by Julianna Hane
I’ll never forget accidentally feeding a whole tortilla chip to a toddler (I was only 7 years old at the time and didn’t know any better). Of course, the child choked. Luckily her mom was nearby and as trained nurse, she administered “back blows” to save her. After that frightening incident, the mother kindly said to her daughter, “take baby bites.” This lesson has stuck with me and still influences my teaching today. I often see teachers shoving metaphorical tortilla chips into the beginner aerialist’s mouth by teaching way too many steps at once. The funny thing is, I used to teach this way, too. When I was a new teacher, I didn’t realize I was teaching too many steps until the students responded with blank stares, head scratches, etc. Part of the challenge is that many of us teachers learned aerial arts in environments designed for advanced movers. While a gymnast, dancer, or other high level athlete can process high level sequencing and coordination, the typical recreational learner isn’t prepared for that. They need more incremental progressions leading up to what acrobats classify as “basic” skills. According to web designer Susan Weinshenck, the human brain can only remember four steps at a time. It’s important to break skills down into small bites so more students from different backgrounds can find success. If you are a Harry Potter fan, check out the classroom scenes from Sorcerer’s Stone (1st book/movie). Notice how the instructor gives a brief demo and explanation of a single skill. The students then practice that single skill under guidance of the teacher, who offers small corrections and reminders along the way. An aerial class can run in the same fashion. The instructor models one skill at a time (with a maximum of 4 vital steps or details to remember in the first attempt), and then students practice that skill with teacher guidance. If there are more details to highlight in that skill, the teacher can layer it on during a second or third turn, or save it for another class day. If you offer “free time,” games, sequence building, or explorations at the end of class, try incorporating the skills learned that day so students can review them more independently. Repetition is key to remembering skills over a longer period of time. How do you know when a student is ready to move on to the next skill? See the next post on assessment to find out. References: 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People by Susan Weinshenck Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling by Julianna Hane
The art of cueing can be a tricky subject. At times it’s over-rated, and at other times overlooked. Cueing well requires multiple layers of understanding of not just the skills themselves, but also in noticing how students respond and adjusting your strategy as needed. I’ve broken the verbal cueing process into 6 stages. (Physical cueing is also incredibly useful, and will be featured in another post). As you practice teach, notice which stage of the process gives you the most trouble. Each section below contains a description and suggestions for improvement. The stages of effective cueing are as follows: Stage 1: Understand the goal. Fully understand the body position or movement you are going for and why. What is the ultimate goal? This means knowing proper alignment and appropriate range of motion of each joint as it applies to aerial arts technique. Rather than memorizing arbitrary arm and leg positions, what actions or muscle activations in the body make each skill possible?
Stage 2: See what the student is actually doing. Cues should always be given in a context rather than arbitrarily memorized. Use both your knowledge of the body and your observation skills to really see your student. To see accurately, do you understand basic alignment principles of the body? Do you know what muscle activations support various movements? Do you understand the difference between anatomical terms like hip flexion vs. hip extension and how they keep you connected to the apparatus?
Stage 3: Compare the goal to the current reality. How does the student’s current expression of the skill differ from the goal? Analyze and draw conclusions. This will form a blueprint of your long-term goals for that student (which could be a few weeks, months, or years).
Stage 4: Choose what to focus on first. Students who have restrictions and weaknesses (pretty much all human beings) will be able to make drastic changes in their bodies over time, but not in one class. Choose the most important goal or concept in order for that student to: 1) be safe, 2) experience a new sensation (i.e. muscle engagement) within the skill, and 3) get a little closer to the goal.
Stage 5: Try out different cues. Select words, an image, a phrase, or a physical cue that might connect with that student. Start collecting cues by observing other teachers, taking classes, practice teaching, and developing a personal practice to help you describe what is happening in your own body. Notice how movement patterns reflect nature or other common things in our world (i.e. the spine articulating like a string of pearls).
Stage 6: Note which cue worked and which ones didn’t. Observe the student’s response to your cue. Did the student get closer to the goal? Did they do the opposite of what you wanted? Students pour out a plethora of information if you simply observe how they react! Then, consider how to proceed. Try out other cues and see what happens. When in doubt, try a different route. When a cue wins, use it again!
