A Mermaid in a Hoop! - Aerial Lyra Routine - Heather Brooke

Описание: Before I went out there I was thinking, "This may not have the most complex choreography..." (Because I was in a MERMAID TAIL) "... but I am going to give my absolute ALL to the energy of this character! How big can I go?"
I think I did a pretty good job at that. I mean look at my goofy reaction to my "mermaid transformation".

I've been wanting to combine these two ridiculous wonderful hobbies of mine (aerial fitness and mermaiding) for a while, and when I mentioned this as a possibility for my routine for our studio's 5 year anniversary celebration, everyone seemed to really like the idea, so it was just the push I needed to actually put something together.
It's hard for me to make myself sit down and choreograph out full routines because my perfectionism doesn't seem to approve of the idea of me learning from successive attempts like a normal human, it just wants me to skip to executing brilliant Cirque du Soleil levels of artistry, so that can be a tricky mental block to hurdle. But I was able to spend a few days putting together all the moves and timing, and a couple days practicing with my fin on my feet. I did only practice in the full tail in the proper height hoop once, but that's on me for not planning my time out better.

It's still hard for me to post things I don't see as absolutely perfect though. 😅 There's some moves/timing in here that are NOT what I planned (but that's always how it goes isn't it? Get it perfect every time in practice, but on stage things go a little bit differently). Part of me is mad I didn't recover "smarter" and chose the move from elsewhere in the routine with a more distinct shape from the one I'd already done as I was having to re-write the choreography on the spot and figure out how much time I had left, but what can you do? You can hold on to it for next time and learn that lesson with gritted teeth but a grin on your face for the audience, that's what you can do haha!
My biggest problem was just not practicing it all out in my tail enough before the performance. Even just one more day of prep would have made a world of a difference I feel, but again, live and learn! It was a lot of fun to play with constructing this character in my head and telling her little story. And I felt like I handled stage fright nerves better than I ever have in the past!

Now I wonder if I could refine this for next year...

It feels nice to just get to post a part of my life instead of trying to build this channel into a "brand", even if that brand was myself. I'm trying to keep things for me now, not making things to try to please an amorphous "other". So far, it's going pretty well!

Top: Thrifted from Plato's Closet
Bralette: Aerie
Tail: Mertailor Water Lilly and Fantasea Fin 1 monofin
Video recorded by Rebecca Dexter
Music: Perfect Weekend by Jay Putty ~ Licensed through Artlist.io