MY AERIAL HOME

ESSENTIAL AERIAL COURSE (EAC)

Foundation

PROSPECTUS

My Aerial Home Unit A2, Bell Green Retail Park, Sydenham London SE26 4PR t: 020 3817 4870 / e: [email protected] / w: myaerialhome.co.uk

INTRODUCTION

My Aerial Home (MAH) presents a package of training workshops for people with excellent physical knowledge and ability who want to train as aerialists.

Most suitable candidates would be:

• Aerialists who feel their piecemeal training has left gaps in their knowledge;

• Professionally trained dancers;

• Gymnasts;

• People with a good level of pole experience;

• Martial artists;

• Anyone with an excellent physical understanding and good fitness level.

This course takes place at My Aerial Home’s dedicated space in South London – a secure, welcoming training environment conducive to intensive training.

1 Teaching Team

Amanda Miles - My Aerial Home Amanda is founder of My Aerial Home and has been training professional aerialists for over 10 years working regularly with Headliners for P&O. Recently she has created 13 aerial routines for the new Spirit of Discovery Cruise liner for Saga and routines for Naughty Boy for the Mobo Awards. From a theatrical family, Amanda trained as a professional dancer at Arts Educational schools, and her career has been eclectic from professional dancer & choreographer, theatrical agent and manager & a television producer for over 20 years including being talent and voice director for Disney and development executive for BBC, ITV and a multitude of independent companies.

Mim Wheeler Australian-born Mim is a trained contemporary dancer and aerialist. Her expertise is in rope, silks and chain. She is currently performing for Citrus and is a regular aerial performer for Beyond Repair Dance company. Mim is also an international aerial trainer creating specialist aerial workshops for vertical practitioners in Italy and Spain. Mim is Head of Vertical training at MAH.

Jennifer Robinson Jennifer gained a BA (Hons) in dance and Theatre Performance from Bird college and went on to further her training in the world of aerial circus, specialising in silks, , and . Blending musical theatre and aerial in her work, Jennifer has toured the UK with Barnum 2014/15 (choreographer, Andrew Wright) and in 2018 made her West End debut in Chess at The Coliseum performing aerial silks and hoop (circus director Jack Horner and choreographer, Stephen Mear). Jennifer has recently appeared in the 2019 production of the Bartered Bride at Garsington Opera with Director Paul Curran, Jenifer was also circus captain with this production. Jennifer has also appeared in the Red Shoes for Upswing, Die Meistersinger and Don Giovanni at the Royal Opera House and was aerial stunt double for Satine in Secret Cinema’s Moulin Rouge. Jennifer was also the trapeze stunt performer and aerial consultant on feature films the Limehouse Golem and Sarah.

2 Suzie Rozele Smith Suzie trained as a professional dancer at the Millennium Dance College, London. She began training in aerial as an independent performer after being given a set of hoop private sessions as a gift. She quickly realised that her bendy skills would be an asset in the air. Specialising in hoop and she works regularly around the world as a commercial aerialist, fire artist and tapdancing contortionist and can be seen regularly on the London cabaret circuit.

Tina Kerridge Tina Trained in dance at Body Works and has worked extensively as a commercial dancer. She started learning aerial skills whilst working in the USA and has been working as a professional aerialist for the past year after completing MAH professional course. She has worked both in traditional but more recently in commercial contemporary aerial as one of Hugh Jackman’s backing aerialists for the Brit awards. Tina is head of our youth circus and runs the Circus Circuit classes.

Tina is originally from Newcastle and is a type 1 diabetic. Ben Finch Brown (Duo Little Finch) Ben began his Circus career in 2010, when he joined the 3 year degree programme at the National Centre for Circus Arts in London, previously Ben had been trained in gymnastics and converted this training to developing the first ever Aerial Bungee Hoop act, and since has performed all over the globe. In 2015 Ben was nominated for 'Best Variety Act' in the annual London Cabaret Awards. Together with his husband he has created Duo Little Finch, an international doubles act that combines aerial and ground-based skills to international acclaim. Jonathan Finch Brown (Duo Little Finch) Jonathan specialises in hand balancing and was an accomplished gymnast/sports acrobat as prior to training in circus at the National Circus Centre, he dedicated 15 years of his life to Acrobatic Gymnastics where he competed at both a national and international level. Since graduating he has toured with the Batman Live World Arena Tour and various cabaret and corporate contracts before joining with his partner, now husband, Ben Brown to create Duo Little Finch.