Do you have other ways of breaking down the cueing process? Do you have specific requests to help you further develop your cueing? Leave us a message below! Music…it’s the heart of every good aerial class and show. While it can be time-consuming to find just the right music for each class activity, I happen to make lots of them and am sharing my finds with you.
Music is important to me because it influences mood. I want my music to match the pace of the class activity, whether its warming up, practicing skills, improvising, conditioning, or cooling down. Music is a big motivator! The right tunes can help students to push through a challenging workout, or become more expressive. Studies show that music, “can reduce the perception of effort significantly and increase endurance as much as 15%.” (American Council on Exercise). That’s a huge number in the aerial arts! Think of getting just one more pull-up out a workout, which can help overcome a strength plateau and advance in skill level. For conditioning, I choose songs with a clear, easy-to-follow beat and an energizing tone. Some songs are faster than others to accommodate different types of movement, and to keep it interesting. Conditioning Playlist #1* (for adults) Faster: The Sun, Klingande Remix by Parov Stelar Lay It All On Me by Rudimental, feat. Ed Sheeran Memories by Romeofoxtrott Punga by Klingande Crazy by Gnarls Barkley Slower (Stretching): Leave a Trace by CHVRCHES 1998 by Chet Faker Finally Moving by Pretty Lights Instrumentals: Alphabets (Dakhimh Instrumental Remix) Wu-Tang Meets the Indie Culture Bohemian Forest by Panta du Prince Seventeen Years by Ratatat (short verbal intro in the beginning only) Loud Pipes by Ratatat Wildcat by Ratatat Check back for future playlist posts. Each with have a different theme or mood to use in class or inspiriting for new performances. Enjoy! *Disclaimer: Please check every song for appropriateness for your studio/classes before playing them live (and get appropriate licensing). It’s beyond our ability to check every song an artist has ever recorded or will record in the future, or to know what any one group of students/parents might find offensive. We do not receive any commission for recommending these artists. Reference: Bryant, C., D. Green and S. Merrill. ACE Group Fitness Instructor Manual: A Guide for Fitness Professionals, 3rd Ed. San Diego: American Council on Exercise, p. 287. About the Author: Julianna Hane traded life on a cotton farm to become a dancer and aerialist. She is the author of the Aerial Teacher's Handbook and Director of Training for Born to Fly Productions. In Part 1 of this series, I focused on choices outweighing talents. If you missed Part 1, check it out here. In today’s post, I have found another great Harry Potter quote that relates to aerial teaching.
“Words are, in my not so humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic, capable of both influencing injury, and remedying it.” ~ Dumbledore, The Deathly Hallows Great news…we are all capable of a little magic! While the quote refers to words of encouragement or support, I will focus on a slightly different interpretation. Words can become “magic cues.” A magic cue is a word, phrase, or image that makes sense to a lot of people and produces the movement you are aiming for. Phrases like “float the foot” and “hug the fabric” not only clarify directions, but they also make a class more colorful. Peggy Hackney (dancer and somatics educator) writes that images organize the body/mind more clearly toward an intention than focusing on engaging individual muscles.* So, painting a picture with words is a powerful teaching tool. While I know there isn’t one best cue for every learner, it is good to note which cues have a strong success rate so you can keep them handy. I also like to stockpile images to help me work with many different learners. It’s particularly useful when working with beginners from different backgrounds, and it makes teaching more interesting for the instructor! When searching for “magic cues,” I think of the most common mistakes made in an aerial class and work from there. I remember the special words or phrases that helped me learn those skills. I also consider other movement methods like dance, rock climbing, and acrobatics to find links that can cross over into the aerial world. Then I visualize the exact direction, quality, and timing of the movement to select the best images. Testing them out to see what works (with an eye to safety, of course) completes the process. To take this a bit further: Combine several images to create a story. People love stories because they are memorable. And what better way to remember a series of steps than to add a little fun? I have a great cowboy/girl story for tying the stirrup foot lock, and it definitely reflects my playful teaching style. Keep collecting those magic words to help your students progress, and then share them with the community. What are your favorite “magic cues” or metaphors for aerial skills teaching? Let us know in the comment section below. *Peggy Hackney is co-founder of Integrated Movement Studies and author of Making Connections: Total Body Integration Through Bartenieff Fundamentals. About the Author: Julianna Hane traded life on a cotton farm to become a dancer and aerialist. She is the author of the Aerial Teacher's Handbook and Director of Training for Born to Fly Productions. Making enough time for personal workouts in a busy aerial teacher’s schedule is a huge challenge. If you teach multiple classes each week and have other obligations like family, another job, performances, etc. then regular personal workout time often doesn’t make the cut.
