Aerial dance

Aerial modern dance is a sub-genre of modern dance

Modern dance

Modern dance is a dance form developed in the early 20th century. Although the term Modern dance has also been applied to a category of 20th Century ballroom dances, Modern dance as a term usually refers to 20th century concert dance.-Intro:...

 first recognized in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in the 1970s. The choreography

Choreography

Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements in which motion, form, or both are specified. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. The word choreography literally means "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" ...

 incorporates an apparatus often attached to the ceiling, allowing performers to explore space in three-dimensions. The ability to incorporate vertical, as well as horizontal movement paths, allows for innovation

Innovation

Innovation is the creation of better or more effective products, processes, technologies, or ideas that are accepted by markets, governments, and society...

s in choreography and movement vocabulary.

Aerial modern pieces, whether solo

Solo (dance)

A solo dance is danced by an individual dancing alone, as opposed to couples dancing together but independently of others dancing at the same time, if any, and as opposed to groups of people dancing simultaneously in a coordinated manner. Solo dancers are usually the best dancers in a group or...

 or ensemble, often involve partnering. The apparatus used has its own motion, which changes the way a dancer must move in response. The introduction of a new element changes the dancer’s balance, center, and orientation in space. Aerial modern dancers gather annually at the "Aerial Dance Festival" in Boulder, Colorado since its inception in July 1999. Here, workshops, performances, and discussions bring together dancers, gymnasts

Gymnastics

Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...

, circus

Circus

A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...

 artists, and other aerial enthusiasts to showcase their own works and learn about new developments in technique and technology.

An early influence on aerial modern dance, Terry Sendgraff, is credited with inventing the "motivity" trapeze. Terry Sendgraff actively performed, choreographed and taught in the San Francisco Bay Area

San Francisco Bay Area

The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...

 from the early '70s

1970s

File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...

 until announcing her retirement in 2005, at the age of 70. The motivity trapeze came about as a result of an exploration on a low-hung circus trapeze. The ropes twisted together, causing the apparatus to spin. By formalizing this, hooking both ropes to a single point of attachment, Ms. Sendgraff used the apparatus to spin, twist, as well as fly in a straight line and in a circle.

Site dance

Another example of aerial modern dance are the site-specific works of Joanna Haigood of the Zaccho Dance Theatre, and Amelia Rudolph of "Project Bandaloop

Project Bandaloop

Project Bandaloop brings to audiences performances of aerial dance. Under the direction of Amelia Rudolph, it creates a blend of dance, sport, ritual and environmental awareness. Inspired by the possibilities of climbing and rappelling, the choreography draws on aerial, vertical and horizontal...

". Haigood’s work is based on careful research of the history

History

History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

, architecture

Architecture

Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...

 and societal

Society

A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...

 impact of found spaces, and the translation of these memories into the movements performed in that space. Project Bandaloop combines rock-climbing

Climbing

Climbing is the activity of using one's hands and feet to ascend a steep object. It is done both for recreation and professionally, as part of activities such as maintenance of a structure, or military operations.Climbing activities include:* Bouldering: Ascending boulders or small...

 with dance in performances that scale and/or descend canyon

Canyon

A canyon or gorge is a deep ravine between cliffs often carved from the landscape by a river. Rivers have a natural tendency to reach a baseline elevation, which is the same elevation as the body of water it will eventually drain into. This forms a canyon. Most canyons were formed by a process of...

s, rock walls, and tall buildings across the world. Video

Video

Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...

 of their outdoor work is sometimes integrated into indoor performances, projected onto screens or trampoline

Trampoline

A trampoline is a device consisting of a piece of taut, strong fabric stretched over a steel frame using many coiled springs. People bounce on trampolines for recreational and competitive purposes....

s behind the dancers on stage.

Amateur dancers

There are no regular amateur communities of aerial dancers. Nevertheless some people do on suitable parties where there are appropriate objects for climbing like dance or climb poles or stages dances with elements of aerial dance. As these form of dances are dangerous and possibly destructive, such dances are nearly always forbidden. Other forms of aerial dance practised by amateurs are non-erotic tabledances where someone dances on multiple tables or similar objects without touching the ground or where the act of getting on or off the stage or table is part of the dance or dances performed on objects the dancer climbed on before.

External links

• AerialDancing.com: Connecting the aerial dance community to resources, to opportunities, and to each other. http://www.aerialdancing.com
• Aerial Experience Productions features Aerial Dance from around the world view the website at http://www.aerialexperience.com
• Croft, Clare. "Flying into the Unknown". The DanceView Times, Washington, D.C. edition 1.9 : November 24, 2003
• Cycropia Aerial Dance, History.
• Forbord, Austin & Trott, Shelley - "Artists in Exile: A Storyof Modern Dance in San Francisco" (2000) - http://www.raptproductions.com/pages/rapt_artistinExile.html
• Eagly, Ursula. "Dancing Outside the Box". Creative Capital http://channel.creative-capital.org/medium_article_2.html

Additional reference materials

• Kloetzel, Melanie and Carolyn Pavlik, editors. Site Dance - Choreographers and the Lure of Alternative Spaces; University Press of Florida; 2009.
• Bernasconi, Jayne. "Low-Flying Air Craft: a report from the Aerial Dance Festival 2000 and a talk with Terry Sendgraff". Contact Quarterly. 26.2 (2001): 19-24.
• Felciano, Rita. "AXIS: Dancing with and without wheels". Dance Magazine 76.3 (2002): 58-61.
• Haithcox, Kiran. "Learning to Dance on Air". Dance Magazine 76.3 (2002): 51-52.
• Howard, Rachel. "Terry Sendgraff". Dance Magazine 79.8 (2005): 60.
• Kreiter, Jo. "The Soul Needs the Body: the body and technology from a dancer’s perspective". Contact Quarterly. 26.2 (2001): 15-18.
• Sanderson, Marcia. "Flying Women". Dance Magazine 76.3 (2002): 46-51.
• Strom, Cat. "Tours: Hanging by a Thread: De La Guarda’s 'Villa Villa' Bounces into Sydney’s Big Top". Entertainment Design — The Art and Technology of Show Business 38.9 (2004): 10-11.