Available Workshops

Aerial Straps Master Class/Intensive (2-3 day)

This in-depth journey into straps (and how they are fun, and the training wheels of aerial) will explore spinning/swinging/support position technique, and provide progressions for training straps at an intermediate/advanced level. Participants will have a chance to explore dynamic theory of switches while spinning/swinging and more. Material from the Inversion Clinic, Advanced Swinging and Spinning Workshop, and Intro Workshops will be covered.

Students will not be conditioned to death. They WILL learn a series of progressive conditioning and skill drills to walk away with to make gains for weeks (for planches/inversions/dynamic movement) after the intensive.

Aerial Inversion Clinic (Get Your Butt Over Your Head Better)

In collaboration with Jennifer Freeman, DPT (practicing and research faculty at Mercer University in Atlanta) and Angie Prescott (ACRO PT, DPT, CSCS) this workshop focuses on safe progressions to go from the ground to air, with a movement screen, investigation into good body mechanics as well as different functional training tools, exercises and techniques to get your butt over your head. This clinic will include both teaching cues and training tools beneficial for anyone from a beginner wishing to deepen their understanding to coaches interested in learning how to recognize when a student is displaying signs of potential movement dysfunction and advanced students hoping to achieve a badass 1-arm inversion. 

Prerequisites: Anyone is welcome as it is primarily a theory-based workshop (and anyone can watch and learn and will walk away with plenty of tools to improve their inversions no matter what level they’re at).  

STRAPS ARE FUN! (Aerial Straps 1)

Learn fundamental techniques for safe and effective training of aerial straps that will improve your power and control across all apparatuses. Straps are fun. Students warm up using a set of exercises designed to pre-habilitate and strengthen the shoulders, then cover fundamental static positions on straps (meathook, inverted straddle, nutcracker, croc, support, flag, and side balance). Straps are fun. The end of the workshop will focus on 2 and 1-arm spinning using the dynamic technique of flares to invert to different positions. I swear straps are fun. 

This workshop will be beneficial for aerial artists who want to improve their spinning technique, meathooks/reverse-meathooks, roll-ups, and other skills on any apparatus. No straps experience required.
Prerequisites: 2 arm inversions of any kind (straddle-up, tuck-up, pike-up) 1-arm hangs with engaged shoulder for 10-20 seconds (or 2-arm for 30), and 20-30 second wall handstand or 45-second plank.

STRAPS ARE EVEN MORE FUN (Aerial Straps Lvl 2)

Learn fundamental techniques for safe and effective training of aerial straps that will improve your power and control across all apparatus. Students will start with a set of exercises designed to pre-habilitate and strengthen for switches, back flags, and c-shaping. Then fundamental skills like 1-arm transitions and positions (meathook, inverted straddle, nutcracker), as well as other more dynamic techniques such as flares, twists, rolls, swinging, and tempos will be covered. 

This workshop will be beneficial for straps artists and aerial artists who have a dedicated practice on any other apparatus.

Prerequisites: experience practicing flag/reverse meathook, multiple straight arm inversions of any kind (straddle-up, tuck-up, pike-up), 1-arm hangs with engaged shoulder for 20 seconds, and 30 second wall handstand or 1-minute plank.

Flares, Saltos, and Swinging

Students will progress through the building blocks of spinning and swinging transitions in and out of positions like meathook, nutcracker, and flag. Students will leave the workshop with the progressions they’ll need to gain the skills of flaring to any position during a 1-arm spin that they can hold safely. The workshop will also break down the different components of 1-arm swings, as well as how to exit different positions with control (either momentum or statically). If students are at the appropriate level, there may be time to work on different spinning entrances to fulltwist/ball position.

4 Student Min | 10 Student Max

Prerequisites: comfort in meathook/nutcracker, experience with flag/reverse meathook, multiple straight arm inversions of any kind (straddle-up, tuck-up, pike-up), 1-arm hangs with engaged shoulder for 15-30 seconds, and 30 second wall handstand or 1-minute plank.