We prioritize our time based on what we feel is most important. If I felt that personal workout time was very important, I would never cancel it without good reason. Personally, I struggle to keep workouts on the calendar, so writing this post is motivating me to honor my own training time. How do we perceive personal workout time as valuable? If you are an altruist, know that prioritizing workouts actually helps students because it refreshes the teacher. During workouts I get new insights about aerial theory that I share with students the next week. I also enter class with renewed excitement rather than boredom. When I take better care of myself and set the example, I can take better care of others. Once we get decide the value of personal workouts, how do we make time for them? Here are some ideas that I’ve found to be helpful. 1. Create a personal warm-up for yourself to do before you begin teaching each day. Our creative minds crave rituals. The repetition and predictability of a choreographed warm-up frees up brain space to discover new things and get new ideas. It also prepares the body/mind to work and focus in a specific way. 2. Give yourself deadlines. Is there an upcoming performance you’d like to be part of? Or perhaps your studio has a student showcase that could feature faculty work. If you commit to performing on a certain date, you will be motivated to train regularly and get an act together. 3. Do a week of training with an outside coach. This is a great ritual to do once a year. Either bring in a a coach from outside just for you, or go out-of-town to do a workshop. Being a student again is the most powerful process a teacher can go through. Remembering what it is like to learn new skills or train in a new way helps you empathize with your students. 4. Teach a class that forces you to do movement research. Teaching new material has always been a great motivator for me. Developing a new course will get you in the studio, and can improve your technique or creative process. What ways have you learned to protect your personal training time? Share your comments below with the Born to Fly community! About the Author: Julianna Hane traded life on a cotton farm to become a dancer and aerialist. She is the author of the Aerial Teacher's Handbook, Director of Training for Born to Fly. by Julianna Hane
The art of cueing students through aerial skills is vital for safety and learning in your classes. As with most things in life, the only way to get better at cueing is to do it A TON. Here are some creative and effective ways you can practice your aerial cues. 1. Cue yourself through a skill as you practice on the equipment. Ok, this one is not so creative, but it is the most fool-proof. Describe what it is you are doing with your body as you move slowly through a skill. To make it more fun, add imagery and quality words (hover, pop, stir the cake batter, etc.) 2. Cue a colleague through a skill and ask for their feedback. That’s right, an outside eye (or ear) is helpful….especially another aerial teacher. 3. Film yourself doing a skill, then practice cueing it as you watch the video. This is great for visual learners. See if you can match up your wording with the movement. You may wish to perform the skill very slowly so you have time to give the information you need. 4. Practice cueing just one student, as in a private lesson. Notice whether or not your student “gets” each skill based on your cueing. Ask for more direct feedback after the lesson. 5. Have a friend demonstrate the move while you cue the skill. This is a great co-teaching style, and is useful if you end up teaching during a pregnancy or while recovering from an injury. 6. Record yourself teaching (video or audio), then listen only to the audio. This is great for auditory learners. Notice if your word choice, pacing, and vocal presentation worked or not by gaining an outsider’s perspective. 7. Cue a friend without demonstrating the move, and see if they can guess which move you are teaching. You can practice this almost anywhere - on a road trip, at lunch, on the phone, etc. 8. Practice cueing aloud while doing housework, taking a shower, etc. Make mundane tasks much more fun by adding aerial cues to the mix. You can even sing if you want. If you have a pet, speak your cues to them, too. This technique gives you permission to make mistakes in non-threatening situations. Remember, the key to finding your best cues is to say them aloud, and practice. What ways have you practiced cueing? Let us know in the comment section below! By Elizabeth Stich “I’ve often said that marathons are like my graduate school. They give you the intensive, specialized, in-depth training that you didn’t get during the course of your normal four-year degree. That’s because they’re long enough and challenging enough that the slightest imperfections and inefficiencies—the ones that you might never notice in your daily run, yet cause the cumulative damage over the years that can wreck your running career—eventually come out.” -- Barefoot Ken Bob Sanders Although I am not a runner, I love this quote from the book Barefoot Running. I am currently in the home stretch of my own 150 theme park show marathon and reflecting on the lessons it has given me not only as a performer, but also as a teacher. Even though many of my recreational aerial students will never reach this level of intensity, the same solid foundation of good technique applies whether attending class once a week or performing in hundreds of shows a year. The following list may seem like common sense, but my marathon experience has continued to remind me how important these simple truths are for students and professionals alike. This summer, I am attempting to be my own best student! 