Zina's Aerialsophy - Straddle Strike Pancake Pike

Zina's Aerialsophy

This month's tip is all about two beautiful shapes we use a lot in  dance and aerial arts: the Straddle Strike and the Pancake Shape.  Can you spot the difference?  They shapes we can make in the air and on the ground, right side up and upside down. 

What is a Straddle Strike?
In aerials, a straddle strike is when you sit up, open your legs out wide to the sides — with strong, active legs. Your hips are at a 90 degree angle and you keep your core engaged. You can be sitting, standing, suspended  or upside down in the air when you strike this shape.  This is also considered and safety shape for cross backs in fabric.  If you pancake too much you could slip out of your wrap.   Think sit your bum on the ceiling and not fold.  Which takes us to the next shape.

What is a Pancake Shape?
From the wide straddle, you hinge at the hips and fold your torso forward between your legs. Imagine trying to flatten your chest toward the ground (or the floor if you’re upright). This creates the beautiful, long "pancake" line we love to use in poses and transitions. It’s a strong stretch that challenges your flexibility and core control!

Where You’ll See These Shapes

• Entering and exiting tricks like front balance, hip key, or straddle back.

• Conditioning exercises to build hip mobility and hamstring flexibility.

• Posing for flowy, graceful transitions in choreography.

Zina’s Quick Tips

• Stay Active: Pull those quads tight and point or flex your ankles/arch/toes with purpose. Keep your legs strong in either position.

• Control Your Fold: Engage your core so you fold with strength, or to hold the 90 angle in your hips.

• Check Your Support:  in wraps.... Can you tell/feel the difference in these shapes in the air?

These shapes are not just about flexibility — they build strength, control, and confidence in your aerial movement!

Zina's Aerialosophy - Peace and Love Injury Protection

Zina's Aerialsophy

In aerial fitness, injury prevention is key to staying safe while having fun. The PEACE and LOVE method is a simple approach to help manage injuries and support recovery, both short-term and long-term.

PEACE

When an injury first happens, follow PEACE to minimize damage and start healing:

1. P – Protect: Avoid moves or tricks that could make the injury worse.

2. E – Elevate: Raise the injured area above your heart to reduce swelling.

3. A – Avoid anti-inflammatories: These can slow healing, so let your body do its thing naturally.

4. C – Compress: Gently wrap or compress the area to control swelling.

5. E – Educate: Learn about your injury and listen to your body to avoid overdoing it.

LOVE

Once the injury starts healing, switch to the LOVE method to recover fully:

1. L – Load: Gradually reintroduce movement and weight to strengthen the injury.

2. O – Optimism: Stay positive—recovery is just as much mental as physical.

3. V – Vascularization: Keep blood flowing with light exercise, like gentle stretching or walking.

4. E – Exercise: Regularly work on strengthening and flexibility to prevent future injuries.

By following PEACE and LOVE, you can manage injuries smartly and get back in the air safely. Aerial fitness is all about balance—both in the body and the mind!

Teacher Training Updates

We’ve got something exciting in the works—a brand-new Hip and Core Challenge! Get ready to fire up your muscles and strengthen your practice or learn the details to have safe splits and back bends in a whole new way. More details are coming your way soon, so stay tuned!

It is time for Showcase!

** Teacher Tidbits Corner - Kelsey DeMonte - September 2021
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You’ve signed up for the Aerial Fun and Fitness Student Showcase this year... so now what?

The student showcase is your opportunity to show your friends, family, and yourself how far you’ve come with your aerial skills. This year, due to COVID, we will be holding the showcase via a live Zoom viewing party mid-November! You might think November is awfully far away, but
here’s a quick breakdown of how we plan our student showcase:
* Students were given the month of July to sign up for our student showcase via Google Forms survey, and the survey closed on August 1st.
* During the month of August, Zina and Kelsey will be working together to assign all students into group pieces and choreographing those pieces. You will hear from us in August with your assigned group and rehearsal time!
* Showcase rehearsals will start during the first week of September. Groups will rehearse once a week, and additional rehearsals may be added as we get closer to the showcase as necessary.
* The first week of November, all group pieces will be professionally filmed. Our wonderful videographers will take the footage and edit it prior to our live viewing party.

Are you new to the student showcase or looking for some tips to make this process as fun and successful as possible? Here are our keys to success in the student showcase:
* Attend as many of your scheduled group rehearsals as possible! This ensures that you have enough time to learn the choreography and commit it all to muscle memory so that when the time comes to perform, you are not as stressed about remembering each step. This also builds comradery within the group and allows everyone to work together cohesively.
* Figure out what your best way of learning is! We tape and share rehearsal videos so you can refer back to them as needed. Some of our favorite memory strategies are watching the rehearsal videos over and over, recording your own voice saying the steps over the music, writing down the sequence of steps, etc. Find what works best for you!
* Go into showcase rehearsals with an open mind and positive attitude! Remember- we have plenty of time from the start of rehearsals until our viewing party to learn and perfect our pieces. They might not look or feel great right from the start, and that is 100% okay! The learning curve for every student will be different, and we promise that with time and practice, all of you will look great by November and have the greatest sense of pride in your hard work.
* HAVE FUN! This is our favorite time of the year not only because you all get to show off all of your hard work, but we get to know all of you so much better. We always talk about how we at Aerial Fun and Fitness are truly an aerial family, and this is magnified during showcase season!