workshops

2025

Hoopla! Aerial “Mini” Hoop Workshop with Company dancer, KC HYLAND

Wednesday, Jan 8, 2025

6-7:30PM

Take class side by side with UpSwing Company members. Our professional company class is not for beginners. It is open to students who have previously taken a year of UpSwing aerial classes or have previous aerial experience. KC will lead the class teaching the mini lyra (also known as tiny hoop, or pocket lyra), an extra small steel hoop with extra big potential. Learn to move and pose with this little baby will be a fun new addition to your aerial skill set. Learn to move in and around the small ring and ropes, highlighting how the movements and technique will differ from conventional hoop. While many skills will overlap, there will be plenty to explore that is unique to this tiny circle! KC Hyland will teach unique sequences and choreography for any level that are specifically for her workshop attendees.

Registration opens in Dec 2024

4 spots available

Release Form HERE!

2024

SPECIAL Open Upswing company class!

taught by Cherie Carson

Wednesday January 3, 2024 6-7:30 PM

Location: Studio 12, 2525 Eighth Street, Berkeley

Release Form HERE!

Take class side by side with UpSwing Company members. Our professional company class is not for beginners. It is open to students who have previously taken a year of UpSwing aerial classes or have previous aerial experience. Warm-up consists of stretching and conditioning then class moves into dance and aerial combinations, improvisations and Company choreography.

PAST WORKSHOPS

2023

Sept 11th: Hoopla! Aerial “Mini” Hoop Workshop WITH KC HYLAND

If you’re ready to try out a quirky and unique new apparatus, give Mini Lyra a try! The mini lyra (also known as tiny hoop, or pocket lyra) is an extra small steel hoop with extra big potential, and learning to move and pose with this little baby will be a fun new addition to your aerial skill set. In this intro workshop, students will work on learning to move in and around the small ring and ropes, highlighting how the movements and technique will differ from conventional hoop. While many skills will overlap, there will be plenty to explore that is unique to this tiny circle! KC Hyland will teach unique sequences and choreography for any level that are specifically for her workshop attendees. Workshop is beginner-friendly but intermediate to advanced students will also be challenged and given new techniques to explore. 

March 22 & April 5 - Workshop/Audition with UpSwing Aerial Dance Company

Here's your chance to take a workshop with UpSwing Company.

Let us know if you would like us to consider this your audition.

This is the first time we have opened the Company class to other aerialists since the Covid pandemic shut us down. Meet the dancers and learn choreography alongside the Company. UpSwing Company is looking to expand, so this is an opportunity to learn more about what we do and see if it might be a fit for you. UpSwing Company works on various apparatuses as well as performs floor movements. Our style is merging dance with aerial work. We have performed on bungees, rope and harness, tissu, slings, single point trapeze, corde lisse, and are currently exploring more site-specific venues.

Company dancers’ requirements include:

1. Attend Company classes and rehearsals on Wednesday nights from 6-9pm

2. Be open to extra time commitment in preparation for a performance

3. Love to dance, experiment and be creative.

4. Open to dance on various apparatuses.

UpSwing Company is a supportive environment for growth and opportunity. Company dancers are often involved in various aspects of company needs, such as teaching, costuming, safety checks, rigging, etc.

Company dancers receive free classes and are paid per performance and for teaching.

Feb 2: Feng Shui for the Year of the Rabbit by Roy A. Shabla

This is in conjunction with his book. Need to order book first.

First order the book....2023:  The Chinese Year of the Dreamy Black Rabbit - Transformational Feng Shui instructions for the New Chinese Year. Order from:  lulu.com/spotlight/eatinggod

The Year of the Rabbit will not be as exhausting as the Year of the Tiger.  Rabbit is known for strengthening longevity but do not automatically take your health for granted.  Like a good bunny, eat your vegetables. The year will be a period of scholarship.  Journalism will return to respect and value.  The popular culture of books, especially novels, will increase.  But fame remains a double-edged sword for stars. The year begins with success.  Be smart with money.  It is not suggested to invest in traditional financial systems until the world settles from the turbulence of the Year of the Tiger. The year of the Rabbit is lucky for romance.  Partnership for some may not appear early in the year but charm and attractiveness and fun will replace loneliness and isolation.

