October 2020

[Alana]

Is anybody else low-key more excited about wearing a costume for the challenge than the combo itself? 😅 Already brainstorming what to wear and what music might fit!

[Silks Stars Team]

Haha so awesome! We can’t wait to see your costume Alana!

[Jenny]

For sure! haha 🙂

[MayaS]

Oh darn, after looking at my Sep. challenge video again I realised that I can do way better and I didn’t have the star qualities. So I quickly removed it and hope no one reviewed it yet. 😳 I love that drop though and I will keep on working on it!…I’m also looking forward to this months challenge because I struggle with loop splits. I can never get the loops to my ankles, they always stay stuck on my knees. I suppose I need to have a deeper pike? Any other suggestions?
Mahalo!

[Elleb]

Yes! I struggle with this also! I love this sequence and am excited to work on it and just hoping I’ll be able to accomplish getting the loops to drop to my ankles!

[MayaS]

Just saw the perfect pike workout! I will follow along and hopefully get my loop splits this month!

[Silks Stars Team]

Hi Maya! We did review your September video, you can check out our feedback right here: https://www.silksstars.com/my-earnings/ 🙂 Good work! Yes, the pike class will help with those Loop Splits for sure. Happy training!

[susi]

https://www.silksstars.com/community/susi/media/73/ Hello again! I post my video from September challenge on my profile but I’m not sure if I have to put it here also? 🙄😊😊 Can’t wait to start on October challenge! All the best for this community! Keep safe and training happy! 😊😊

[Silks Stars Team]

Thanks Susi, just posting on your profile is fine although it’s great to share here also so others can see your work more easily. We will be reviewing over the next few hours and awarding your stars!

[susi]

OK got it! I’m still learning how to use this 🙈🙈🙈

[Yvan]

Thanks a lot for the fantastic personalized feedback! 🙏❤️
I want to share with you a skill that I was practising this week. I believe it is called ANGEL ROLLUPS? I am having some issues with the flow when rolling up…I will keep on working on it the coming months 🙈. Any feedback much appreciated 😁

[Yvan]

and today I started working on the October challenge. 2 small technical questions:
1. Before the knee climb I get the feeling I have extra tissue / slack, and because of it I feel I slide a bit… is it because I close to quick the legs in the straddle up and the extra tissue remains in my belly? Or is it just normal / acceptable? Should I keep the knees together before climbing up?
2. I tried a bit of spinning before the splits… tricky and worth sharing… not sure what to think about it yet…
Thanks! and please feel welcome to point at further technical details you spot

[Silks Stars Team]

Hi Yvan, this is looking really good!To answer your questions:
1. Yes the slack is normal although you can minimize it by keeping your knees a bit lower on the knee climb – i personally like to be able to ‘lower into’ the slack after the knee climb to make room to come between the poles with my torso
2. The spin looks good! It’s nice to have some rotation before the split

Keep working on straight knees into the loop split, the stag does look nice though!
Great work!
– Rachel

[Yvan]

Thanks a lot Rachel! 🙏❤️ So if I understood correctly, for my body it is preferable if I work on entering the split with straight knees from the pike (rather than transitioning through the stag?). I personally use the stag when I go straight into splits without prior specific warm up. It makes it a bit easier for me to find the rotation at the hip

[Silks Stars Team]

Yes, ideally you will maintain the straight knees into the split from the Pike

[NikkiEva]

I’m also super excited for the costume contest! I love Halloween and will take any excuse to dress up and share with the world. 🙂

[Silks Stars Team]

Yay Nikki! We can’t wait to see your costume!

[Leah]

I love this combo but I always struggle to get the loops off of my calves and to my ankles. I usually resort to pushing each loop with the opposite toes 😀 What is the trick to a smooth transfer away from the calves and to the ankles?

[Silks Stars Team]

Hi Leah, we will talk a bit more about this in net weeks Q&A but the short answer is you want to sink into a really deep pike to allow the loops to slide to your ankles 🙂

[susi]

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=3648742498503290&id=100001027263012&sfnsn=mo Hi guys! I’m working hard trying to clean these beats but legs are still slightly bend when going backwards… I add some ankle weights to see if it helps! 😅😅😅 that’s all for now! Happy training! 😘😘

[Silks Stars Team]

Beats are looking great Susi! Ankle weights certainly add a challenge, good job!

[HaleneW]

Hey there 🙂 Question about the slack drop at the end….would this be considered a short drop or longer drop (I honestly have no idea where the line between the two is)? I know that the rig I have says short bomb drops are ok, but not crazier stuff, so I want to make sure I’m staying safe. Thanks!

