Journey to Aerialympics

2019 has been a year of growth and although we have seen lots of changes around our studio, the biggest growth we have seen has actually been within our own team. Just this past April, Vertical Fix was represented by many of our instructors at the Vegas International Variety Act Festival (VIVA FEST), competing acts among some of the top talent in the nation. For many, this was their debut in the competition world and has sparked interest in many other students and instructors in our community.

This week, we are about to send off five very talented instructors and students to debut in their very first competition, Aerialympics. Aerialympics is one of the largest aerial and pole competitions in the United States. It includes a multitude of levels and is open to many varieties of apparatuses.

Crissy (Competing All-Star Specialty), Nichole (All-Star Silks), Jeni (All-Star Specialty), Emma (Intermediate Lyra), and Kayla (All-Star Silks) will compete for Aerialympics this weekend in Salt Lake City, UT. All-star is the highest level to compete, with the expectation of strength, inversions, drops, and performance quality. Emma is paving the way as she tackles this journey as the only student heading to Salt Lake this weekend.

Each one of these competitors has been conditioning, upgrading skills, developing acts and fine-tuning for months. When asked what the inspiration for her act was, Jeni responded with "I’ve always wanted to do a piece to my song Plastic 100 C by Sampha. It is such an emotional piece. I imagine a character that just was utterly destroyed emotionally, which I have felt in the past. Initially, I wanted to go through a “mentally disturbed” character with tics, but couldn’t quite feel comfortable. My sequencing of the routine has also changed. Between the start of my piece (February - March 2019) and now, I visited the San Diego Circus Center and got introduced to more dynamic skills and was encouraged to add more dynamics to have a well-rounded act. In addition, I learned more about intention and character."

We are very excited to see how these very talented individuals do this weekend in a big step towards their growth in aerial arts. Despite the competition, Crissy reflects on what truly is a great aspect of this journey "All the Aerialympics competitors in our Vertical Fix Team truly inspired me and my act. There is amazing talent coming from our studio, and I could not do this without them. I am so grateful for the help from staff and students from Vertical Fix, which has already made this experience positive for me."

I think we all can say we are super impressed by this group of individuals, including those who took the first steps to partake in VIVA Fest this past April. You are paving the way and bringing growth to not only yourselves but our entire community. Thank you for your continuous inspiration and we wish you the best of luck this weekend.