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Up In The Air
Aug. 24th, 2014 08:08 pmAfter years of daydreaming and thinking it would be kinda cool and dealing with little niggling obstacles like spinal surgery, I finally went to my first aerials class today. There's a circus arts school nearby that a friend told me about, and I found out that they had a one-shot taster class this weekend, so I decided that I'd stalled long enough and signed up.
I was a little worried - while I love classes and love learning new physical activities, I tend to sign up for stuff like this with a friend. I didn't know anyone at this class, so there was a bit of a balancing act between excitement and nerves.
I shouldn't have worried. Esh Circus Arts is an incredibly friendly, welcoming, enthusiastic environment. There were 8 other people in the intro class, but the instructors managed to spend time with each of us, and make sure everyone felt like they had enough attention and support.
In the hour-and-a-half class, we got to play around with silks, hoop, and trapeze - and it was a lot more active than I had anticipated. In spite of the fact that none of us had any experience, they taught us at least three or four different maneuvers on each apparatus - right side up, upside down, balancing, backbending.... I loved every minute of it.
In a lot of ways, it was easier than I had expected. And I wound up liking silks more than I had anticipated - I had figured that trapeze would be my favorite, and I did like it, but silks felt more.... I don't know. Fluid, mobile, motion-oriented. Plus, to be completely honest, while everything required upper body strength, the silks were a little less shoulder-intense, which is a goodness while I'm still regaining strength.
At the end, I signed up for their 8-week Level One Aerials class. The only hard part now is waiting for the class to start.... I know it won't all be actually easy, and while I felt incredibly graceful I'm fairly certain that I actually looked like a fish flopping around out of water, but still - this is going to be awesome.....
I was a little worried - while I love classes and love learning new physical activities, I tend to sign up for stuff like this with a friend. I didn't know anyone at this class, so there was a bit of a balancing act between excitement and nerves.
I shouldn't have worried. Esh Circus Arts is an incredibly friendly, welcoming, enthusiastic environment. There were 8 other people in the intro class, but the instructors managed to spend time with each of us, and make sure everyone felt like they had enough attention and support.
In the hour-and-a-half class, we got to play around with silks, hoop, and trapeze - and it was a lot more active than I had anticipated. In spite of the fact that none of us had any experience, they taught us at least three or four different maneuvers on each apparatus - right side up, upside down, balancing, backbending.... I loved every minute of it.
In a lot of ways, it was easier than I had expected. And I wound up liking silks more than I had anticipated - I had figured that trapeze would be my favorite, and I did like it, but silks felt more.... I don't know. Fluid, mobile, motion-oriented. Plus, to be completely honest, while everything required upper body strength, the silks were a little less shoulder-intense, which is a goodness while I'm still regaining strength.
At the end, I signed up for their 8-week Level One Aerials class. The only hard part now is waiting for the class to start.... I know it won't all be actually easy, and while I felt incredibly graceful I'm fairly certain that I actually looked like a fish flopping around out of water, but still - this is going to be awesome.....
