Born to Perform: New performance based classes

The current view out my home office window

It's spring showcase time at Brass Butterflies! I know it might be hard to think about spring when this —> is the view out your window, but we’ve been busily planning ahead for a while now. This year’s spring showcases will be held at the beginning of May and we’ve come up with new ways for our students to participate.

Pole dancing and aerial arts mean many different things to different people. Some use it as a fun and unique fitness activity, loving the athletic challenge and physical benefits. Some view our studio as a social sanctuary; a place of community where they can build confidence and feel free to explore movement in a fun, inclusive, supportive and non-judgmental environment. And some were born to perform. They want to share their art and passion with the world.

At Brass Butterflies we strive to provide opportunities to satisfy all of these desires.  We’ve been listening to feedback from our students and we’re rolling out the first round of new program offerings to address a few of the common requests and feedback we’ve heard.  Two recurring comments or requests we’ve heard are that 1) students are plateauing at various levels in our curriculum programs and are looking for different ways to approach the core skills to keep them interested and engaged while they continue to build strength and technique in the same level; and 2) they want more opportunities to explore outside the core skills, through learning choreography, creative transitions, combinations, variations, floorwork, spin pole, etc.  In other words, there is much more to pole and aerials than the individual “tricks” and skills that are at the core of our curriculum levels.  So much more that it is difficult to touch on even a small portion of it in our weekly classes.  To address this we’ve created new, optional curriculum classes that add breadth to our core curriculum levels, allowing for more exploration and learning at each level beyond the checklists and individual skills.  After all, reaching the destination is so much more satisfying when you also enjoy the journey!  

New Classes and Programs

Act Creation

Justine performing a self-choreographed silks routine in our 2019 Halloween Aerial showcase

Act Creation classes launched in January. These classes are designed for students who would like to explore their apparatus creatively, in a supported environment. This is for the DIYers and the Freestylers; those who want to create their own choreography rather than being taught someone else’s. The role of the instructor in this class is to teach the students theory and techniques to approach the creative process (e.g.s choosing music, blocking, building endurance (making it through a 4 minute routine is much harder than you might think!), creative transitions, movement and breath, and so much more), then to support them through independent time in each class to work on their own acts. The class is customized to the level of each individual student.

For the upcoming studio showcases, this class will replace what we previously called DIY performances. If you are enrolled in an Act Creation class, you will have first choice of opportunities to perform solos, duet, or trios in our studio showcases (Yes! You can work in pairs and trios in Act Creation if you want!). However, taking Act Creation does not obligate you to perform. If you want to explore creatively for yourself but don’t want to perform in front of an audience, that’s okay! This class is still for you. This class will run every term, not just in the terms immediately preceding a showcase or competition. For some the creative process takes longer than 8 weeks.

Group Performance Classes

The Pole Performance Troupe at our 2019 Halloween Pole and Burlesque show at Maxwell’s

These classes are replacing the mixed level performance troupes we previously ran leading up to our showcases. They are designed for students who have already gone through at least one term of a core curriculum level. By learning group choreography, created for them by the instructor, and incorporating skills from the curriculum as well as supplementary moves, transitions, sequences at approximately the same level, students will be able to approach the core curriculum material in new ways, honing technique through muscle memory and repetition, building stamina, endurance and strength. Group performances are also a great way to meet and get to know your fellow students. Call me cheesy if you like, but I’ve seen the most wonderful new friendships form through the experience of learning and performing together. Performing with a group is also a great way to get your feet wet with performing for the first time, if the thought of getting up on stage by yourself and creating your own choreography is somewhat intimidating.

Kaleidoscope Performance Company

You may have read about our new Kaleidoscope Performance Company program that we launched at the beginning of January. If not, be sure to visit the Kaleidoscope Company page to read up about this new opportunity. The Kaleidoscope Company is a supplemental program for Brass Butterflies pole and aerial arts students who want more opportunities to perform, to engage even deeper with our studio community, get custom, individualized coaching and support, and be part of a like-minded team with similar goals and passions. Joining the Kaleidoscope Company can be layered on top of taking either of the classes described above to give you even more time in the studio and more support from qualified coaches and your peers.

