About
About the Director
Amy Powell has been doing aerials for 10 years and has been the owner/director of Chattanooga Aerials for two years. She teaches classes to the public in Chattanooga as well as trains dancers for Grounded High Aerial Dance Ensemble weekly. Amy continuously performs for various events in Chattanooga such as Nightfall, Volkswagon's plant opening, The Water For Elephant's movie premiere, AVA Gallery Hop, as well as many other charity events such as the Monster Gala for the March of Dimes, the Bunny Hop for the Chambliss Children's Home. She also travels to perform for various other events and/or with other dance companies such as AROVA Contemporary Ballet in Birmingham. In addition to teaching in Chattanooga, she also travels to train advanced aerialists in Atlanta and Asheville, NC. In 2009-2010 she taught Aerial Dance and Aerial Dance Composition at Chattanooga State. Before Amy moved to Chattanooga, she danced as a performing member of Canopy Studio's Repertory Dance Company. In her 7 years at Canopy, Amy taught classes of all ages and performed in 7 Repertory Company shows and 4 Advanced Student performances. She choreographed for many of the shows she danced in at Canopy and choreographs all of her current material. She has performed on dance trapeze, aerial fabrics, aerial cube, lyra, bungee, slings, tetra, as well as in acrobalance and floor dance routines.
Amy has had the opportunity to train and work with notable dancers such as Susan Murphy (a pioneer in Aerial Dance and founder of Canopy Studio), Elsie and Serenity Smith (former Cirque du Soleil performers and founders of the New England Circus Center), and Matt Kent (dancer and Artistic Director for Pilobolus).
Amy's dance resume is available as a PDF Document
Please view some of Amy's previous work from Canopy Studio.
http://www.youtube.com/user/amypowell27video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXMJU_0dJhs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmmhAUQyMJw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbQXFg5-850
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VpZoqBVwsc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9h3izJLwLI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLXPLM1atrY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG4UG2oAcPg
More About Aerial Dance
Aerial Dance appeals to a wide range of people because it offers something playful, fun and unique. It enriches people on a personal level...mind body and spirit. They get stronger without even noticing they are working. They get more body awareness. They gain coordination. They gain peace of mind....like going to a yoga class. They have much needed fun. They tap into parts of themselves. They learn to trust themselves and aerial partners. They find things in them that they'd like to express. They learn to communicate with themselves and others by just using movement. The list doesn't end. Aerial dance enriches individuals personally.
Men participate as well as women. People who are interested in artistic expression and performance participate, but also people who consider themselves to be "not creative" and who would otherwise not seek out a form of dance as an activity flock to the aerial dance studio because of the playful exercise and fun it promises to provide. These "not creative" people often end up falling in love with dance and finding their own creative expressiveness. In fact, I would say that one of the best things about aerial dance is that it appeals to people from all walks of life and acts as a beautiful "bridge" that introduces people to dancing, creating and stepping into their own voice. Individuals who just showed up for a birthday party that involved a trapeze, promising to be unique and fun, find themselves drawn into dancing despite what they would have guessed about themselves before. For others who never get interested in the dance aspect, aerial dance is still a very fun fitness activity that can truly be a lifetime sport. Despite what it seems, aerial dance can be done low to the ground, very safely, and by using very basic principles of the human body's ability and desire to move. Everyone I've ever taught is thoroughly surprised at how much they can do on the aerial equipment...which leaves them feeling so empowered and literally thrilled.