(Aerial) Flips n Sh*t

This workshop will cover a variety of fun, dynamic, and adrenaline producing skills on a variety of apparatus (straps, rope, trapeze….) partially dependent on participant interest. A grab bag of party tricks with scaled and spotted progressions for catch and release movements, beats, and more. Get ready to eat mat, make gains, and be safely afraid. 

Handstands for Everybody
Handstands are built from a set of fundamentals that when practiced consistently allow even beginner students to overcome strength, mobility, and mental challenges.

Students will learn a series of mobility and active flexibility exercises for their shoulders and thoracic spine as well as hips, followed by a series of wrist, shoulders, and core/pelvic floor strengthening drills, and finish with progressive spotted and unspotted handstand drills to build comfort on and off the wall.

Prerequisities: comfort weight-bearing on wrists/shoulders, 15 second straight arm plank.

Press Handstand (Quest for the Press)
Want a handstand press (straddle, pike, side, or split)? This workshop will cover the theory and practice needed to progress over time and gain a press handstand. Participants will be given tools needed to approach their challenge to press handstands on their own, whether the limitation is compression, flexibility, or strength. No handstand needed as balancing and pressing are two separate skill sets.

No matter your skill level participants will be given the tools and programming to overcome barriers to their unlocking their press handstand.

Prerequisites: Full body weight bearing on hands, no wrist/elbow/shoulder/spinal injuries. Endurance of 1 minute in plank or handstand.

Introduction to Dynamic Trio Acro (Throw Your Friends)
Come learn a introductory progression of trio acrobatic swings, banquine, and maybe even a pass the flyer sequence. Bases will learn proper swinging technique and spotting all the way up to swinging a flyer to standing on forearms shoulder-stand. Fliers will learn form for swings and will progress from swings to the floor all the way to swinging to shoulder stand and potentially further. Trios will work banquine basics.

Pre-requisites: Be able to fly or base L-basing shoulder-stand/candlestick, ability to hold your own bodyweight hanging.

 

 

 

1,000 Ways To 2-High

Standing on your friends is fun…..but sometimes getting up there can be slow and boring. This workshop will cover entrances like calf-pops, no-hands walk-ups, vaulting, running, and jumping to shoulders.

Students will briefly cover fundamental 2-high technique, but the focus will be on entrances (and exits) from 2-high.

Pre-requisites: a desire to stand on (or be stood on) by your friends, no back/hip injuries.

Master Your (Reverse) Meathook
This 1.5 hour long workshop will cover PT exercises and prehab, drills, progressions, and conditioning to unlock both meathooks and reverse meathooks on 2 and then 1-arm. Aerialists of any apparatus will benefit from finding their ideal alignment, while understanding the nuances of how that alignment may change during movement.

Students will start with a series of exercises on the floor that encourage active thoracic mobility, shoulder engagement, and core stability, followed by an exploration of the different ways to target weaknesses and train (reverse) meathooks with and without a spot.

Prerequisites: ability to hold inverted pencil/neutral/arrow or straddle.

See Your C-Shape
Want to improve your waist roll ups/downs OR your back balance OR your static switches on straps?

Students will move through a series of mobility exercises, proprioceptive and active flexibility drills that isolate and strengthen potential weak points in your waist roll technique depending on where their weaknesses lie. Students will start on the floor and then move on to a variety of apparatuses.

Performance Optimization for Aerial and Circus Master Class

This workshop series (or one longer overview) will cover the fundamentals of human performance optimization and how it can be applied to aerial acrobatics and circus. You’ll learn about the latest research on biohacking, nutrition, and exercise science and how you can use this knowledge to enhance your performance and prevent injury. We’ll also discuss the importance of mental preparation, mindset, fear periodization, and managing neurotransmitter levels to achieve your goals. This workshop is ideal for anyone who wants to take their aerial acrobatics or circus performance to the next level.

Fear Setting, Fear Periodization, and Mindset Training Mini-Workshop

Are there specific skills you’re terrified of chucking? Are there goals in aerial you’re afraid of failing at? Do you notice your mental state going places you’d rather not during your training sessions? 

This workshop provides actionable solutions via worksheets, training principles, and tools pulled from cognitive behavioral therapy to overcome fear during training and your circus career.