Performers from our Spring 2019 Kaleidoscope Pole and Aerial Showcases

An example of how you could combine these programs could be signing up for a Chrysalis Membership and registering for a weekly Act Creation or Group Performance Class, and scheduling your weekly Non-curriculums to support your performance goals such as increasing flexibility so you can nail that one WOW trick you want to include in your performance or improving your strength and endurance. When you layer the Kaleidoscope Company on top of this membership, you will have access to another weekly coached group session, individualized training programs and feedback, and access to tons of extra practice time in the studio, for less than the cost of dropping in to an extra practice or non-curriculum each week and much less than taking regular private or semi-private lessons to accomplish the same goals. The closed Kaleidoscope Company practices are exclusive to company members and scheduling will be fluid and flexible based on the needs of Company members and the ebb and flow of the performance and competition seasons. The practices you see on the schedule right now are not set in stone, and they will be moved or more added based on input from the company members.

Joining the Company will also give you even more opportunities to perform in the larger community, representing Brass Butterflies at community events, and also may lead to opportunities to participate in paid performances with our Event Entertainment department. If you have professional aspirations, the Company will support you on that path.

Some Frequently Asked Questions

What happened to the Shut Up and Dance and other non-curriculum, drop in choreography classes?

So, I’m going to get real and transparent with you here. Weekly, multi-level, drop-in, one-off choreography classes are very hard for the studio to sustain. Coming up with fresh choreography on a weekly basis is time consuming. It’s doubly difficult when the classes are open to a range of skill levels, because the instructors have to come up with choreography that is adaptable to be accessible to the lowest level students that might attend and still challenging and engaging for the higher level students. In one hour, you also can only get through about 2 - 2.5 minutes of simple choreography, and when attendance fluctuates from week to week, you can’t really polish, add on, or eventually create a full routine. This is not ideal for the best experience for the students or the instructors. So, we are moving choreography into curriculum classes where the level of commitment is higher, and the experience will be better for all.

Another limiting factor is studio capacity during “prime” class times (weekday evenings between 6:00 - 9:30pm and weekends). We’d love to offer more apparatus based Non-curriculum classes, but our core programs take precedence for the moment. We are working on separate projects for 2020-2021 around facility expansion that will address these issues, and we’ll be sure to share more about this as we are able.

Does this mean we’ll never again offer one-off choreography, or better to maybe call them sequencing and flow classes? No, not at all. We are working on coming up with new Workshop and Non-Curriculum class offerings that may not be offered on a weekly basis, but will make appearances on the schedule whenever there are opportunities. Non-apparatus, dance based classes such as Just Dance, Ballet Barre Fusion, Chair Dance, Zumba and some new ones will continue to cycle onto the schedule as well.

What if I want to learn choreography but I don’t want to perform?

Right now, joining a Group Performance class does mean you are committing to performing in our studio showcase. Because the instructors will be creating group choreography specifically blocked for the number of people in the class, it would be very difficult to include a student in the weekly class who wouldn’t be part of the final performance. There are still lots of options if you want to learn flow and choreography, or just level-up by approaching the material in a different way. Act Creation classes do not require you to perform, and we will be running workshops from time to time in different styles where you can learn choreography that does not require you to perform in front of an audience. We may also run Group Performance classes during Terms that are not directly leading up to a showcase that won’t require commitment to perform at the end.

Have questions that weren’t answered here?

Contact the studio through Customer Service (Alexa and Katy A!) and they’ll either answer your questions or set up a consultation for you with the appropriate instructor.

Looking forward to seeing lots of you on stage this May!

Heather Poulin
Founder, Executive and Creative Director
Brass Butterflies