Lucky Number Seven – February 15, 2009

As I was beginning to learn, all the classes began with the same or similar warm-ups and ended the same way. Even on the apparatuses, we usually began with a review of previously learned moves before learning new ones. It’s never boring, but sometimes I do wish we would spend more time learning new things. Since I’m clearly no expert on aerial acrobatics, I’ll leave that for my instructors to decide.

So after our warm ups, we did a slightly different climb. Jackie and Mary Kelly wanted us to climb to the top of the corde lisse, WHICH I FINALLY MADE IT!!!!, and then come back down in the “upside-down descent”. Well, I still hadn’t master the “upside-down descent” from the air, so I slide down the corde lisse like normal, and then did a descent from jumping off the ground. But hey, you do what you can physically do.

After climbing on the corde lisse, we headed over to the fabric. There, we reviewed the “ballon lady” 1 and 2, “arch thru” and “stag thru”. We learned three new moves, the “roll around/layana”, the “aerial dance foot lock” and “split” beginning in the “aerial dance foot lock”. First, we learned the “aerial dance foot lock”, which is the “foot block” but on each foot. You do this by wrapping one silk around one foot two times, and then creating slack by pulling your body up and placing your foot in the stirrup like slack fold that was the first loop. Repeat for the other foot or do it at the same time. (this is clearly not of me, but she starts the wrap for an “aerial dance foot lock” around 2:10). Just like the girl in the video, I struggled with the wrap for the “aerial dance foot lock”. For the “splits”, you simply hold onto the fabric above you, and split your legs. The last “aerial dance foot lock” move we learned was the “roll around/layana”. From the split position, you hold onto the fabric with your front leg wraped in and pull that leg around. The girl in the video does a good job of showing all three in succession, so I’m not going to try and confuse you with any more explanations.

On the trapeze today, we learned no new moves, simply reviewed the “mermaid”, “½ angel”, “back angel”, “one-hand one-foot”, “one-knee one-elbow”, “dead hang” and “rajah”. So we had a pretty packed schedule in class today.

I was extremely proud of my accomplishments today. I climbed to the top of the rope which was one of my major goals for the class. Even though I clearly have some short comings, I am obviously doing better than I did on the first class. I was and continue to put in the effort, and slowly but surely I am seeing the fruits of my labor.