and do lots of warm up exercises to avoid injury. 

Warm up!
Firstly, Lexi ties two strands of silk into a knot. We learn positions like the
straddle and froggy.

Straddle

Froggy

The first techniques we learned are called wraps. We wrap the silk around our arms and legs, so we don't fall when we go into different positions.


Single foot lock (wrap)
One pose held by the single foot lock is called 'candy cane'.   :0)


Practicing a candy cane


We also learn to climb the fabric, which is mostly done by pushing up 
from a wrapped foot over and over again. I can't climb up very high yet, and 
I think my mom is happy about that!


Trying to climb high!




Aerial is FANTASTIC fun. It makes me feel calm and confident.







Have you seen an arial show?
Would you like to learn?




















7 comments:

  1. Dear Kelly,

    What an awesome sight to see you learning the art of aerial silk! It must be a real thrill!

    I have seen a few Cirque du Soleil shows, and they always feature aerialists. It really is quite beautiful!

    I have some questions:

    ∞ How high does your teacher climb in the studio?

    ∞ Which do you prefer, ballet or aerial silk?

    Your proud teacher,
    Mrs. Y♥llis

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Mrs.Yollis,

      Thank you for your comment.
      It is a thrill to do aerial!
      My teacher,Lexi, climbs almost to the top!
      I like both,ballet and aerial, but I think that I'd rather be a ballerina than an aerial acrobat.

      L♥ve,

      Kelly

      Delete
  2. Dear Kelly,

    It is a great idea to do a post about aerial! The pictures are truly amazing! I can see why you would find it calming and fun.

    I have never seen an aerial show, but I would love to some day.

    I would love to do aerial some day, but it looks so complicated!

    I have some questions for you:

    • Aren't you scared of falling?

    • What is your favorite position?

    • How many positions have you learned?

    • What is your favorite warm up?

    Sincerely,
    Leila♥

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Leila,

      Thank you for your wonderful comment and your questions!

      Aerial is so much fun, but I am scared of falling sometimes. A friend of mine fell once, but she did not get hurt.
      My favorite postions are candy cane and knee hangings on the lyra. The lyra is a big hull hoop hanging from the ceiling.
      I have not counted all the positions we have learned, but I know at least 10!
      My favorite warm ups are somersaults. They used to be hard for me, but now I can do them from the stand up position.

      Your friend,

      Kelly♥

      Delete
  3. Dear Kelly, I love your Aerial pictures! You are so amazing at Aerial! I would like to try an Aerial class and go to a Aerial show.Your friend,Alexis.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Alexis,

      Thank you for your comment and your nice compliment.
      Maybe we could see an aerial show together one time!
      You can always join my class too!

      Love,
      Kelly

      Delete
  4. Dear Kelly,

    What a wonderful thing to learn. I think aerial silk looks beautiful and you look very graceful, especially in the last photo. I love Cirque de Soleil and we plan on going to see the show this year. The aerial silk is my favorite part. They make it seem so easy, even though it probably isn't.

    Keep up the good work,
    Victoria

    ReplyDelete