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Jul. 28—The world-famous Frequent Flyers Aerial Dance Festival (say that five times fast) returns to Boulder this year to celebrate 25 years of airborne artistry. Since its Boulder inception in 1998, the festival has drawn audiences from all over the world who are eager to witness the stunning displays of strength, acrobatic prowess and gravity defiance, exhibited by some of the world's most renowned aerial artists.

To ring in the festival's quarter of a century in style, Frequent Flyers Aerial Dance — a company founded by OG aerialist Nancy Smith 35th years ago — is hosting a two-week symposium featuring a number of workshops, classes, discussion panels and more at the Frequent Flyers studio, 3022 Sterling Circle, Suite 150, Boulder. The festival is punctuated by three days of performance showcases at the Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder, from Aug. 4-6.

Leading the immersive workshops and classes is a carefully assembled faculty of 10 aerial professionals, including Jayne Bernasconi, Veronica Blair, Jenn Bruyer, Gena DuBose, Danielle Garrison, Danielle Hendricks, Valerie Morris, Janelle Peters, Anastasia Timina and Sam Tribble — all of whom are experts in a wide variety of aerial apparatuses, ranging from aerial trapeze to lyra hoop.

The festival will ring its 25th year in with an opening reception and party at 6 p.m. Sunday at the Frequent Flyers studio for its registered students.

One of the most unique aspects of the festival, according to Smith, is the "Intimate Encounters" performance, which will take place at the Frequent Flyers studio at 8 p.m. Monday. Tickets are $12. Members of the festival faculty, as well as dancers in the performance showcase, will demonstrate all aspects of aerial dance, while answering questions from curious onlookers.

"People always ask fascinating questions, and the artists always say things I never expect," Smith said. "And plus, you're about 10 feet away from the artists, so it really is an intimate event."

Another highlight of the festival is "Scorched," a piece that will be on stage during the performance showcase at the Dairy Center. "Scorched" is a restaging of a 2001 piece by the late aerial pioneer Terry Sendgraff, oftentimes referred to as the "mother of aerial dance." Smith is performing her own solo piece dedicated to Sendgraff, who passed away in 2019.

"If it were not for Terry, none of us would be here doing this festival," Smith said. "Frequent flyers would not exist. She really is the genesis of the artform that led to Frequent Flyers and the Aerial Dance Festival."

For Frequent Flyers faculty member Gena DuBose, the two-week long festival is an excellent opportunity to nurture the part of aerial dance that she loves most: Teaching.

"I consider myself a movement artist and aerial hoop coach, and I love, love, love teaching all different people, of all different levels, from all over the country," DuBose said. "I love helping them move and improve. Teaching all kinds of aerial artists is so special, and to get to see how they grow over two weeks — that's absolutely my favorite part of the festival."

DuBose, who is both teaching and performing at the festival for the second year in a row, will travel from North Carolina, where she owns a studio, to Boulder to share her knowledge and passion for the art with others.

DuBose fell in love with aerial dance in 2009 after she stumbled upon a aerial performance in a warehouse. Since then, she has trained for more than 13 years, zeroing in on lyra, or aerial hoop — a steel hula-like hoop suspended from the ceiling, on which artists perform acrobatics.

"There is this relationship that I have with the aerial hoop," DuBose said. "It's really a partnership — like me and this object work together as a team, and I can trust it. It's solid, and it's round, and it's sturdy and hard, and it's always so reliable that I can actually just use it as a partner, or as someone to move with."

DuBose said the aerial hoop was the first apparatus she felt like she could "really dance with."

"I like the dynamic aspect of it where I can spin really fast, or I can be still, or I can use the rope or the hoop," DBose said. "There are so many moving parts to lyra that I just love so much."

This year, DuBose will be performing a movement-focused dance on the lyra hoop during the performance showcase at the Dairy Arts Center. Last year, DuBose performed an autobiographical dance that explored the many years of discrimination that she experienced in the aerial dance industry.

"This year, I created a piece that was based around movement," DuBose said. "It's not as emotional as last year's performance, and it's purely about movement and about my relationship with the hoop, rather than my relationship with someone or something else."

Last year, DuBose performed an autobiographical dance titled "Becoming," a deeply personal piece that revolved around the bias she's encountered as a member of the BIPOC community in the aerial dance industry.

"Before the pandemic, talking about race, biases and prejudice, a lot of it was really taboo and it was really hard to talk about," DuBose said. "But because of all of the racism in the spotlight during the pandemic, a lot more people were receptive to what Black people struggle with as artists, as Americans and as people."

DuBose explained that during the "Intimate Encounters" performances, the dancers can talk about their movement pieces.

"I was able to talk about 'Becoming,' and it was beautifully received, people were able to ask questions," DuBose said. "Then when I performed it later that weekend, there were so many people who understood it — even if they couldn't connect with it on my level, and even if they couldn't understand what it feels like to be on the receiving end of racism. In their own ways, everyone has had some kind of struggle in their lives, and that personification of struggle really came through in my performance. I think people really connected with that. They saw that struggle and understood it, and it was really well received. I couldn't have asked for a better debut performance of that piece."

This year, DuBose will also be a part of a panel during the festival with fellow performers Veronica Blair and Sam Tribble. The panel is titled "BIPOC Aerialists & Circus Arts Performers Panel," and further explores how BIPOC identities intersect with circus and aerial identities in various ways.

For more information or to sign up for any of the panels, workshops, immersions and classes, visit frequentflyers.org/adf-classes-workshops. Tickets to the performances at the Dairy Arts Center are available for purchase at thedairy.org/freqflyannivshowcase.