Art of Aerials

Frog Jump. (c) Kristina Jensen, 2011

Last week, while most Swing Dynamite team members were at the popular dance event Followlogie (Montréal, QC), a few of us had a practice as per usual. Our assistant coaches ran the rehearsal and thought we should work on aerials.


 That's usually a fabulous idea, considering our aerials are never perfect and could always need some polishing both for aesthetic and security reasons. Learning a new aerial when you have minimal acrobatic experience, is another story altogether.



The Fly. (c) Kristina Jensen, 2011.

 So far, this newbie has learned the basics (Frog, Jump for Joy, Knickerbocker, Crepe, Dean Collins Dip, Snatch) and a few intermediate aerials (Pancake, Fly, Can of Pop) which I don't master quite yet... This time, my coaches were wanting to review the Ferris Wheel. Yes, it's as terrifying as it sounds.

All in all, I ended up elbowing my partner in the eye and kicking his hands. I was feeling terrible about it. My teammates were joking: "He had it coming!" Fortunately, none of us hold grudges; it's the nature of the beast. Aerials are demanding, technically complex and a tad dangerous. Yet, I love them. I get a rush when I succeed at passing them.

I won't be tackling this aerial again anytime soon, as I sprained my ankle doing something trivial as a scissor kick. Oh well, I'll be an acrobatic superstar later... Rome wasn't built in one day.