Jan 7: Intro to Aerial Tissu with Chris Spiteri

No experience necessary. This intro is for those who have never tried Aerial tissu but have dreamed about it. Learn basic aerial skills in this one hour workshop lead by Chris Spiteri. The workshop offers a beginner the basics in the art form. It's a great way to improve core and upper body strength, flexibility, confidence, overcome fear and understand the creative self. And it's SO MUCH FUN! Strongly suggest pre-registration.

2022

October 22: Intro to aerial tissu WITH JO CELSO

No experience necessary. This intro is for those who have never tried Aerial tissu but have dreamed about it. Learn basic aerial skills in this one hour workshop lead by Jo Celso. The workshop offers a beginner the basics in the art form. It's a great way to improve core and upper body strength, flexibility, confidence, overcome fear and understand the creative self. And it's SO MUCH FUN! Strongly suggest pre-registration.

OCTOBER 22: Introducing FLOW WORKSHOP taught by Jo Celso for currently enrolled existing UpSwing students

AERIAL SILKS FLUIDITY

Fluidity is a catchall term; it’s the opposite of clunky. You can be dynamic and fluid, or soft and fluid, or a mixture of both. The key is to keep continuously moving and find interesting ways to connect your shapes, fast or slow, big or small. In this one-day aerial silks workshop, we will take a series of simple silks tricks and learn to dance through them, breaking free of a pose-to-pose mentality and learning to develop unique transitions and shapes that best express our individuality through intentional movement. 

SUGGESTED: Bring your phone (and a stand or full water bottle to prop it up!) We will spend time learning to give ourselves positive and constructive feedback to gain confidence in the air. "

2020

Master Aerial Series CANCELLED DUE TO PANDEMIC

Announced in June 2020

Great opportunity to take from professional in the field of Aerial and performance. Teachers share not just the technique they have perfected but pearls of wisdom, inspirations and motivations around the artform.

take one or take them all  ~  $35 per class

2019

Master series

June 5: Intro to Aerial Rope with Kate Hutchinson

Katherine Hutchinson is a classically trained ballet dancer and aerial artist residing in Oakland California. While earning her BFA in Dance Performance at Towson University, Katherine studied aerial dance, modern dance techniques and composition. Her thorough and diverse studies of movement lend a graceful and creative edge to her performance

June 12: (Epi-improv) Improvisation for all Performers/Aerialists with Kim Epifano

Kim Epifano has a 35-year history as a choreographer, director, performer, vocalist, educator, curator, and collaborator. She is the Artistic/Executive Director of San Francisco-based Epiphany Dance Theater since 1997, which creates thought-provoking, accessible dance performances, and educational programs, building understanding across cultures and ages. Kim’s work has been nominated for and awarded several Bay Area Isadora Duncan Dance Awards. Her contact Improvisation background is with Sara Shelton Mann, John LeFan, Nancy Stark Smith and more. She has been the MFA Thesis Advisor at UC Davis and CIIS. She recently returned from a Bogliasco Foundation Fellowship in Italy that supported the development of her upcoming work, Rock e Malta. epiphanydance.org.

June 19: Leah Samelson: Handstands anD stretching

Bay Area born and raised, Leah Samelson has been performing and training handstands for ten years. She started in Splash Circus theatre, went on to train with Chinese coaches Xia and Xiaohong Weng and spent her summers touring with Circus Smirkus. In June 2015 she graduated from the professional training program at the Circus School of Quebec city, specializing in hand balancing and slack rope. During her time training she also had the opportunity to perform hand balancing in Quebec, Switzerland, and the United States. Leah is excited about sharing her passion for hand balancing. She has been coaching for five years, and loves to work individually with students to understand how to best adjust for each unique body.

