Emily Barber holds a BA in political science and enjoys thick Turkish coffee and waking up in countries she has never before visited with her husband and duo partner, Chris Wegert. Throughout high school Emily competed in martial arts and women’s wrestling, transitioning to ju jitsu and running 5ks while studying for her degree in northern Virginia. After graduation, knee injury forced her to explore other outlets to challenge herself and a twist of fate brought her to the world of circus. Beginning with aerial straps, then moving on to silks, hoop, and trapeze, Emily discovered and cultivated her passion for performing high above the ground. She has trained in Montreal and performs regionally throughout the year, developing solo and duo routines on silks, hoop, trapeze, and straps. Emily is an instructor in aerial silks, trapeze, and hoop as well, travels extensively and teaches workshops internationally.
Emily Barber holds a BA in political science and enjoys thick Turkish coffee and waking up in countries she has never before visited with her husband and duo partner, Chris Wegert. Throughout high school Emily competed in martial arts and women’s wrestling, transitioning to ju jitsu and running 5ks while studying for her degree in northern Virginia. After graduation, knee injury forced her to explore other outlets to challenge herself and a twist of fate brought her to the world of circus. Beginning with aerial straps, then moving on to silks, hoop, and trapeze, Emily discovered and cultivated her passion for performing high above the ground. She has trained in Montreal and performs regionally throughout the year, developing solo and duo routines on silks, hoop, trapeze, and straps. Emily is an instructor in aerial silks, trapeze, and hoop as well, travels extensively and teaches workshops internationally.
Artistic Aerial Classes & Event Entertainment
D R A G O N F L Y
AERIAL COMPANY
Nominated for
Movement for Aerialists Workshop
By: Danni Maxwell
Day 1
Dance Concepts and Exploring the Floor:
This would cover basic understandings of music and movement, including but not limited to:
- Counting music, finding and utilizing dynamic musical changes, and understanding/playing with changes in tempo
- Basic center/stationary dance movement. This includes basic body positions.
- Basic across the floor/traveling dance movement
- Basic Floor work
Connecting dance with your apparatus:
- learning a brief combo on the ground incorporating silks
*All movement will have a basis in either ballet, modern or jazz dance techniques*
Day 2
Choreographic Techniques and Character Building:
A more creative/hands-off setting, allowing students to explore what they learned in Day 1 to open artistic doors. This would include:
- Dance improv techniques for warm-up/center. This includes movement initiation from various parts of the body and dynamic changes.
- Using music to guide movement and emotion. This includes changes in tempo and rhythm, and encourages moving from the inside out.
- Learning a basic floor combo (connected to apparatus) and adapting it to different styles of music (leading into character development)
- Character Building: one piece of music will be played for the entire class to hear. Students take a few minutes to write down words/emotions/ideas/etc that come to mind as they listen. Afterwards, they create a character (or storyline) that incorporates these ideas. Students are given time to choreograph a small sequence/short piece on apparatus to bring their character/story to life, which they will then show to the class at the end. Dialogue is welcome to help inspire creativity.