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Lyra is a such pleasure to watch. Those beautiful, spinning shapes appear effortless and full of magic. Achieving that magic involves lots of hard work, lots of strength and flexibility, and lots of refining details.  But it’s also very rewarding to see your lyra goals come to life. Erica performing on lyra at a Slyboots Circus event For almost a decade I was obsessed with silks, and trained rope and trapeze here and there, but rarely set foot on a hoop. In 2016, the studio’s original lyra teacher moved away, leaving behind a big demand for aerial hoop classes that I was somehow supposed to fill.  I started driving to Toronto for private lessons, and spent a lot of time experimenting on lyra in the studio.  I also watched many lyra videos on social media, many, many videos. To be clear, trying to learn aerial skills from Instagram is definitely frowned upon for many reasons that I won’t get into here, but there are also ways to use social media constructively. As I watched, I gathered data about this mysterious apparatus, trying to understand the different ways to

As more and more people become interested in aerial arts, there is much excitement and also much confusion about the training process.  Here are a few things I’ve found myself explaining again and again: 1. Yes, you can do it! It wasn’t until the last decade that aerial arts became generally available as a recreational activity.  Prior to that, circus arts were guarded secrets handed down through generations of performers who depended on the uniqueness of their skills for their livelihood.  There are many fantastic feats performed in the circus that most of us will never do, but many people are surprised to find there are plenty of skills that are rather accessible. A favorite meme of aerial instructors everywhere. I’ve seen a lot of people delighted to discover that they can in fact do a beginner aerial class, reassured by the fact that we start just a foot or two off the ground with basic poses. However I’ve seen others frustrated by those same circumstances, expecting to be twirling high in the air right away.  Most of what we see of circus arts on TV or social media

By Jess Bennett Last February, BAD put on a spectacular student showcase, and thanks to our generous audience, ticket sales afforded us a brand new trapeze. As your resident trapeze specialist, I was given the honor of speccing and placing the custom order for the new apparatus. She was going to be beautiful – dressed all in black, long, nine-foot ropes included. She arrived to my home March 14th…and everything shut down March 16th. So for three months, she and I were roomies. Having a trapeze at home was convenient for at-home video-making purposes (see floor trapeze here), but trapezes and trapeze artists are meant to be in the air, and we were grounded. A grounded aerialist is not a happy camper. Aerial is so much more than exercise or a side job to me. It’s my therapy, creative outlet, stress management, and one of my biggest passions. The studio often feels more like home than where I reside and the team is my family. There is nothing like being in the air. I started gymnastics training when I was three years old. My body doesn’t know what it is to NOT be in the air

“You only get to be a beginner once,” is one of my most favorite things ever said to me by an aerial coach.  Her point was that being a beginner is something to be enjoyed, not something to hurry past.  One of the most frequently asked questions I get is “How long does it take to get good?”  which is exceptionally difficult to answer for a couple of reasons.  First of all, I have no idea what you consider “good” and what I consider “good” comes in many forms.  Second of all, people progress at very different rates.  Never having met you, I have no idea how your unique body is going to function in the air. Third of all, even if we can establish the previous two points, I do not know how consistently you’re going to train.  I can give you a very rough average of a beginner student who comes to class at least once weekly as well as open gym at least once weekly is likely to be able to perform a Level 1 or Level 2 act in a student showcase after about 1 year — but we have fabulous students who have progressed more

Hello Everyone, First of all, thank you so much for being understanding and supportive of the changes taking place at the studio.  It’s been a rather tumultuous month, and we’ve reached the twilight of our time at the Alt Theatre, a bittersweet moment for sure.  The seating and flooring will be disassembled on Tuesday 7/30.  We are holding classes as usual through Sunday, July 28.  Please check our social media accounts for any updates (the easiest way to post last minute changes if need be).  Secondly, We’re very excited to announce 2 new spaces that we’ll be using shortly: Metts Dance studio in West Seneca and a space adjoining Flips gymnastics in Lockport (north East Amherst).   After searching high and…high for suitable spaces, these were the definitely best fit for our needs!  We are also awaiting completion of a new facility in Elmwood Village; the plan is to have a B.A.D. studio there in the start of 2020.  Whether we’ll maintain the Northtowns and/or Southtowns locations in addition to the Elmwood location is undetermined at this

Tis the season!  Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanza, or something else, the holidays have a strange way of affecting us.   Throughout the month of December, homes and offices are decorated with shiny balls and tree parts, party invites come in multiples, and the traditions of gift giving and overeating never seem far from our minds.  In addition to the usual stuff, aerialists may find themselves facing some unique problems during the holiday season. I’ve compiled a little collection of what those might be. #1 The Music Christmas songs might be insanely annoying, but you find yourself choreographing moves to them in your head anyway.  It’s just something we do with any music with dynamics that can be interpreted into drops, spins, and dramatic gestures.  If you’re anything like me, it can prove very difficult to restrain yourself from busting out into choreographic ideas in the middle of Christmas dinner — or any other holiday gathering. #2 The Scrapes Try not to wear this look to the holiday party. Winter brings some relief from the display of bruises

I’m a mom; a mostly work from home mom, who moved to Buffalo a few years ago with a small child. We knew absolutely no one here. Because of that, I became the mom in the grocery store who blurted out every little detail of the past 3 weeks of her life onto any poor soul who would listen. I apologize to the Wegman’s employee that had to hear about how I accidentally spilled pee all over my toddler’s head while potty training; I know you just wanted to help me find the beans. I, or rather, my brilliant-faced curly-headed son, was popular with the retired old ladies who were also grocery shopping at 10AM on a Tuesday morning. I suspect my popularity ended there. Adult human interaction was limited to a few conversations at play dates, and that was starting to get old. Thema performing at Music is Art (photo by Nakita Mone) I convinced another mommy friend to dump the kids and join me on my first class. As we step into Buffalo Aerial Dance, I was immediately mesmerized with the space. Gorgeous silks swoop from the ceiling. The sun’s rays poured in through the

Newell aka QueensEyes Buffalo Rising interviewed our fearless leader, and gave us this fabulous write up on the BR blog! Read the text below, or check it out here: Buffalo Rising It was a little over five years ago that I first learned of aerial dancing. I was producing some events around the city, when aerialist Erica Cope began to make some noise in the local event scene. At the time, it was like pulling teeth to get venues to incorporate her act into their parties, festivals, fundraisers, etc. They all thought that I was crazy even suggesting that something like this would ever work, for numerous reasons. They looked at me as if I had a bird on my head when I proposed that Erica perform. Fast forward half a decade, and we find that Erica’s troupe has made huge headway into the local event scene. She and her accompanying aerial dancers appear at all sorts of events. Just last week, I saw the troupe (Buffalo Aerial Dance) perform at Kleinhans. It was around that time that I decided to talk to Erica about all of the progress that she had made since the days when no one would

Happy February! We’re celebrating with a little something to keep you working on those new year’s goals and keep sharing the love.  From 2/4 – 14 our 6 class pass is on sale for $85 (normally $95) and our 10 class pass is on sale for $135 (normally $150). You can purchase the sale passes below by logging in and using the Purchase tab to select a pass.  You can also buy these passes from the Login tab (returning students), or by clicking a category underneath the Sign Up area of the home page (new