June 26: Vertical dance with Roel Seeber

Roel Seeber, core BANDALOOP Company dancer and workshop teacher will be our last teacher is 2019 master series. sharing insights into vertical dance.A pioneer in vertical performance, BANDALOOP seamlessly weaves dynamic physicality, intricate choreography and climbing technology to turn the dance floor on its side. Founded by Amelia Rudolph, BANDALOOP re-imagines dance, activates public spaces, and inspires wonder and imagination in audiences around the world. The company trains dancers and youth at home and on tour, and has performed for millions of people in over 22 countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Americas, and Asia, and on screens in films and digital media.

2018

Master Series 

July 11:  Leah Mann (Seattle)                     TOPIC:  Fun with Slings

 Leah Mann is co-founder with Ela Lamblin of Lelavision.  They began their collaborative efforts in 1992 in Atlanta, GA, using original kinetic sculpture, live music, and dance simultaneously in performance. In 1996 in Seattle, WA, they founded Lelavision, a professional touring company that has coined and perfected its own genre of performance, Physical Music. They present original performance works that cross all boundaries of appeal: race, education, language, religion, economic background, gender, and age.

July 18: Veronica Blair                        TOPIC: Exploring Arm Wraps on tissu

Veronica is a professional circus performer with over 15 years of performing and teaching experience. She is Head of Soft Aerial Apparatus at Circus Center in San Francisco and Head Coach of the San Francisco Youth Circus. With an emphasis on foundational excellence, Veronica helps students develop proficiency and confidence that allows students to develop their own unique aerial style. Veronica Blair has studied with some of the most celebrated and prominent artists in her field, including trapeze great LaNorma Fox, Ringling Bros. first African-American Aerialist Pa-Mela Hernandez, and the “God Father of the Tissu” Gérard Fasoli of Centre national des arts du cirque/Cnac. Her first professional performance was at age 17, making her one of the youngest professional African-American trapeze artists in the U.S. Veronica was personally selected by Cedric Walker, the founder of the Universoul Circus, as a single trapeze artist. 

July 25:  Jodi Lomask                        TOPIC: Exploring the Orb

Jodi Lomask is the daughter of a biomedical research engineer and a visual artist, Lomask spent her childhood going to laboratories and gallery openings. She weaves these two worlds into the tapestry of her work, creating highly visual, biological images and rhythms. Upon founding Capacitor in 1997, Jodi Lomask began exploring non-traditional combinations of arts and sciences through movement. Lomask designs movement structures out of steel, bungee, fiberglass, and wood. Her choreography unites unique characters, innovative performance devices, with distinctive movement textures for Capacitor's signature synthesis of visual magic and raw athleticism. Defined by a sculptural approach to the body, costuming, and props, her inventive choreographic solutions emerge from problems born of conceptual, physical, and spatial parameters.

July 30: Seanmichael Monday, 6-7:30 PM            TOPIC: Flying Pole

Seanmichael is an international performance artist with a penchant for rotational inertia and a rebellious attitude toward gravity. With an ethereal movement quality and otherworldly command of rigid aerial apparatuses like pole and cube, his work has been described by humans as “extraterrestrial ballet” and by extraterrestrials as “not too bad.” Seanmichael has been a stage explorer for more than 27 years with recent notable engagements including an aerial performance in Britney Spears' music video "Make Me," performing alongside famed DJ, Moby, a residency at The Galaxy Resort in Macau, and as a principle cast member in The Vespertine Circus, in San Francisco. He is a founding member of Flux Vertical Theater and Manarchy Male Revue. 

2018

Summer AERIAL TISSU & sling WORKSHOP ... May 7, 14, 21 

BEGINNING/INTERMEDIATE LEVEL FOR ADULTS TAUGHT BY HELEN DICKSON

Students learn a range of vocabulary on aerial tissu, also known as aerial fabrics or silks and sling (fabric looped on itself) . The focus of the class series will be on finding ways to dance in, on and around the aerial apparatus. No previous aerial or dance experience required.  

Limited to 10 students.

