Dance is like a sail boat. It is moved by muscles and momentum, like the wind moves sails. The boat's keel is like the root of the stage for feet. But what if you could fly? That is the motovation and magic of aerial dance.
Aerial dance came to Portland when the Oregon Ballet commissioned Robert Davidson to make a work on Portland dancers. It was a lyrical performance.
Davidson was a longtime student of the seminal Joan Skinner at the Universiy of Washington in Seattle. That OBT cohort birthed many projects and performances, and some of those dancers continue to collaborate with Body Vox.
I'm not a dancer but I have many friends who are. After one performance I asked my friend how they could perch 50 feet in the air on a ring, and not zone out in pleasure and simply fall off. They said the pain of the stainless steel ring supporting their body focused things.
Several aerial dance performers located to Portland since and have started their own companies. One is A-WOL Dance, aerial without limits. They have done a good job building a community, http://www.awoldance.org
They bring their annual performance in the trees at night to the Mary Young Park in West Linn. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUaUB7fupfw It is A-WOL Glass Shadows https://www.eventbrite.com/o/a-wol-dance-collective-268371542 at Mary Young Park 7:30PM $70
