Aerial Arts and Dance Improvisation

Aerial Arts and Dance Improvisation is a comprehensive guide for developing creativity in aerial arts. It offers a fresh perspective on how to move beyond rote aerial technique and toward meaningful, artistic movement. Forty creative activities guide you in exploring musicality, developing transitions, trying on characters, and expanding your unique movement signature. Authors Elizabeth Stich and Julianna Hane, lifelong performers and educators, share their findings from years of embodied research at the intersection of dance and aerial arts. They approach aerial movement through the lens of dance improvisation, framing it with the literature of creativity research-a vast and interdisciplinary field drawing upon psychology, neuroscience, and education-and provide evidence from somatic movement practices, dance education, and creative movement traditions. The activities are arranged thematically by the authors' framework of the Aerial Movement Elements-body, time, dynamics, space, and partnering. Also included are 20 ground-based creative warm-ups and 25 practice session guides that give you the tools and confidence to engage in a self-designed aerial creative practice and chart your own path through the creative wilds. This book is an invaluable resource for students, instructors, and professionals across aerial arts disciplines working in dance, theatre, circus, and fitness settings.

Elizabeth Stich is an assistant professor at the University of Georgia, USA, specializing in aerial and contemporary dance. She holds an MFA in modern dance from the University of Utah and is a Certified Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst (CLMA) through Integrated Movement Studies. Elizabeth studied aerial arts in the Professional Training Program at New England Center for Circus Arts. She has taught, choreographed, and developed aerial arts curriculum in recreational and higher education programs across the United States. Elizabeth's practice-research in aerial arts has been published in Choreographic Practices, Performance Research, Theatre, Dance, and Performance Training, and the Journal of Dance Education, and presented at numerous conferences. Julianna Hane is a dancer, aerialist, and physiotherapist. She holds an MFA in modern dance from the University of Utah and a doctorate in physical therapy from Baylor University, USA. She is a Certified Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst (CLMA) through Integrated Movement Studies, and a National Certified Pilates Teacher (NCPT) with a diploma from the Pilates Center in Boulder, CO. Julianna studied aerial arts in the Professional Training Program at New England Center for Circus Arts and ran Revolve Aerial Dance, a small studio and performing company in Salt Lake City, UT, and Charleston, SC. She has taught dance and aerial arts in private studios, public schools, and in higher education and is the author of the Aerial Teacher's Handbook.

PART I BUILDING BLOCKS 1 Understanding Creativity 2 Practicing Creativity 3 Considering Safety PART II CREATIVE ACTIVITIESIntroduction to Part II 4 Body 5 Time 6 Dynamics 7 Space 8 Partnering PART III PRACTICE GUIDES9 Planning for Creativity 10 Warm-Up Activities 11 Sample Guides A Concluding Note From the Authors