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"When once you have tasted flight you will forever walk the earth
with your eyes turned skyward for there you have been
and there you will always long to return", Leonardo da Vinci.
Have you ever dreamed that you can fly soaring high above?
I'm Jayne Bernasconi and I teach aerial dance
at Towson where we learn the art and science of flying
on an apparatus such as a single point Trapeze,
aerial hoop, or fabric. The aesthetic of
aerial dance is to effortlessly combine the ground with the
air in a seamless flow of movement. Its roots are in postmodern dance
which is explained in my book, Aerial Dance, covering
the history, philosophy and aesthetics of how it came into the dance world.
We hang by our arms, our elbows, or our knees
or we can reach down and partner with somebody on the ground.
Aerial lends itself to a variety of choreographic choices because we don't
have the limitations
of being on the ground. Whatever the movement calls for
we're defying gravity or at least giving to that illusion.
It's visually stimulating and magical
for audiences to witness. Aerial dance cultivates a new sense of space
because when we turn our world upside down its changes are spatial orientation.
Our brains are shifted into a new spatial awareness
so we must develop a new way to acclimate to our kinesphere
The ground is now the ceiling, the ceiling is now the ground.
And that can get pretty confusing when we stay for minutes at a time.
But the skill of aerial technique helps to establish new grounding points while
we're flying
so that we can adapt and cultivate a new spatial orientation.