One of the most frequently asked questions I’m getting about school is what my major is going to be. Truth be told, I don’t know yet! As most of you know my specialties right now are lyra and silks, which is why those were my only considerations when preparing for auditions. Even though I ended up using silks in my audition, I don’t have to choose that as my major. With other schools, I do think you’re pretty locked in with what you performed in your application but for Aloft I don’t have to choose my major or minor until the end of the first trimester, which is especially great since I’ll be trying a lot of new things those first 3 months! My friend Iris, who just graduated from Aloft, auditioned on silks and then ended up being a tight wire major. She’d never even tried wire walking before going to Aloft but that’s what her calling was once she got there!
I do think most likely my major will be silks or lyra, but I’m not convinced that I won’t fall in love with another discipline since there’s so much I haven’t tried. I am 99.9% sure it will be an aerial apparatus but I’ll leave that 0.1% chance in there just in case. If it does come down to just silks or Lyra, I’m not sure what I’ll decide! Other factors to consider will be what coaches I like working with and who’s got the availability to take on a mentee. I’ve definitely put more hours in on lyra so I’m much comfier with the hoop than I am on silks, but silks was my very first apparatus and if the studio in Cincy had taller ceilings, I’m not sure I ever would have focused so hard on hoop. So moving to a school with 25-30ft ceilings where I’ll be getting lots of individualized attention, may be a game changer for me. I recently bought loops (which are an apparatus similar to straps) that I’ve enjoyed playing on and I have really liked the challenge of straps but those are both disciplines I don't think I’d be able to pull off a “professional” level in just 2 years so that’s another factor I’ll be keeping in mind when making that decision. I want to choose a discipline I can be proficient at in two years.
Aloft does also have the option to add a minor, which I intend to do. I assume my minor will be some sort of flow-prop ground skill like juggling or hula hooping but maybe something like cyr wheel will catch my fancy. I don’t want another aerial apparatus as a minor, I want a ground skill to make myself more marketable. I also think choosing a non-aerial minor will give me a back up plan of sorts if I have an injury and can’t practice my main discipline. But of course something like a shoulder injury would prevent juggling practice so there’s never guarantees with anything. Hand-balancing is another discipline that's in the back of my mind as a possible minor. I got pretty far in learning a handstand without a coach. I learned from just a few private lessons and having a consistent practice partner (thanks Lingy <3). So while I can’t reach a “pro” level in hand-balancing in just two years, I do wonder if I can make enough progress to perform handstands as an accessory to an aerial routine, or even make enough progress so that I can continue working on them past the program and maybe reach a point where I could perform it as a whole act. So I don’t necessarily need to choose my minor as something I'll be totally adept at in two years, but something I can work towards. Partner acrobatics is a discipline I very much think I’ll need for ensemble casts, but that proposes a new issue of needing a partner. This is a small program so finding a compatible partner within my cohort may not happen, and then they’d also need to want partner acro as their minor so that's an even slimmer chance. But hopefully within the Chicago circus community as a whole I can find someone. I’m very excited to see where my mind is at in 4 months when it’s time to make this call. My perspective could be so different in November after trying everything and I just can’t wait to start.
My last day at work is in one week and then we’re moving to our new apartment in Chicago just a days after that! This summer has flown by and I can’t believe I’ve got less than two weeks left in Cincy🥲
