Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I just got a groupon for an Aerial Fabric Class! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_silk (even though it is referred to as "silk", wiki claims most of the time it's man-made materials)

So freakin' excited. Has anyone done this?

You'll have so much fun! I've been doing static trapeze and aerial fabrics since last September and it's amazing :) It's a great way to build strength and agility whilst having a good time.

Yessss i've done it.

Have you had your class yet? How was it?

It rocked my face off! So much fun and really challenging. But...I sort of hurt my back. My fault for pushing too hard but luckily I have two weeks to heal before the next class.

The instructor was having a hard time breaking down the moves for us newbies and I can understand why that would be difficult once you've mastered it completely. Luckily the other gals were really supportive and helpful. At the end of class we did some conditioning for the arms, back and core so I'm going to do some of those exercises next week to hopefully get a little stronger.

I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Sit-ups are great for building up some of the core muscles you use for aerial fabrics, so I try and do some most days. Also, I really like Rebekah Leach's books on aerial fabrics as instructional manuals, which are really good for breaking moves down and have clear pictures of the stages involved.

Yes! I've been doing static and flying trapeze, silks and rope for two and a half years now. It's so addictive and challenging and I'm totally in love with it. Did you have another class yet?

One thing that I've found interesting about the whole process of learning to do aerials is how it's made me appreciate the fact that sometimes skills take a LONG time to develop. It has really helped me be more accepting of myself and what I can do on any given day. I used to always be very Type A and perfectionist and get annoyed if I wasn't good at something right away (which is really a ridiculous way to live). I have learned that if I work hard at something progress is being made even if it's so gradual that I can't see it, and it's ok to be frustrated and annoyed as long as I don't give up or berate myself for it. When I got past the super-beginner stage I was very frustrated because I could not invert in the air, at all, and everyone else in my class could. But then I realized that they had been practicing longer than I had or that they came from a dance/gymnastics background and although they were new to aerials specifically they had a better baseline physical condition that they were starting from. Fortunately I stuck with it and one day I surprised myself by doing one inversion in the air. And then I had a long time when I could two per class and that was it. And now usually I can do as many as I need to, but some days I can't do that many and it's ok!

A good instructor should always be willing to answer questions and demo things for you multiple times. It definitely can be hard to explain things to beginners! Especially things that are multiple steps that sort of happen in a rapid sequence.

Also, I have never seen an aerials "silk" that is ACTUALLY silk! I think that actual silk would probably be annoyingly slippery. It's usually some sort of polyester stuff.

It also wouldn't have the right stretch to it.


Personally, I always try to call it aerial fabrics to avoid vegan confusion!

I totally agree on the development of skills thing; I keep a journal of moves and things we do in class and open training each week and it's amazing how much my upper body strength and control has improved! Moves which totally exhausted and/or defeated me six months ago I can now do with ease, which is really satisfying. It's a constant challenge of learning new things.

I had a second class but I stayed in the first timer's group. Still can't invert but getting better at climbing! I've taken pole classes and I could invert right away so I think I'm comparing too much with that. Anyways I convinced another friend to get the groupon and she looooved it so I think we'll keep going even if its only semi-regularly. Normal class prices are $15 for an hour and a half which is totally reasonable but still out of my weekly budget.

Really glad you're enjoying it :) That price actually seems pretty cheap to me; here in Scotland I'm paying about £14 (USD $21) for a class which is an hour and forty-five minutes long (although. I justify it by thinking that I would easily spend that much going out drinking on a night out on the same evening, so actually it's not that much!

I keep a journal too. It's interesting to look back over it and see how much I've improved. I still have a long way to go though! I'm 35 but there are some ladies at my school who are in their 50s, and one in her 60s (who is really good!) so it's awesome to know I have at least another 20 years or so to keep learning!

I'm working on a routine on trapeze for this year's student showcase and I'm scared to death of performing but I need to suck it up and do it! I have a beginning and an end and a huge gaping void in the middle of the routine. Oh well, I'll figure it out.

I really want to do this. I've been doing TRX strength training and hopefully eventually I will have the upper body strength to do this kind of thing...

This is awesome. I love knowing about older people doing rad stuff.

You don't need to already have the upper body strength to start learning as it builds up really quickly once you start doing it regularly :)

So true! I was not very strong at all when I started.

It does get frustrating not to have the strength to do some of the more intense moves, but I'm hopeful that I'll get stronger soon! That's part of the fun too I think, working towards a goal. I can't get excited about being able to lift X amount of weight or run for Y amount of time but I sure would like to twirl around in the air wrapped in fabric! haha

This is good to know, but I feel pretty weak in my core still although my arms are starting to get toned. I want to start up some cardio as well, but maybe I'll take an aerial fabrics class sooner than later. Thank you for the encouragement.

I'm getting stronger just from TRX. I've been doing 2-3x a week for the last 13 weeks. I'm glad to know this about aerial fabrics because when I watch someone do tricks I feel too weak and chubby to try right now. But it would probably be a positive thing to improve over time with aerial fabrics than hold myself back.

I have no excuses now. I just found out there is an aerial collective that has lessons 4 blocks away from wear I live in NE Minneapolis. Yay!

Oh my gosh, don't wait! There were all shapes and sizes at when I went and it was no reflection on their ability. Alright well the instructors were all ripped beyond belief haha but besides them. I had a week off now I'm going tomorrow, need to stretch some more today!

I did a trapeze performance! In public! And didn't make an utter fool of myself!

I took a performance prep class where I developed the routine, but I wasn't going to actually perform it because I have a lot of other stressful shiitake going on in my life right now. But my circus friends and instructors convinced me to do it, and I'm so glad I did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng7n_2nNjGw&feature=youtu.be

Your performance looks amazing :) I'm very envious of your effortless-looking back balance!

Thanks Imogen! Took me a while to get back balance. I figured out that if I get into it from rock & roll then the bar is at exactly the right place. I'm super proud of the hip circles too- I spent a LOT of time trying to get those down. It was a scary thing to put in my routine actually because I was still sometimes missing it in practice and its the sort of thing that if you mess up it's really obvious.