Today ( October 4th) wrapped up week 5 of circus school. My body is finally starting to adjust to the training schedule, I was able to straight arm invert again this week ( which I could do when I started but was so sore or tired I couldn’t do it for a few weeks) and I wasn’t sore until Thursday of this week! Our focus this past week was “invented apparatus” taught by Shayna and it wasn’t as demanding as Spanish web or tightwire at first. It was really cool to get to learn from Shayna, who owns Aloft and has produced several ensemble shows. Our “invented apparatus” was 5 aluminum ladders built by Circus Gear that can be climbed on and connected and balanced in all sorts of ways. Our class was all about exploring these ideas, seeing what kind of tricks could be done when the ladders are on the ground or put together. We started Monday just by interacting with the ladders on the ground and seeing how we can move them or stand them up and how well they can stay balanced. By Friday (today) we set them up so that they essentially made a giant teeter totter that we could hang from and stand on and counterbalance. It’s pretty cool that the ideas we were playing with this week could make it into a show with a concept that’s so unique! It was a lot of fun to get to play with no defined goal or set technique. There was no right or wrong way to move with the ladders. It felt like playing on a play ground that would quickly be protested by parents. Or as a kid I always thought the industrial power centers would be fun to play on and these ladders really felt like I finally lived that day dream minus any electrocutions. It was scary to climb on top of these ladders and go upside down or be lifted 6 ft in the air and trust that neither the ladders would break or come apart nor that my classmate counter balancing me would move! It took a lot of trust and communication between the cohort this week and my classmates are a lot more daring than I am. I was never the first to volunteer to climb high and hang from my feet but it took all of us to be spotters and hold the ladders down.
Last week our focus was Spanish web. Spanish web is a well established discipline so we had a lot less exploring, but it still played a role in establishing trust in the cohort! Spanish web is a rope with a hand loop at the top that the flyer climbs to and a person on the ground, the setter, spins the rope around. One thing I love about aerials is feeling in control of the trick I’m doing, which is why I don’t prefer dynamic tricks where you have to commit and move fast or gymnastics where if you bail, you hurt yourself, I’d much rather move slow and stop if need be. Spanish web challenged me in letting go of some of that control since I have to trust a setter to control the spin. I also do not like ankle hangs in any apparatus so putting my foot in the web and being spun was actually a nightmare and my whole class had to lift me up to get me released. We tried foot web pretty low (for getting stuck and rescuing reasons) at first and I never did try it at a decent height. Part of the reason I was getting stuck was the pain from hanging from my ankle, it hurt too bad for me to stay calm enough to actually follow the steps to take it off my foot. Breaking in my ankle for the ankle hang would alleviate a lot of the fear. I did really like it though and am considering making an act on it since it’s such a beautiful discipline.
The very first focus was had was tightwire, which I also really enjoyed! I don’t think it’ll be something I pursue as a major or minor but if we added tightwire class to our weekly rotation I would be excited. I love that it's such a traditional circus act and it was pretty satisfying to see the improvements we could make from day 1 to day 5. Beginner gains are always a good dopamine hit. It was also great for giving our shoulders a rest. My favorite things in circus all require my shoulders and arms and constant pulling of my body weight, it was a lovely break getting to focus on creative movement without worrying about wrapping my lats and tucking my ribs.
As far as body and mind updates go: my knee is hurting more and it’s driving me crazy and I’ve had some sort of muscle pull or irritation in my groin that has been slowly worsening my split on my right side all summer that I’ve finally accepted isn’t going away. My neck is a normal amount of sore, not an injured amount of sore, but my traps are still insanely tight and showing no signs of letting loose so I’ve broken out the rice bags and am using the lacrosse balls nightly to try to help. My brain is still very happy to be here and trying to soak it all up even when classes are hard. Every week it feels more and more like I’m meant to be here! I still haven’t decided my major, it’s still between silks or lyra. For my minor, I’m between juggling or hand balancing. My favorite class to take currently is silks, but I’m just so much more confident on lyra and I think it shows. I am also enjoying my lyra class and learning new things is re-igniting my love for the hoop. I’ve still got a few weeks before I need to make the decision but I don’t feel my closer to one than when I started😬
Thanks for reading this far, now that I’m settling into the schedule maybe I’ll be consistent in posting:)