2017 Aerial Master Series

Aug 2: Xochitl Sosa (Single Point Trapeze)

Xochitl is an Oakland based aerial performer and instructor. She is a graduate of the New England Center for Circus Arts’ (NECCA) Pro-Track Program, with a concentration in dance and duo trapeze. In addition to NECCA, she has trained in Montreal with renowned coaches from Cirque du Soleil and the National Circus School. She performs her unique style of dance trapeze around the US and Mexico in festivals, cabarets, and most recently on a national tour with contemporary circus company, Acrobatic Conundrum. Xochitl has contributed to the evolution of American circus by helping to establish Sky Candy, an aerial school in Austin, Texas.

Aug 9: Ninette Paloma, Santa Barbara (aerial slings)

Ninette Paloma’s feet have been dangling over the edges of dusty stages the world over; from an early immersion into physical theatre with Chicago youth company Brechita, to high-flying expeditions as a teenage girl walking the tightwire for a Midwestern circus. Juxtaposing contemporary dance and theatre training at Columbia College Chicago with old world Circus Arts technique at The Actor's Gymnasium, her two worlds finally enmeshed, & a blended perspective began to surface. In 2006, she founded the Santa Barbara Centre for Aerial Dance in Santa Barbara, CA in her uniquely developed style of floor to air® dance. Ms. Paloma founded CA's 1st International Aerial Dance Festival.

Aug 16: Jo Kreiter, San Francisco

Jo Kreiter is a San Francisco-based choreographer with a background in political science. She thrives at the intersection of social justice and acrobatic spectacle. Through dance she engages imagination, physical innovation and the political conflicts we live within. She founded her company, Flyaway Productions, in 1996. In the 2015 book, “Moving Sites: Investigating Site-Specific Dance Performances”, Jo Kreiter’s work is highlighted in the chapter, “Civic Interventions: Accessing Community” using her work as an example of “the politically-driven work of the experienced and prolific site dance artists”.

Aug 23: Joanna Haigood, San Francisco Aerial Windows  

As artistic director & co-founder of Zaccho Dance Theatre, Haigood creates work that involves natural, architectural, & cultural environments, in-depth research into the history & character of those sites, and often integrate aerial flight & suspension. In PAESO (2012) more than 80 performers roved fire escapes, stoops, & sidewalks of the South Bronx, evoking the neighborhood’s vibrant street life during 1940-1960s. Recently, she opened Zaccho’s Center for Dance & Aerial Arts in San Francisco with a mission to offer aerial dance training for people of all ages & skill levels.

2016 Master Series

Fabric (Tissu & Slings) Theory with Julia Langenberg

Julia Langenberg is an international aerial performer and coach. She is a two time finalist in the US Aerial Championships and recently returned from coaching aerial fabric in Germany. Cirque du Soleil contacts Julia several times a year to employ her talents for their shows. In addition to her performing career, Julia built an aerial community in San Antonio, TX, where none existed before. Her dedication to teaching, performing, and recruiting other professional aerialists to the area lead to the formation of Aerial Horizon, San Antonio's only aerial performance company and school. Aerial Horizon is known for creating innovative and meaningful art on the ground and in the air.

BUNGEE workshop with UpSwing Company

October 5 & 12  

UpSwing Company is known for our aerial harness performances. In these 2 classes, students learn techniques of bungee & harness dancing alongside the Company. Must sign up for both classes as they build on each other. Limited space. 

Intro to Aerial Dance on Trapeze

TBA - 1.5 hour class

Learn basic aerial skills in this one hour workshop lead by UpSwing Company members. The workshop offers a beginner the basics in the art form. You will also have an opportunity to experience what makes UpSwing Aerial Dance so unique...the merging of aerial equipment with dance. By exploring improvisational skills you will be led to create new vocabulary for aerial flying and self expression. It's a great way to improve core and upper body strength, flexibility, confidence, overcome fear and understand the creative self. And it's SO MUCH FUN! Strongly suggest pre-registration.

Comments from students....

"I went to see my eye doctor today, and he told me that my peripheral vision was really amazing. He asked me how often I worked out, and I said, Oh, 4 or 5 times a week, and then he asked me what I did to work out, and I told him. He was enthralled. He loaded up YouTube on his phone and we watched the video of the Magnificent Bunginis together. He told me that this kind of work could definitely help you develop really good peripheral vision. So, one more reason to do aerial!" Beth Z., 2013