My aerial silks act for Aerialympics Nationals 2023 All Star division.
A big thank you to Allison Lind and Kofi Jones for helping me choreograph this and to Eastern Acrobatics for always having a training space for me.
I hope you enjoy it!
Choreography by:
Kofi Jones
Allison Lind
Marion Meirlaen
Music: Egyptic by @beatsantique
Background story to my fellow aerialists about injuries:
5 weeks before this competition I partially tore and contused my oblique from too many impacts and roll ups. For a full week and a half, simple tasks, pulling on a steering wheel, taking the trash out, even walking were excruciatingly painful. The doctor told me to rest, apply ice, and could write me a note to drop out of the competition. I was distraught.
But often for aerialists, muscle injuries and recovery are different than they are for normal adults. Many times when we are injured, we are still in better shape than the typical person on their best day. Doctors aren't as concerned because our mobility comes back quicker, and we get kicked out of PT for being too strong, but that doesn't mean we aren't in pain. Below was my schedule to comp and how I got there.
Please note, my experience is not medical advice for anyone else, it's just my experience.
Week before May 5th: Routine was completely put together.
May 5th: Partial tear, contusion on left oblique. Lots of pain, minimal to no movement.
1st following week: No exercise.
2nd week: On Thursday, climbing, inverting were 3/10 on the pain scale. Hip keys, roll ups, any pressure on my back were a solid 8/10. Light PT and stretching at home on the other days, pain was 1/10
3rd week: Tuesday, practiced some of the tricks in the routine with 3/10 pain. Experimented - see what hurt, what didn't hurt. Avoided anything that hurt. Inversions were ok, footlocks were ok, handstand was ok. Painful tricks were wheel downs, roll ups, open stars, back balance, and everything else in that family. I did not train again until Thursday, where I repeated practicing the tricks that didn't hurt.
4th week: Started working on my endurance, I needed to be up there for 4:30 minutes. Wheel downs, and pirouettes were back, open front dive was back. Started training almost every day. Roll ups and hip key roll ups were slowly coming back.
May 28th: I reinjured the oblique from doing roll ups, pain was back but not as bad as the first time but still significant. I cried, I removed my signature roll ups, switched out the finale drop, modified the scorpion entry to avoid impacts to the oblique.
5th week: With those tricks removed, I could do the full routine with little to no pain on my oblique. The oblique was sore after a 2 hour training session, but the pain didn't get worse the next day.
June 10th: No pain thanks to the adrenaline.
Post competition: Taking time off to let the oblique fully heal.
My takeaway, don't hold on to your signature moves just because they're your favorites. If you're in pain, modify the routine and make it easier on yourself. It's not worth sacrificing your body for that perfect routine. When I told my doctor I really didn't want to drop out, he told me to let pain be my guide, and I do think it worked in my case.