Aerial Arts - Drops and Flamenco

Last week was pretty busy for me. I had a social activity scheduled on Monday night, a night that is typically a silks night for me. (Yoga on Tuesday, work day-trip on Wednesday.) Then on Thursday, my other preferred night for silks, I was so behind at work from having to travel the day before that I stayed late at the office and I had a friend's art show opening that I really didn't want to miss... so I ended up not getting in any aerial time at all last week. It was kind of depressing.

I was particularly concerned about getting behind in the choreography in the Thursday night Aerial Flow class. (Today I had the opportunity to ask how much further everyone was able to get. Apparently not far, which is good news for me and my need to catch up.)

Tonight was traditional aerial arts. I feel like I had more success than goofs today, which is usually not the case. I was able to do the angel drop consistently (although I did cheat on ankle wraps a few times). I also successfully did a butterfly drop without ruining it with my hesitation to completely let go of my hands at the end.

I had really wanted to work on the flamenco grip since it was where I got stuck during the Flow routine. I feel much more confident now. I was able to consistently use the grip to invert and move into a J pose. Only on my right side, though. My left shoulder is just not going to move that way.

Next things to work on: moving to a sit from the J pose and non-cheating ankle wraps.

Sunday Morning Aerial Arts

I usually don't like to make weekend morning commitments, especially when they involve something requiring a lot of energy like working out, but I am always glad when I do and actually follow through. Due to sickness and holidays, I rearranged my usual aerial schedule and ended up attending a Sunday morning class. I almost didn't make it out of bed since it was raining and the humidifier in our bedroom makes everything so comfortable. However, since Thursday, I've really been looking forward to my next chance to get back in the studio and work on some tricks that are included in the flow routine.

It was a little bit of an unusual class because of the four other women there, I only recognized one, and she had only been coming for the last few weeks. So by default, I was the most advanced person there. =) Quite a rarity for me! It is kind of fun to be the one that can do tricks that impress the newer people.

I worked on the bicycle climb and hip keys on both the silks and the corde lisse. I stuck with the just the silks for the angel drop (which I failed at since I haven't done one in forever and forgot all the steps!) and the butterfly drop. I did also get to take some time to work on my middle split from an arabesque for our flow routine, but I'm still off on something. My inflexibility is also really hurting me here so I can't keep both legs straight in a split.

Working on the arabesque with a twisted grip put some strain on my shoulder, so I iced it this afternoon and rubbed some icy hot cream on it a little bit ago. I definitely should have stretched it out a lot more beforehand.

I'm really hoping that my yoga practice will help with flexibility and coordination, which I really need more of for my aerial practice!

I've keep doing Google image searches hoping to find photos of the tricks I'm talking about, but no such luck, and videos either include several tricks or use different names that I've learned. I'll have to start having photos taken during class...