On age & ageing in circus (Part 1)
“Am I too old to do aerial circus?”
The short answer is no. Depending on your age, general health and movement history you might need to change your expectation of the kind of aerial you want to do, or the career you can expect. But if you want to find your joy in the air, then there are many different ways of making aerial accessible to all bodies. And there are also ways to practice from your teens onwards that focus on longevity of your health and career.
I remember when I was a child my mother talking - almost reverentially - about ballet dancers’ careers being over in their 30s. As if this was a thing to be marvelled at, because they had worked their bodies so hard in the name of art. So I inherited the idea that if you have an intense physical discipline, your body will wear out more quickly. And that even if we’re not ballet dancers, that we automatically decline as we age; becoming less mobile, having more pain and being unable to do intense physical pursuits.
Fortunately, I met an Alexander Technique (AT) teacher in my early 20s who set me straight (no pun intended) about these misconceptions of ageing. AT is a somatic practice that is about efficient ‘use of the self’. Teachers help students learn to notice patterns of excess tension or unhelpful movement habits and using conscious processes to change them. The idea is not to ‘try’ (which can add more tension into the system) but to ‘let’ or ‘allow’ tension to release. It’s also most definitely not about ‘posture’ (which implies a static holding) but about finding ease and poise in all movements. (Because the body is always moving, even at rest.)
According to this philosophy, it is actually poor habitual movement and excessive tension/holding patterns that give rise to many of the problems we associate with ageing. If we’re able to develop a practice of moving more easefully, with less tension, we can retain our mobility throughout our life and into old age. (Of course - important disclaimer - this is for those folks fortunate enough not to have any accidents or genetic/physiological factors that can cause other challenges in the body - from hypermobility to autoimmune disease as I’ll discuss in my next post.)
Somatics and circus
When I first tried aerial circus I was 33. (I’d already had an unconventionally late start in my performing arts career, going into full time vocational dance training age 28, 10 years later than most of my classmates). In 2009 I was mid-way through my MA in Dance Making and Performance and had just spent a summer on one of my first professional jobs as an aerial harness dancer for inclusive company Everybody Dance. My MA was an experimental course at Coventry University, looking at how the somatic practices - including AT but also Body-Mind Centering, Authentic Movement Practice, Feldenkrais and experiential anatomy - could be used to refine and inform contemporary dance technique and performance presence.
Most of us on the course had come from conventional vocational dance schools, which were about pushing the body to greater strength and flexibility. So to focus on release of tension as a means to improve performance felt deeply counterintuitive. In letting go of tension, we felt like we weren’t “doing enough". Surely we only become better dancers through pushing ourselves harder? Of course, it eventually became apparent that jettisoning unnecessary tension and finding movement efficiency was a brilliant way to become dancers who had more energy, fluidity, adaptability, endurance and the ability to be more present for an audience.
But there was still a massive cognitive conflict encountering aerial circus for the first time during an intensive period of studying somatics. How can you even think about reducing tension in the body when you need it to hold on for dear life to the aerial apparatus? Circus (especially as a beginner with limited upper body strength) felt like the polar opposite of what I was now doing in the somatically-informed dance studio. Circus was, to my newbie self, all tension and tone and no release. And this perception was underscored by the fact that the circus intensive I attended at the time was still grounded in the old school philosophy “push yourself the hardest to achieve”.
Resolving conflicts
I didn’t go on to become a full time aerial circus coach for another 8 years, but I can now say that it is possible to teach, learn and practice aerial circus to a high level later in life with a ‘somatic’ approach. A mindful awareness of breath, nervous system regulation, letting go of unnecessary tension, finding ease and efficiency in movement pathways, focusing on inhabiting the process or learning rather than nailing trick: I believe all contribute not only to a more sustainable practice, but also an enhanced sense of wellbeing. And I try and introduce these concepts of release, neck length, breath and nervous system regulation whether i’m teaching teenagers, professional circus artists or age 50+ beginners.
Does this mean that I never hold my breath, muscle through a new movement, hold on for dear life, clench my jaw, misalign my spine or push myself towards a goal when I could be focusing on process? Of course not. I do all those things. All. The. Time. The difference is that I have an enhanced practice of non-judgemental noticing - so if I notice myself doing those things, I give myself permission to… stop.
Aerial gives me so much joy, I want to keep practicing as long as I can!
Part 2
In the next blog, I’m going to take a deep dive into my own experience of being a pre/peri menopausal aerialist. If you’re a human who has periods and you’re in your early 30s onwards, forewarned is forearmed! Seriously! I now (belatedly) know that I started undiagnosed perimenopausal symptoms in my late 30s which was confusing AF at the time. If you have questions or anything you want me to try and research or cover, please email me jess AT awyrol.co.uk or IG DM @awyrol
