In-Depth Post #4

Unfortunately, I don’t have too much to update everyone on because of recent events.  I haven’t been able to directly practice aerial hoop, or be in contact with my mentor, since March 15.  However, I have been able to learn quite a few new poses and variations of poses since my last blog post.  For our latest few meetings, Kimmie and I have been working on improving my grace and form for pre-existing poses, as well as a few new poses such as Running Man (hanging from the hoop in an upside down V shape and hooking your ankles around the sides) and Half Angel (a variation form Mermaid where you hold onto the hoop with one arm and let one leg down to cross in front of the leg holding onto the hoop).  

In my last meeting with Kimmie, we worked more on routine building.  At the beginning of the lesson, we established a mini-routine of 5-6 different poses and Kimmie had me go through the routine without any pointers, which we did film at the beginning of class.  Then, we refined my movements throughout the routine by making transitions more graceful, filming another version of the routine in the middle of the lesson and a final one at the end. Although the last two versions of the routine do look a bit sloppier, this was because I got a bit tired by the end.  Despite this, I did finish the meeting with better form and grace than I had at the start.  After working on the mini-routine, Kimmie showed me additional ways to stretch my back, which would be important for some of the poses I’ve been learning.  

Presently, I’ve been continuing to work on the exercises and stretches I’ve learned, and reviewing my previous progress videos to see what I should work on once I can get back to the circus gym.

For this post, I’ll upload the first part of the three progress videos I filmed on March 15, but add the next two with my fifth blog post since I won’t be able to film any more as of now.     

Post #4 Questions:

1. What has been my most difficult mentoring challenge so far? Why?

As of now, my meetings with Kimmie had been going very well.  Our communication was good, and I was progressing towards my goal of learning 15 poses fairly quickly.  The most recent mentoring challenge that has arisen has been keeping in contact with my mentor through social isolation due to COVID-19.  Because of the recent pandemic, we haven’t been able to meet in person, and we’ve had to postpone our private lessons. Due to the nature of aerial hoop, there is currently no way for me to officially practice what we were working on at home. 

2. What is working well? Why?

As mentioned in previous blog posts, Kimmie and I have maintained a very nice relationship, and get along well together.  Kimmie is very good at coming up with ways to demonstrate or explain poses or tricks that I might be having trouble understanding (to help perfect my mount onto the hoop, for example, Kimmie piled up mats behind me and taught me to lean back onto the mats before mounting the hoop, which helped me understand the proper motion to climb onto the hoop).  In addition, Kimmie has been very religious with showing me exercises and stretches that I can do at home, which has helped me find some kind of way to work on in-depth without our meetings.  

3. What could be working better? How can you make sure this happens?

The only aspect to my mentorship that could be working better as of now would probably be maintaining communication through quarantine.  As of now, I have been working on some of the stretches and exercises that Kimmie has taught me, but there’s obviously still no way for me to directly practice what I’ve been learning on aerial hoop. To make sure that our communication is maintained, I could contact my mentor and ask her if there is anything else that I could work on at home.