Unleashing Your Potential: Elevating Your Aerial Dance Practice

Welcome to our insightful article, where we delve into the world of aerial dance practice. In this piece, we have the privilege of hearing from the talented aerialist, Holly Ann Jarvis. With her wealth of experience and expertise in the art of aerial dance, Holly shares her invaluable tips and guidance to help you enhance your practice and take your skills to new heights. Get ready to be inspired by Holly’s passion for aerial dance as she imparts her wisdom and empowers you on your own aerial journey. Let’s dive in and discover the secrets to mastering aerial dance practice with the guidance of the remarkable Holly Ann Jarvis.

Back in my swim coaching days, there was a common motto amongst our athletes: “Practice doesn’t make perfect…PERFECT practice makes perfect.”

There are a lot of different ways to approach training. There is training for strength, training for flexibility, performing, conditioning, fluidity and so on. Ultimately, you will dance & perform the way you “perfectly” practice.

Here Are My 6 Simple Tips to Elevate Your Aerial Dance Practice

1) Be Intentional

Decide what and how you are going to train and do it. It’s easy to get lost and distracted if you don’t have some sort of plan. It doesn’t need to be complicated or written down. Your intention could be as simple as “Today I want to point my toes in every transition”. Whatever it is, make sure your mind and body know it before stepping into the studio.

2) Practice Your Flow

Practising flow accomplishes two major things:  1. Conditions your endurance 2. Cleans up your transitional work. When you learn something new, incorporate it into something old that you know. Put it in a long flow and run through it a few times (or a few hundred) to feel it out. Let yourself be exhausted by this process and explore every possible avenue for a transition to happen.

3) Flex Your Brain

Get off Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. It’s easy to constantly rely on outside resources for invention. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with having inspiration and aerial role models—but if you really want to be able to create and invent on your own you have to practice flexing your brain like a muscle. Like any muscle group in the body, when you don’t use it, you lose it! Try to do some problem solving and challenge your creativity before running to your favorite Instagram page.

4) Love Your Body

This one is really simple. Love your body in every stage of training, competing, performing etc. When your body is looking full of muscle, when you’re lean, when you are feeling fluffy and having a bad training day… take pride in every step of that process. Your body changes daily and the more you love it the happier it will be.

5) Lines Are Everything

But really. If there’s one thing I know that’s true, it’s that practising with clean lines and pointed toes makes a huge difference on stage. If no muscle memory has been established, your body will forget what to do during a performance or competition. Feet will go flying, knees will bend or you won’t nail the trick once you have strung it into a long complicated combination of moves. Practice. Your. Lines.

6) Don’t be a “Next” Dancer

You know the kind of dancer I’m describing. The dancer who learns a move immediately wants the next best thing. Take time to investigate everything. Be a sponge. Even with ‘beginner’ moves, there is always something to revisit. I still practice inverting (and find different ways to do it often). There’s always something to be learned when you scale back to the basics (plus, this practice reinforces #2 & #3).

As we come to the end of this enlightening article on aerial dance practice, we hope you have found valuable insights and inspiration to fuel your journey. Remember, aerial dance is a captivating art form that requires dedication, discipline, and a deep connection with both your body and the apparatus. Embrace the tips shared by Holly Ann Jarvis, the accomplished aerialist, and allow them to guide you towards greater proficiency and artistry.

Thank you for joining us on this enlightening journey, and remember to share your own experiences and thoughts in the comments section below. We would love to hear about your progress, challenges, and triumphs in the world of aerial dance!