Aerial Flow - Week 2

This was actually week 3 of the class, but since I wasn't able to make last week, I'm still counting it as week 2. Luckily, the instructor spoke the truth when she told me at Monday's Aerial Arts class that the rest of the people in Flow didn't get much further into the choreography during the class that I missed.

We moved on from the first section that everyone already had down (single foot lock, cocoon, sail, hip lean, flamenco grip). This had us starting at the middle invert, which is the hardest part in the routine for me so far. I had worked on it a little on Monday and I think that definitely helped. During Aerial Flow, we have two instructors, and I was able to get some great advice from them. I was able to get into a split from the invert for 2 of about 10 tries. However, once in the inverted splits, I was able to move into the J-pose, a sit and a lotus hang (although, admittedly, my lotus hang was mostly on the ground since I hadn't climbed high enough from the start).

Later on in the choreography is the crochet climb. I'd never actually attempted this, so once I finally decided to stop torturing my right foot by keeping it in a single foot lock all through class, I gave it a try. (The downside to the flamenco grip is that I can only do it on one side, so it's impossible to switch feet throughout practice.) I can do the motions of the crochet climb, but I struggled to actually move higher with each climb. It's definitely do-able, though.

The last bit of the routine is the angel drop, which I had been working on in Aerial Arts class the last few weeks. I appreciate our instructor's foresight with that. =) I still need to get more consistent with my ankle wraps from this position, but I feel confident that I will be there soon.

None of the girls who were doing the beginner version were around tonight, which was kind of a bummer. As a spectator, I find it more interesting to watch multiple things happening are opposed to the same thing happening in unison. At least we have a person working on the lyra!

One of the other aerialists asked if I had considered performing. I know that I would like to in the future, but don't feel like I'm ready to train for anything specific yet. It was a great boost of confidence to know someone else even felt like I should consider performing. Maybe in the summer or fall.... She mentioned a specific performance, but it's during a weekend that I'm out of town. I have already been planning to perform during the student showcase in April, which feels like an appropriate first shot.

I'm really looking forward to having all of the moves down to the point where I am confident that I can pull them off every time. Then the real challenge will begin of making it look pretty (and presumably hiding my struggling panic).

(When I got home, I went through some of the Ashtanga poses that I've been learning and my pup was sweet enough to join in!)