[Silks Stars Team]

Hi Halene, yes the Eggbeater Drop is relatively short so you should be fine. We suggest you ‘walk’ down the drop first (as Rachel demonstrates in the tutorial) to make sure both you and the rig feel secure.

[Elleb]

I have been having a lot of trouble getting the loops to slide to my ankles despite trying my hardest to sink as deep as possible into my pike. I finally made some progress today. These are the things that helped me the most, other than, of course, sinking as deep as possible into my pike. Not sure if these will be helpful to others, but thought I’d share just in case.
1. Slippery pants – I definitely notice a difference between fabrics. With a more slippery fabric, the loops are more likely to slide down my calves.
2. Having a slight bend in my elbows and then allowing my arms to straighten as I sink my bootie toward the ground helped me to sink deeper into the pike. I could allow my whole body to sink as I straightened my arms.
3. Actively trying as hard as I could to pull my toes/knees toward my face the entire time I was sliding down. (Hellooooooooo hip flexers!!)
4. Shorter loops. This is the thing that actually helped the most. Once I shortened my loops I could make them slide every time and managed 4 or 5 consecutive run throughs without the loops getting stuck behind my knees or calves. To make the loops shorter, I just grabbed higher up on the tails after diving through the poles – just enough fabric to pass around my thigh and reach back for the poles. This still left plenty of slack for the drop at the end.

I still have a lot of work to do but the loops/ankles issue was becoming quite frustrating so I am happy for today’s break through! Progress video:
October Day 6

[Silks Stars Team]

Great incites, thanks so much for sharing Elle!

[Janice]

Thanks for sharing your tips. I’ll be on session 2 tonight for this Oct challenge. Will definitely apply your suggested techniques. Your video looks perfect already.

[Gillian]

Thanks for sharing Elle!

[Caro]

Thanks. I wondered about the length of the loops too. The first time I tried the combo I got my ankles in fine and since then I’ve been making bigger loops for a bigger drop but also having issues getting stuck at knees before the split. I’ll try you suggestion next time I get to the silks.

[Janice]

Training for October challenge

I’d appreciate feedback about my Training today for the October challenge (video link attached). See my struggles where I’d appreciate tips and techniques to overcome them:
1) Ugh those beats! I can do it with bent arms but not with straight arms. When I make my arms straight, my grip weakens after the beat backwards
2)My legs are not straight during skin the cat
3) The roll after making the loops (before the pike/split) …. it is not a smooth move for me
4) I am able to put the loops to my ankle after I do the pike but with my feet around 2 feet apart (instead of together)
I’d appreciate feedback on how to improve.

[Silks Stars Team]

Hi Janice, good effort here. Overall, try slowing down in order to showcase each movement, pose and transition. To answer your questions:
1. Straight arm beats and inversions can be challenging. For now, try using some spray or rock rosin to improve your grip as you work on gaining strength.
2. Focus on straight knees and pointed toes throughout the combination
3. Keep working on the roll and focus on dropping deep into the pike
4. The loops are nice and low on your legs, take a moment here and think about the placement of the legs, bring the feet closer together before you open out the split

Additional notes: Try to clean up the eggbeaters (create big, smooth circles) and remember to breathe 🙂
This is a great start! – Rachel

[Janice]

Thank you for your generous feedback. I look forward to my next training so I can attempt to apply all these Super thanks.

[Jenny]

Working on the October combination. Thanks for the live q&a yesterday! Totally helpful…Double knee climb getting slightly less elusive for me 🙂

[Silks Stars Team]

Thats great to hear Jenny! We are looking forward to watching your submission this month!

[Jenny]

Thanks guys. I tried to submit a practise video on this forum in above post but I am a technical noob….I put it on my profile instead.

[Silks Stars Team]

This is a really good start Jenny! I love the front balance moment before you make the loops, really pretty! Try to get those loop to your ankles if possible. The drop looks good but i would suggest starting a little higher so you are not so close to the ground at the end 🙂 Keep working on the beats into that straight arm invert, you are almost there, great job! – Rachel

[Eiz]

Here is my latest attempt (Link). A leap from my previous attempts, but nevertheless a lot to clean up still.

