The 15th Annual International Aerial Dance Festival 2013

 A Conversation with Nancy Smith of Frequent Flyers Aerial Dance Studio

by James Gold

On August 2nd, a show opens at The Dairy that is unlike any other show you will see in the city of Boulder.

Presented by the Frequent Flyers Aerial Dance Studio and The Dairy, this aerial dance event will showcase the talents of world-class aerial dancers performing on bungies, ropes, trapezes, invented apparatuses and more.

Recently, I had the chance to sit down and chat briefly with Nancy Smith, the founder and Artistic Director of Frequent Flyers Dance. What follows are some brief snippets of our conversation.

But first, some quick exposition:

Nancy Smith's background is in ground-based dance but she got into aerial performances in the late 1980’s when she saw a close friend do an aerial performance in Seattle. Instantly, she felt her calling. She locked herself in a Boulder, Colorado studio for 8 months and trained in the aerial arts on a low flying trapeze and other such devices.

Having spent her childhood hanging and spinning and swinging from things, it only makes sense that she ultimately created a life and a career for herself where hanging and spinning and swinging from things was the focal point.

 

JG: There’s a blurb on your website about shows involving vampires, a period swing piece, comic book heroes, and other such things—indicating a theatrical feel to your shows. Are all of your shows themed?

NS: We have some theatrically themed projects but they’re not exclusively themed. One of our fun, more theatrical shows is our holiday show, The Ratcracker (a Nutcracker parody)

JG: Is the upcoming show at The Dairy themed?

NS: No. This is a showcase with each artist doing their own performance piece.

There will be ten pieces.

JG: If someone has never been to an aerial dance performance, what can they expect to see?

NS: Performances with aerial fabric, rope, a cyr wheel, bungies, and invented apparatuses that include, for this show, aluminum ladders hanging from the ceiling... and a steel rectangle hung in the middle so that it turns.

 (Note: For those of you who need a visual for aerial fabric and a cyr wheel [I did too], please look below:)

 aerial fabric

  a cyr wheel

JG: Frequent Flyers has received a lot of honors and awards over the years. Is there a lot of competition in a field like this?

NS: There’s not a lot of competition, really, except when it comes to grant money.

The awards are competitive. and when we get an award, it’s just fabulous to get the recognition.

We rarely apply for it—we’re usually nominated by somebody, so it’s always wonderful to get them.

None of our awards have really been specific to aerial—they’ve all been sort of broadly arts based.

JG: Frequent Flyers has a couple of outreach programs—Kids Who Fly and Teens Inspiring Community Arts. Can you talk about that?

NS: At one point, a therapist suggested we work with at risk youth. Trust and team-building are the focus. We combined adventure based therapies, and psychology got blended in.

Nancy went on to explain how Frequent Flyers has teamed up in their outreach efforts for at-risk youth, also collaborating with the youth programs in other local organizations such as that of BMOCA. And yes, the focus is on trust and team building, but it's also about instilling a positive sense of community within the children.

JG: Regarding the upcoming show at The Dairy, is it a show for all ages? And are the performers local?

NS: Yes, the show is for all ages. And the professional performers in this show are from Australia and the United States. The final performance in the festival is the student performance, and they are from all over.

JG: What is the average age of aerial performers within your company?

NS: They range from about 24 to 40. And the students range from 8 to adult.

JG: And how does one become an aerial performer?

NS: Well, we have a school here in Boulder, a facility near Valmont. People can come try it out for fun or enroll in our 9 month professional training program. It's the only one in the country and in the fall it'll be entering it's third year. It's also the only collaborative program in the country where you can get a degree in dance with an aerial focus.

JG: If there were anything else you'd want to mention about the Aerial Dance Festival coming up at The Dairy, what would it be?

NS: I would say that these artists are never on the same stage at the same time, ever. This is the only chance to come to a local performance where you get to see world class artists on the same stage.

It’s all really high level work but it’s all really different. All of the pieces are short, so you get a real taste of what’s going on internationally.

Before we ended our conversation, Nancy told me about an event where several Frequent Flyers performers dangled off a 239 foot building as part of a performance at The Democratic National Convention. I've provided a link to the video below:

Frequent Flyers at the 2008 National Democratic Convention Media Event 

 This exciting Dairy event is one that you do not want to miss.

More information can be found and tickets can be purchased on our website HERE.

 Anyone can learn to Fly