In July, ISACS Member Aisling Miklis attended the Irish Aerial Dance Festival 2025 for one week, supported by an ISACS Bursary.
The Irish Aerial Dance Festival, run by Fidget Feet Aerial Dance, is an annual festival that welcomes aerialists and circus artists from all over the world to Letterkenny to take part in masterclasses, workshops and performances in aerial dance.
Here’s what Aisling had to say;
It has been a fantastic experience to attend IADF for the first time with thanks to the support from ISACS.
I attended classes in low flying lab, a floor to air creative class and fabrics. These classes greatly helped me in learning a wide range of new and improved skills, whilst also meeting a broad range of people from different parts of the world with an interest in aerial.
Prior to attending IADF I saw the show H.O.M.E which Chantal Mc Cormick co-produced and performed in. I was deeply moved by this show and in awe of the merging of aerial dance, various disciplines and diversity. From experiencing this to realising I would be learning from Chantal, who is also the creative director of Fidget Feet.. Wow!
In the floor to air creative class with Chantal I learned about creating a toolkit of exercises to explore the creative process of piecing together a performance. From developing awareness of the missing part of the puzzle in my aerial performance, to developing a greater sense of self-confidence and expression over the course of the classes. I learned about the warm up Fidget Feet use, the weaving of the landscapes and spirituality into aerial dance, to adding music to uplift a performance.
In the final class.. it came to me, I felt more confidence in connecting with the audience of our class group.. I felt at home.. in my body! This gave me a greater sense of expansion in my movement and self-expression.
Having experienced this I am further motivated to harness the creative energy from the festival and to explore art as healing in aerial dance.
The Low flying lab class incorporated fun and playful exercises in relation to working as a team, counterweighting and collaborating. I thoroughly enjoyed the new experience of combining more freeform dance with aerial. In the fabric class I learned lots of new techniques and skills in relation to aerial silks which I am keen to develop further.
I feel very lucky to have had this truly wonderful opportunity to attend IADF with support from ISACS as I learned so much; creative exercises, new techniques, different disciplines and I met lots of new people with an interest in aerial. I am especially happy to have had so much fun whilst simultaneously developing the creative side of how to piece together elements of a performance as an artist!