Aerial Dance Editorial

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Aerial dance

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Aerial dance is still a relatively unknown artform. Audiences don’t quite know what it is.

Circus aficionados tend to think it waters down aerial skills and feel excluded because it is contemporary dance, but equally I’ve had dance buffs tell me I’m “selling out” to circus.

The truth is that aerial dance borrows from both disciplines but aims to forge its own artistic identity.

Lindsey Butcher has been accused of watewring down aerial work and selling out to circus – here she defends aerial dance.

Perhaps I can explain this as someone who trained and worked professionally as a dancer before subsequently running away with the circus.

When I was dancing I wanted to do aerial work, and when I was in the air I wanted to dance. There was a natural confluence that didn’t seem to exist as an artform in its own right.

While traditional dance is limited in its ability to

explore vertical space (the capacity of a dancer’s body to ascend under its own power or through partnering) aerial dance immediately removes that limit by allowing the body to be suspended anywhere between the floor and a rigging point.

This provides a new spatial awareness and orientation for the performer that also offers the audience an alternative perspective by essentially upending the dance floor.

The traditional apparatus a performer uses for suspension ranges from fabric to rope, trapeze to Chinese pole, hoop to harness. Performers may also choose to invent their own apparatus, combining elements of the above or by creating something entirely new.

While the occasional application of aerial work in productions of western ballet and opera are known – for example the original production of Giselle where the ethereal Wilis were flown in using harnesses and wires – aerial dance was first recognised as a new genre and credited as such in the US in the 1970s, though there are many that cite evidence of its existence prior to this in other countries.

As an artform, it is slowly gaining recognition and new audiences, in part due to the growing familiarity with the artistic development of aerial circus skills in companies such as Cirque du Soleil and Fuerzabruta. At the same time, the number of students wanting to combine dance and aerial technique is rapidly increasing.

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exhilarating it was to swing and climb as a kid, imagining you could fly. practitioners, it seems there is a real hunger to dive in and explore techniques.

As the director of an annual European aerial dance festival, I have seen the number of participants across all skill levels, ages and abilities grow exponentially over the past four years. From beginners and enthusiasts to advanced

Aerial dance is a powerful lifeaffirming experience that allows people to explore a sense of freedom and liberation through suspending and supporting the body. It evokes a playfulness that we rarely allow ourselves as adults. Remember how

It also teaches people the value of teamwork, cooperation, trust, and creative thinking – all valuable life skills.

With this growing popularity, the question of training arises. Currently there is little provision for the training of aerial teachers in the UK, although companies specialising in this genre do provide valuable

training opportunities: Upswing, Ockham’s Razor, Wired Aerial Theatre, Scarabeus, All or Nothing, Fidget Feet and my own, Gravity & Levity, to name just a few.

The seeds for this new genre are already sown with many impassioned supporters advocating for further growth.

Aside from continuing training and creative output, what we need is the development of a critical dialogue that will help establish the aims and objectives of aerial dance and its acceptance as a legitimate artform in its own right.