Day 191 - Aerial Hoop, it's still technically 'hooping'!

I think I had mentioned that I tried out the aerial hoop/lyra at Aerial Silks Collingwood a few weeks ago.  I took a 4 week intro class and was fortunate enough to be the only one who signed up, so basically got 4 private classes from their awesome aerial hoop coach, Jayeden.  And, I LOVED IT!  It's a hoop, what's not to love?  I completely surprised myself with how comfortable I felt on the hoop, and some of the moves that I learned how to do.

Anyways, on my last class the girls at Aerial Silks asked if I was interested in performing in the student showcase happening later that week.  Well, why not?  Never mind the fact that I had only done 4 classes!  I'm not terribly shy about performing so I thought I would give it a try. 

Turns out the day of the event I actually was quite nervous, and spent most of the day with my stomach in knots.  This was probably likely due to the fact that I didn't get any practice time in during the week, so I was feeling a little unprepared.  I'm no stranger to performing in front of people though, so the nerves were familiar to me and I was able to cope.  Waiting for my turn on the rig felt a lot like waiting for so many other things in the past:  waiting to enter the ring during an equestrian show, or waiting on the sides before performing bellydance on stage.  And just like those experiences, once I was out there all was fine, and I felt amazing afterwards.

I had really hoped my husband would have videoed my performance, but as soon as my two year old saw me in front of the crowd she made a mad rush to get to me and then screamed when he stopped her, so he was not able to record it.  I was pretty bummed but what can you do.

I have enjoyed learning some aerial hoop skills so much that I definitely want to continue, and I might try my hand at the aerial silks as well.  In fact I love everything about the aerial and circus arts so I am going to try to take more classes with Kristen, Jayeden and the girls at Aerial Silks Collingwood in the future.

Here is a picture they took of me, as well as a video of me on the aerial hoop.