WHY DO WE ASK FOR DONATIONS?

What Makes Aerial Work So Challenging to finance and produce?

 

 

Aerial Work - It Just Costs More

Price of studio space  - Aerialists always pay more for studio space than  floor dance folks do. Sometimes this means a higher per-hour rate but it can also mean paying fees for things like ladders or genie lifts.

Insurance - Aerial renters need insurance for liability and Workers Compensation and Disability. Other independent choreographers with small budgets often get by without having these things. We purchase insurance year-round in order to offer workshops as well as to rehearse and perform. Of course insurance for Aerial Dance also costs more than insurance for floor dance.

Rigging - we need to purchase and to replace rigging on a regular basis. Swivels cost $70, steel carabiners rated for live weight are $16 each, the rope we use is $1/foot. It all adds up!

CREATIVE TIME

photo below by Fred Hatt

 Creating expressive Aerial moves requires time. I'm talking years to pioneer an art form that invents new movement vocabulary. Everyone has their own process for this. We apply Modern Dance choreographic tools to mine the potential of the aerial apparatus. We've spent 20 years building movement vocabulary and we are always working to expand this as well as to train new dancers.   

 

Expressive vocabulary needs to be invented and refined and the dancers need time in the apparatus to do it well.

 

Time & Patience for Single-Point Apparatus

We hang from a single-point (rather than 2 points like a swing). 

The makes the apparatus an unreliable dancing partner because every small shift of weight can send one spinning out of control and often the apparatus wants to send your body in a different direction than you had intended (or what was choreographed).

BTW: this leads to an aspect of Single point apparatus that is attractive about this work - we never completely control a single point apparatus so we must cultivate an improvisational state of mind and this edge has an aliveness to it that is very interesting to watch. So, sometimes the negative is actually a postive.

It takes a long time to find the balance of control and improvisation and dancers need to train both mindsets. 

Strength Challenges

Aerial work takes strength. Most people underestimate how much strength it takes, particularly when a body is flying through space; momentum can create triple the amount of force of one's body weight. 

Doing static aerial work is one thing, flying around while hanging on is another. Chin up bars at home help but they are not the same; our bodies are built so that strength is task-specific so Aerial Dance strength requires working with the apparatus in the studio.

Finding and training dancers who can bring the subtleties of concert dance to dancing in the air takes additional rehearsal & training time. Dancers need strength and have to learn the intricacies of the apparatus.  

This takes an investment in dance technique (time in aerial class and rehearsal).

 

Limited Performance Opportunities

When small dance companies want exposure, they apply to showcases that allow their repertory to be shown to new audiences. Most showases cannot accommodate Aerial rigging because the space/ceiling isn't workable for rigging and/or because rigging takes additional time in the space to set up. Since most showcases also have limited budgets, they don't allow Aerial Dance choreographers to apply for their showases.

We need a marketing budget to build our audiences and to sell tickets.

 

Aerial Dance allows audiences and dancers to experience life in expressive and often joyful ways.

 

 

Please consider supporting us through our Go Fund Me Campaign HERE

photos by Fred Hatt