Aerial dance has roots in circus, dance and physical theatre. It goes beyond a series of tricks and aims for artistic expression using the aerial apparatus as an aid to tell a story by allowing an extra dimension for physical exploration.
“Aerial dance is a form of artistic expression interpreted by one or many people suspended in the air by equipment such as a rope, aerial fabric, a harness or a trapeze.” (1)
Although circus aerialists have been flying through the air with the greatest of ease for centuries and some aerial apparatus can be traced back to ancient Rome, it was not until the mid 19th Century when Jules Leotard (of which the famous song is written about) first swung on a flying trapeze. (2)
From this time, aerialists dominated the growing number of rings in the circus tents, as circus became perhaps the most watched form of entertainment till the mid 20th Century. (3)
One of the most recently invented aerial apparatus and historically disputed, is silks, also known tissue or fabric. The fabrics unclear creation came about during the 1980s (4) and has come to epitomize the movement of contemporary circus, a style that rejects animal performance, borrows concepts from the alternative arts of the 1970’s, particularly street theatre, mime and dance all of which, like circus its self, are deeply traditional in their own origins. (5)
During the 1960’s and 1970’s, when art was undergoing fundamental shifts and experimentation, aerial dance in this hybrid art form was first explored. ‘Man Walking Down The Side Of A Building’ (T. Brown 1970) a notable example. Brown was experimenting with the dynamics of stability and gravity and was able to highlight these concepts by using aerial dance. (6)
In that same period, Terry Sendgraff was one of the first people to hang a trapeze low to the ground and incorporate spinning and modern dance to trapeze work, focusing on moving between the air and ground. Her choreography is prolific, spanning 40 years since that beginning point and she is widely recognized as a pioneer of aerial dance. (7)
Aerial Dance today now gains international recognition as an integral part of contemporary circus and physical theatre, extensively used in companies such as Cirque Du Soleil, yet in Australia it remains a relatively unexplored art form. Aerial dance, by its fundamental nature is interdisciplinary; it’s more then a series of tricks, but a way to add another physical dimension for artistic expression. Like all theatre, aerial dance aims to tell a story and it’s the apparatus that emphasizes that communication. It is this concept that differs aerial dance to aerial circus. I fiercely believe that there can be more to express in the air, other than aesthetic beauty and technical skills.
The majority of my work has been through self-exploratory and research of other performers’ work. These performers include:
o Fred Deb’, director of her company Drape Aeriane,
o Magalie Lanriot guest teacher at the 2012 European Aerial Dance Festival
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=B_v4OHNwcEc
o American pioneering aerial dance company – Frequent Flyers Productions
http://www.frequentflyers.org/
1 http://www.drapes-aeriens.com/pages/en/company-drapes-aeriens/aerial-fabric-and-dance.php,
2 http://www.circopedia.org/index.php/SHORT_HISTORY_OF_THE_CIRCUS 7.03.2013
3 M. St Leon, ‘Circus, The Australian Story’ 2011, Melbourne Books, Australia, Page 217
4 http://www.circopedia.org/index.php/Isabelle_Vaudelle_Video_1995 14.03.2013
5 M. St Leon, ‘Circus, The Australian Story’ 2011, Melbourne Books, Australia, Page 254
6 J. Bernasconi and N. Smith, ‘Aerial Dance’, 2008, Human Kinetics, Australia, Page 4
7 http://www.terrysendgraff.com/about.html 7.03.2013
Jo Naumann Curren 