Chattanooga Aerials

Chattanooga's first and only Aerial studio is NOW OFFERING classes to the public!

About the Director

Amy Powell is an aerialist who recently moved to the Chattanooga area. Before her move, she danced as a performing member of Canopy Studio's Repertory Dance Company. Amy has danced and taken lessons at Canopy Studio in Athens, GA for 7 years. She has taught classes of all ages and abilities there and has performed in 7 Repertory Company shows and 4 Advanced Student performances. She has also choreographed for many of the shows she has danced in. She has performed on dance trapeze, aerial fabrics, aerial cube, bungee, slings, tetra, as well as in acrobalance and floor dance routines. In performing with Canopy Studio, Amy has also gotten the opportunity to act as Director for an Advanced Student show and Stage Manager for a Repertory Dance Company show.

Through dancing at Canopy Studio, Amy has had the opportunity to train and work with Susan Murphy (a pioneer in Aerial Dance), Elsie and Serenity Smith (former Cirque du Soleil performers), and Matt Kent (dancer for Pilobolus).

Please view some of the work from Canopy, Amy's old studio.

http://www.youtube.com/user/amypowell27video - (these are some of mine. Entwined and Dwelling in Possibilities are more recent. The others are older but a little more upbeat due to the subject matter of the show)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXMJU_0dJhs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmmhAUQyMJw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbQXFg5-850
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VpZoqBVwsc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9h3izJLwLI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLXPLM1atrY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG4UG2oAcPg

More About Aerial Dance

Aerial Dance appeals to a wide range of people because it offers something playful, fun and unique. It enriches people on a personal level...mind body and spirit. They get stronger without even noticing they are working. They get more body awareness. They gain coordination. They gain peace of mind....like going to a yoga class. They have much needed fun. They tap into parts of themselves. They learn to trust themselves and aerial partners. They find things in them that they'd like to express. They learn to communicate with themselves and others by just using movement. The list doesn't end. Aerial dance enriches individuals personally.

Men participate as well as women. People who are interested in artistic expression and performance participate, but also people who consider themselves to be "not creative" and who would otherwise not seek out a form of dance as an activity flock to the aerial dance studio because of the playful exercise and fun it promises to provide. These "not creative" people often end up falling in love with dance and finding their own creative expressiveness. In fact, I would say that one of the best things about aerial dance is that it appeals to people from all walks of life and acts as a beautiful "bridge" that introduces people to dancing, creating and stepping into their own voice. Individuals who just showed up for a birthday party that involved a trapeze, promising to be unique and fun, find themselves drawn into dancing despite what they would have guessed about themselves before. For others who never get interested in the dance aspect, aerial dance is still a very fun fitness activity that can truly be a lifetime sport. Despite what it seems, aerial dance can be done low to the ground, very safely, and by using very basic principles of the human body's ability and desire to move. Everyone I've ever taught is thoroughly surprised at how much they can do on the aerial equipment...which leaves them feeling so empowered and literally thrilled.