Sam Copus, Alexandria, IN, USA - Paper Doll Militia

Sam Copus, Alexandria, IN, USA

Working with the Dolls has been a dream! They’ve built a creative and safe space that hones in on the essentials to help grow as a teacher and an aerialist.

Sure I love teaching tricks, sequences, and techni

Sure I love teaching tricks, sequences, and techniques… but there’s a special kind of joy when I get to teach a room full of aerialists inspired to experiment, play, and create. You guys, this is what I keep coming back for. 🫶

I led a special staff-only workshop for the instructors at @ascendaerialarts . What an amazing crew to work with. In this workshop we focused on some floorial moves, floor to air transitions, and we ended with some structured exploration time on tensioned silks.

The creative energy was infectious and I felt compelled to whip out my phone for a few moments to document all these interesting discoveries.

Thank you to Tammy for inviting me out to work with your community. Thank you to the instructors there who are dedicated to the art of teaching, and continually expanding your skills to take back to your students.

@cvyabut
@golden.lung
@katerinajo
@ravenger_x
@flyingpoledancer
@kryket820
@sommerope
@laura.p.cornwell
@tzvete_tz
@shushu713

When do you feel most alive? I’ve been thinkin

When do you feel most alive?

I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately, after over 20 years of doing aerial arts…. what is it that keeps drawing me back in?

Even though my focus and goals change over the years, I still find that I’m most present when I’m in the air.

To me, feeling alive means feeling present. For me, presence looks like this

👁️ Curiosity and intrigue

🌀Being so totally engaged in what I’m doing so much so that there’s no room in my brain for outside thoughts

🤩 Being continually pleasantly surprised and delighted at where this art form leads me

💃🏼The joy of movement

What does it for you? 👇

New to our world? Take a gander at all our goodies and give us a follow ❤️ we can’t wait to connect 🤝

📣Work Exchange Opportunity 📣 💻Video edit

📣Work Exchange Opportunity 📣

💻Video edit work in exchange for Teacher Training

Terms of Exchange:
• Participant will receive 1 full tuition to the Paper Doll Militia Remote Teacher Training in exchange for professional promotional video editing for the company. (Each training is per level / per apparatus)

• 1 full tuition includes 1 apparatus / 1 level of a 50 hour Remote Teacher Training value of $1,300 USD

• Participant will provide professional level video editing for the company. All footage provided by Paper Doll Militia. Hours will be tracked and credited at the agreed upon hourly rate. Work exchange is complete once the work has totalled $1,300 USD

If you are not familiar with the Teacher Training program, please take the time to look over the details on the website BEFORE applying for the work exchange. Please confirm that you have the time and space requirements (access to safe rigging) and that you meet the pre-requisites for the course.

Application Deadline: Friday, July 26th
Placement confirmed by August 1st

Does this sound like you? Apply using the link in our bio!

It’s not WHAT you do, it’s HOW you do it - ⭕

It’s not WHAT you do, it’s HOW you do it - ⭕️ Lyra edition

(Watch to the end for the surprise guest appearance)

In today’s session I was immediately struck by the idea of working with heaviness and tension. This lead me straight to the big and scary world of….da da dah….emotions!

Embodying emotional states in the air can be super vulnerable and challenging in oh so many ways. In fact, even when I was creating this video, I found myself wondering if folks would be put off by this kind of work, and just keep scrolling.

But I feel so strongly that dance, movement, and theatre are such AMAZING vehicles for us to connect to our emotional bodies. when we can see our experience reflected in movement, it can open up the viewer in a visceral way.

This is the stuff that really excites me about using theatricality in the air. And you don’t need the fanciest trick or the biggest drop to make a tremendous impact on your audience. Because, I truly believe that it’s not about WHAT you do, it’s about HOW you do it.

Theatrical concepts I worked with here
✔️Musicality - I chose a song that already had a strong emotional timbre
✔️Movement quality - Heaviness / effort
✔️Connecting to the feeling of ”gut wrenching” - tension in the gut

My loving cat Homer was obviously impacted by my performance and felt that he needed to come console me. Aren’t animals just incredible? Don’t worry Homer, it wasn’t real, it was only a performance. (though I CERTAINLY feel those emotions in a very real way when I’m up there).

How do you feel about working with emotion in aerial? Let us know in the comments 👇

Looking for more creative inspiration? Download our FREE guide to Creating Innovative Aerial Sequences…link in bio 🔗

Update: there is a typo in slide 2….it should sa

Update: there is a typo in slide 2….it should say “Silks / Rope / Trapeze / Lyra

Hey there! We love sharing our passion for innovative aerial arts and we can’t wait to work with you. Here’s a quick overview to easily find the best ways to work with us throughout the rest of the year!

All the information for these programs can be found in our linktree in bio, and we’re very responsive to our DM’s so if you have any questions at all, just shoot us over a message.

⚡️Aerial instructors (or soon to be instructor

⚡️Aerial instructors (or soon to be instructors) 👀 we see you!

As fulfilling and fun as it is, aerial coaching definitely has its challenges.

Which is why we wanted to share some of the MOST important lessons we’ve learned in our 2 decades of teaching aerial arts.

We’ve personally received the benefits of having a thriving aerial coaching career which is why we’re so passionate about helping other instructors meet their full potential.

DM us the word “GOALS” to learn more!

We’ll share with you a behind the scenes look at our Teacher Training and Certificate program which has helped hundreds of emerging and established coaches hone their craft and reach their full potential.

Because, honestly, we’ve pretty much done it all. Recreational studio classes, kids camps, pro-track coaching, aerial festivals, retreats, workshops…

And because all the lessons we’ve learned definitely won’t fit in an instagram post, we’ve dedicated the last 9 years to developing a ridiculously comprehensive teacher training.

Curious to learn more? Send us a message with the word “GOALS” and we’ll take it from there ;)

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Contact

info@PaperDollMilitia.com retreatsaerial@gmail.com pdmteachertraining@gmail.com