I finally found out how big my loops should be for it to slide to my ankles (been struggling with it as well!) after trying out the double knee hook per Rachel’s suggestion at the Q&A. So when I tried the combi, after flipping over I always find that my loops are too big. Here I was kinda trying to keep the tails short, but it results to having to bend my arms, which makes flipping over a bit of a struggle. Also, I tried loosening my grip to make my loops even smaller (because it was still too big even after gripping with a shorter tail) before going to the split since I do feel that’s the only way I can get the loops to slide to my ankles, I wonder if that is ok..I’m terrified I might lose my grip here and fall, so I still practice low.

Going back from the splits to the pike before getting to egg beaters is precarious as well. I really want to brace my arms to my chest without my elbows flaring in order to have a stronger pike, but I’m kinda having a timing problem here, because the only way to doing that is to make the loops closer to me, which means doing the pike (or in the video ended up doing a straddle) anyway in a much weaker position, does that makes sense? Do I simply need to strengthen my grip?

XOX Eiza

[Silks Stars Team]

Hi Eiza! This is looking good! The loops seem to be a good length in this video. To smooth out the roll before the splits really try to engage your abs and focus on a deep pike. Split looks good! Again engage the abs to bring the legs together smoothly and lift the toes up to help the loops slide to the thighs. Keep working on your grip strength also to help you feel safer and more confident with the combo. Good work!

[MayaS]

Aloha again! I really enjoyed watching the live session for this months submission. A lot of important things there, so thank you! However, I do have another question. I’m struggling a lot with the beats into the straight arm invert so for this months video I will have to invert from bent arms and own that I guess. But I would like to continue to work on beats into the straight arm invert. What exercise/aerial warm ups can I do to help me get this?

[Silks Stars Team]

Hi Maya, to work up to your straight arm beats focus on straight arm inverts low to the ground. You can double wrap your wrists to save your grip strength at first (working up to no wraps to really strengthen the grip), keeping your legs straight and hanging with toes slightly off the floor if possible, concentrate on using the abdominals to lift the legs up as high as possible towards your face and then controlling back down. Focus on this exercise for now, next month Brett is doing a whole class on beats so you will have lots of exercises to work on then 🙂

[MayaS]

Great thanks, I’ll work on that!
I am also wondering if I am allowed to create a routine with the loop splits and upload that video as my submission. Or do you want to only see this months challenge?

[Silks Stars Team]

Hi Maya,
You are welcome to submit a full act (more power to you!) but we will just be providing feedback/awarding you stars based on this months combination. Thanks!

[Caro]

Kia ora from New Zealand. I’ve just uploaded my first recording for October. I’ve been having problems with the beats. I’d been working on a new silk with SO much stretch (we use the stretchy type at our local Circus Hub) but for this recording used one that had a bit less stretch. The beats and invert were more successful with the slightly less stretchy silk but revealed terribly bent knees! Any hints on the beats and keeping knees/legs straight? And any other things to work on apart from giving it a bit more personality? Thanks! I should also say I’ve found last months core exercises and this months pike exercises wonderful. I’ve also been using the exercises from the micro-bend link you sent.
October First Recording Video

[Silks Stars Team]

Hi Kia! Good effort here! Your deep pike was great and the sliding of the loops to the ankles nice and smooth. For the beats, try to think of the hips/pelvis initiating the beat rather than the toes, this will help give you momentum without needing to bend the knees. Try to smooth out the transition between the poles (strands) before making the loops also. Eggbeater drop looks great and i love the ‘flair’ at the end 🙂 Great work! – Rachel

[Caro]

Thanks Rachel! I appreciate the tips. I’ll give these things a go next time I get on the silks.
(Kia ora is a NZ Maori greeting by the way) – Caro

[Silks Stars Team]

Great! Sorry Caro I thought you were preferring to go by a different name, my apologies and thanks for clarifying!

[NikkiEva]

Any tips for training in the wind? I’m definitely struggling with outdoor training this year, even though I began my aerial journey on outdoor rigs I guess I’ve become very spoiled the last several years training in nice gyms! Especially with this month’s combo focusing so much on grip strength I want to make sure I stay safe!!!

[Silks Stars Team]

Hi Nikki, yes training in the wind can be a challenge for sure. Move slowly whenever possible to make sure you have good hand grip and foot placement. It is also helpful to have a silk that doesn’t have super long tails that might get caught in an unexpected breeze! Good luck! ☺️ – Rachel

[Yvan]

Wishing you all the goosebumps and happy halloween! This is my October combination:

https://www.silksstars.com/community/yvanlp/media/

[Silks Stars Team]

Fantastically freaky Yvan!!! Awesome job!