1. Always practice a skill on both sides. As a teacher, I always have students learn and practice both sides of a skill in class. But what about when we move from mastering classroom skills to performing choreography? I have found that this is challenging not only for the obvious, glamorous tricks, but also for the sneaky asymmetries that hide in repetitive choreography. When I was choreographing my silks act for this show, I made a deal with myself that if I included angel roll-ups I also had to practice the skill on my non-dominant side after the first show of every day. At first this was a challenge, but now my other side is looking pretty good and my shoulders are even and happy! As the show run progressed, though, I realized that the more challenging asymmetry to tackle was the drop at the end of my act. I choose not to train or teach advanced drops on both sides (In the heat of the moment in performance, when lights, music, and audience can make thinking challenging, I want my body to have muscle memory of executing potentially dangerous drops on one side only); however, I still had to figure out a way to safely address this imbalance. For me, the answer was to practice my flamenco S-wrap entrance from my non-dominant side and then windmill down instead of wrapping for the drop. This gives me the same sense of spiraling entrance and rolling descent, without actually wrapping the drop on my non-dominant side. 2. No cheating when it comes to technique. Not only does clean technique look better aesthetically, but it is also your first line of defense for injury prevention! After an intense 10-day rehearsal period, our cast went straight into performing 19 shows a week. No matter how much training time I logged pre-contract, it couldn’t completely prepare me for the amount of energy and endurance required for the real deal. Towards the beginning of the show run, I began to notice myself taking a short cut in my inversion technique. Instead of choosing to invert from long arms/dead hang or from short arms/lock-off, I was hanging out in that inefficient no-man’s land in between of partially bent arms that can lead to tendonitis in the elbows. Ironically, this is a bad habit that I always caution my students against! Once I noticed the problem, the solution was simply to put myself back into the student mindset and review and condition all the basic straddle back progressions. (If you’ve forgotten these stepping stones along the way to a beautiful inversion, they are conveniently included in the new Rope Manual Vol. 1 by Rebekah Leach). 3. No one can do it all.
You have a limited amount of time and energy, so choose warm-ups, conditioning, injury prevention exercises, and stretches wisely. For the past several years, I feel like all I've been able to focus on is opening my shoulders. I have focused on them so much that I almost forgot that I have a lower body. Well, thanks to this summer job for reminding me! In addition to performing my aerial acts, I spend a good portion of the show jumping on and off stage, running through the audience, and negotiating the uneven surfaces of trampolines, BMX bike ramps, and crash mats. It didn’t take long before I started to feel a tweak in my ankle, which I promptly addressed by adding a ballet releve` sequence into my daily warm-up routine. Since then, I've had to learn to trust that my shoulders will be fine even if I turn some of my attention to other parts of my body. Thankfully, from a lifetime of studying different movement practices (ballet, modern dance, Laban Movement Analysis, Anusara Yoga, and circus arts), I have many tools upon which to draw in response to my body's changing daily needs. As a teacher, this reminds me how important it is to give students a variety of exercises to stock their own personal warm-up, conditioning, injury prevention, and stretching tool-kits and to encourage them to cultivate the self-awareness to know when to choose a particular exercise. Elizabeth Stich is a Salt Lake City based aerialist and dancer who spent the summer flying high over BMX stunt riders performing with All Wheel Sports productions. When not on stage, you can find her in the studio sharing her passion for both aerials and dance at Aerial Arts of Utah, Westminster College, and Salt Lake Community College. |
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