They moved to Berlin to be part of the Jean Paul Gautier designed show “The One”. The duo’s cabaret credits include: Cafe De Paris; Gin House Burlesque; The Aeronaut; Proud Cabaret; Glamorous Weirdo; The Wambam Club; Bunga Bunga; Brighton Fringe; The Revolver Revue;

International: Resorts World Sentosa Theatre, Chinese New Year 2018 (both Singapore) German residency: FriedrichstadtPalast,; FriedrichsBau Varieté, Stuttgart; Wintergarten, Berlin.Vaudeville Variete, Berlin, Tipi Am KamzlerAmt, Berlin; Berlin Boylesque Festival 2019; Cruise Liners include: Celebrity Cruise Lines; Aida Cruise Lines; Atlantis Cruises; Tulip Fever.

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Essential Aerial Course Foundation Course Four weeks Course Fee: £1080

Course overview: Professional performers juggle work and financial commitments alongside re-training as aerialists. The Essential Aerial Courses (EAC)s have been designed to help performers who are often time rich and money poor. Many transitional aerialists will have knowledge gaps in their repertoire, as an unavoidable consequence of piecemeal training. The EAC Foundation aims to fill those gaps.

The EAC Professional Level 1 is the basis of My Aerial Home’s progressive courses which aim to allow participants to split their aerial training into time-manageable and affordable chunks. Each module must be completed before a participant can move onto the next course.

Description The EAC Foundation will run on four days a week (Monday – Thursday 10.30 am – 3pm) for four weeks with the offer of free training time on a Friday (11:00am – 5:00pm). The course has been designed to lay the foundations for participants to build physical strength in a sustainable way and learn the essential basics of aerial knowledge across several aerial skills, and will include modules on choreography and act creation.

• solidifying the techniques of basic aerial moves and ensuring there are no knowledge gaps.

• gaining a solid base of strength and building that strength safely and consistently.

• teaching specific moves, combinations and techniques on various apparatus for four weeks ensuring a solid base of knowledge is picked up and can be built upon in the following two stages. It is also the best time for the students to discover that most of the tricks can transfer on all the equipment and that all aerial training will be beneficial to their own apparatus.

• participants will also learn essentials of choreography and performance development, in a safe and supportive environment.

• underpinning the aerial sessions will be core work, conditioning and ground-based skills, to build strength and stamina essential to support the physical demands of aerial training.

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Disciplines Covered

• silks • aerial hoop (lyra/cerceau) • • rope (corde lisse) • contortion • straps

We also include supporting classes such as Pilates, drama, Animal flow, ballet, acrodance, handstand – depending on the needs of the student group.

As the course progresses, individuals will be encouraged to identify their individual aerial specialty. Expectations The EAC Foundation is designed to encourage participants to discover and develop their strengths. If participants work hard they will leave with a good grounding in aerial skills, choreography and ability, which will take them on to a higher level of work and give them confidence to become well-rounded performers on and off the aerial equipment. They will also leave with knowledge of safe working practices. Streaming of abilities Participants will be assessed on day one and streamed into ability based groups with higher-level aerialists encouraged to retrace and check their aerial knowledge to embed good practice. This deepening of their understanding will allow them to move onto more complicated and advanced work with an understanding of the basics keeping them safe and able to create their own work.

Less experienced practitioners will gain an ABC knowledge of the aerial arts. Setting safe and achievable targets that will enable them to move them forward towards more difficult and advanced skills, solid in the knowledge that they understand their craft.

Enrolment requirements Potential candidates should submit a booking form, send us a video of their current practice and tell us a bit about themselves. New candidates (i.e. people who we haven’t met before) might be invited to attend an informal chat before the start of the course.

Course size: the EAC Foundation will run with a group of up to 10 participants.

Participants must demonstrate commitment and a will to succeed. 100% attendance will be requested, and lateness will not be acceptable.

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Teaching staff All staff will be professional aerial tutors with extensive knowledge of performance, production and with a high level of aerial expertise.

Age: Adult 16+ or with permission of instructor.

Performance Support

Included in the cost is: Professional Photo-shoot and a Sharing and Showing Performance: A fun and friendly performance for family and friends. The show is filmed by a professional videographer.

Easy payment terms available and interest free credit. No hidden extra’s.

TO BOOK YOUR SPACE:

Go to our website www.myaerialhome.co.uk and you can book and pay your deposit on line or for a booking form, please contact MAH on 020 3817 4870 or email us on [email protected]

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