[monica.xiong]

My fellow Samara!!!!! I have found youuuu!!! 😃

[Yvan]

Ow girl! What a great job you did! I am instead your roomie who managed to escape from the locked psychiatric ward for a bit of fun 👻

[monica.xiong]

I loooove your strobe light effect!!! And that hair looks great on you, roomie!! Very uncombed, blinds your vision, itches your nose – it’s perfect! Now let’s go haunt some houses together!! 😆

[AmyFlory]

Wow that is so awesome! I love your exit from the eggbeater and the layback moment.

[Laura]

Since my account will not allow me to upload video, I’m posting my October challenge here instead. As soon as we get my upload permissions fixed, I’ll move it 🙂

October Silks Stars Challenge

This was so fun! It really motivated me to work on my core and legs to get that straight-legged pike someday. Loving Silks Stars! <3

[Silks Stars Team]

Thanks Laura! We are looking forward to checking this out! It looks like you uploaded the September Challenge video on October 1st which is why you are not able to upload the October challenge video. The system only supports one video per month per member. You can either delete the September challenge video and upload this current one or wait until Nov 1st to upload. We will review the video you posted here this month and award your stars to your profile regardless. So glad you are enjoying Silks Stars! 🙏🤩

[LauraDP]

Hi! Here I am on the smallest rig EVER because Italy is going towards a new lockdown and all gym, studios, dance school are closed. I’m sad because I already knew this combo and I could have done way better with proper height. Anyway I’ve tried to make it as fun as possible with some choreo improvisation. No costume here, but I bet I’m scary enough ahah.
I did this combo yesterday for about 15 times in a row to perfect it, never tried a thing so much and I have to say it works.. practice has helped me adjust a couple things I did really bad. It’s far from perfect, but the best I could do.

my video

[Silks Stars Team]

So fun Laura!! Great job!

[Caro]

October Silks Expression
Hi! It’s been so fun trying to get expressive with the sequence. It’s a new thing for me but I really enjoyed it. Quite a challenge too. I noticed small movements didn’t really show on the video and I needed to do much bigger than I expected for it to work. I’m going to try and go in tomorrow morning and do a run through with a costume of sorts. Any feedback at this stage would be great before the final recording – especially on the expressive stuff – I’m not sure how much I can improve the technical stuff before tomorrow! I also seem to have gone backwards on the beats invert but I want to keep it in because I love it and the straight arm hang that precedes it.

[Silks Stars Team]

Awesome Caro! Love the song choice and fun Choreo in the beginning! The combo itself is looking nice and clean also. Oooh would LOVE to see in costume too if you get the chance 😉🎃 – Rachel

[Ali_beau]

Hello silks stars! Rachel, this combo is awesome! For me, working on beats has been a beast and is a skill that I’m excited to continue improving! 🙂 The costume challenge was super fun to work on combining music, theme and costume. I pulled out my old unitard from a contemporary solo i did high school! This was really fun to take the same theme to the silks which was a blast from the past for me. Here is my October Halloween Challenge submission!

Halloween Frog Routeen

[Silks Stars Team]

So great Ali! Love the costume and theme!

[AmyFlory]

You did such a good job being consistent in your expression in this piece! I felt like I was watching something on the planet Pandora!

[Ali_beau]

Thank you so much!! 😁

[MayaS]

https://www.silksstars.com/community/mayas/media/199/

What a fun and challenging combo! I know I said that I probably wouldn’t do beats, but I tried anyways! Also, I fell this past Saturday and got a concussion. I’m okay, but I wanted to give my back and neck a bit of a break so I didn’t do a full blown drop…Happy Halloween everyone! 🤗🎃

[Silks Stars Team]

Glad to hear you are ok! This was an incredible performance!

[Caro]

October Combo with Costume
Made it in with a costume! Music by the wonderful Reb Fountain.

[kittiekittie.bangbang]

I had my first performance all year on October 17, so most of this last month was spent working on that routine. Right after that, I changed jobs and worked 10 days in a row, giving me one free day to work on this before the end of the month. I was being hard on myself at first for not putting more into it as far as the costuming, makeup, and set building (like I had just done for my performance). I did have a witch hat that matched the socks, but it just wouldn’t stay on and I didn’t have the time to figure out a way to make it stay haha. With all of that being said, what came out is something I’m very proud of, and I can’t stop watching! I’m so happy to say Rachel and Brett even awarded me 5 stars for my efforts, and I couldn’t feel more awesome right now! Loving this virtual community and our aerial mentors more than I can even say!

October 2020

[Silks Stars Team]

You did a great job!!

[Author]

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