Annnnnd I'm back...I think...
So 2016's almost over, I can hardly believe it.
It was quite an exciting year for me and there were quite a few highlights in terms of flying trapeze.
I started off the year performing with the Salt City Big Top. I had so much fun flying with the team at Utah Trapeze. It was extra special to look over from the board and see my best friend sitting in the catch trap.
Over the summer, I traveled out to California and back up to Pali, where I spent two glorious days flying in the mountains with so many members of my trapeze family. It felt like coming home.
I also visited my friends at the Circus Arts Place for some flying time throughout the year. Their beautiful energy and presence in the air always inspires me. It was so much fun to take a few tandem swings with the ladies. And it was such a treat to see the great Tony Steele fly again!
And now, I'm wrapping up the year with my very own slice of trapeze paradise!!!! On October 8, 2016, Orange Blossom Trapeze was born.
Now that I am flying regularly again, I've been thinking a great deal about my goals and what I want to achieve in this upcoming year. I'm approaching this next phase of my flying career with a sense of calm acceptance, which is completely different than in years past. I've always placed unnecessary pressure on myself to do well, which caused me to taking my training days very seriously, but sometimes almost too seriously. It intensified the frustration and defeat I felt on the days that I did not perform so well. I'm still dedicated to practicing hard, but this time, knowing that I'm not counting down the days until I'm grounded again, I'm able to relax and just enjoy the ride.
I feel so out of shape and out of practice (I am and it's okay). But each practice I get stronger, my hands get a little tougher and I'm more mindful of what I'm doing with my body. Some days I have a major breakthrough and some days I fall back into my same 'ol bad habits (often during the same practice). But things are slowly coming along.
Right now I'm taking it back to the basics. I'm working on fixing my take off, swing and returns. If there is anything I hope to achieve in the next year it would be to have a strong swing and a polished look to my flying. I'm extremely fortunate to have a coach that is working so closely with me, breaking the fundamentals down into bite-sized pieces. Focusing on the individual components has allowed me to feel my swing in a very different way than ever before.
This past weekend we had a fun little crew flying on the rig. Over the past few years, returning has become so inconsistent for me, however, I returned my tricks to the board the other day. Upon looking at the videos afterwards, I was pretty disappointed with how I looked in the air. All the hard work to fix my take off and tighten up my swing just went out the window. Even though I didn't have pretty feet and my old, ugly take off reared its head again, I worked well in-hands. I held my sweep nice and long and I stayed vertical in my press, making it back to the bar and back to board. My round trips weren't pretty, but they felt like real progress AND THAT'S SOMETHING TO CELEBRATE.
As we get closer to 2017, I will write more about my goals for the next year and hopefully by then I will have some better video of my swing progress. Until then, I leave you with my new favorite net trick...
