I have been teaching aerial acrobatics and aerial dance between Mexico and the US for thirteen years now and the biggest reward for me is watching students gain self-esteem.

Circus cultivates physical and emotional well-being to everyone who gets the chance to experience it in a meaningful way. It is a non- competitive, very physical, playful and expressive art form which improves the lives of individuals through fitness, confidence, emotional intelligence, and artistic outlet. When we practice circus we create art that tells important shared stories, and fosters connection and communication.

If you sign up for an aerial class, whether you are a kid or an adult, with no prior aerial or dance experience, that alone is having the courage to try something new and challenging. Daring yourself to come back to a class after feeling like your fingers are going to fall off is masochistic, but valiant. The art of lifting yourself up, tying yourself in knots or banging yourself against steel whilst upside down and spinning is gutsy, painful and nerve-wracking. But just like anything else in life, the more you do it the easier it gets until eventually you master it and it no longer feels scary, it feels exhilarating.

We start to see the multiple ways in which circus can be a way to strengthen our bodies and build mental and emotional resilience, allowing us to be more fulfilled, healthy, and connected members of the community.

The aerial classes I am teaching currently consist of people who have never touched a fabric in their life, but were curious enough to sign up and try. After three classes, the joy in their faces light up the studio when they are able to hold themselves up and successfully do the move we’ve been working on in class, feeling the strength they didn’t know they had or could gain. Dancing through movement and arching into it makes them feel beautiful, confident and fearless, and you can see it.

Back in 2010 in Mexico, I was teaching a classroom filled with young kids between the ages of seven and eleven. We were rehearsing for a show we had been hired to do for the holiday “Dia del niño,” Day of the Kid. We were at our studio and I was working with one girl who was eight years old at the time. She was rehearsing her straps routine for the show. She seemed sad and distracted that day and I was concerned she wasn’t focusing on her routine. She insisted she was fine and got into her straps and began spinning to the music. In her routine she had a basic drop that she had never missed, but this time she missed and fell onto the mat and laid there defeated. I quickly ran up to her concerned she had hurt herself. She was fine physically, but she let me know that she was having a bad day. Some kids at her school had been bullying her about her weight and it made her feel sad and self-conscious. Unfortunately this is a cruel world where this type of bullying happens often. I sat next to her on the mat and asked her, “Do you think these bullies can do what you do? Do you think they can do a straps routine like you can? Do you think they are strong like you are? Do you think they are as fearless to get back up on the straps and do that drop again? I don’t think so.” She quickly realized how bad ass she really was and jumped up and asked me to queue the music. I never saw her doubt herself again.

After that experience I knew I wanted to teach forever.