Shayna Swanson--Aerial promo 2009

Shayna Swanson has been creating and performing aerial works that have been described by the Chicago Reader as truly heart-felt and creative for over 10 years. After studying dance at Columbia College Chicago and graduating with a degree in Sociology from Portland State University she decided her true place was in the air. She attended Circus Maniacs Circus School in England and intensively studied aerial hoop, trapeze, rope, tumbling and stilts. Since returning to the States she has kept busy performing and teaching with The Midnight Circus, Circus Smirkus, Cirque de la Mer, Zyngara, New Vision Cirque, Circesteem, The Lyric Opera, The Big Aerial Show, Cirque du Soleil, Cirque Voila and many corporate clients. Gala clients have included Seneca Niagara Casino, Harrah's, Absolut Vodka, Maxim Magazine, Crobar, Crunch Fitness, Ford Motors, Air France, The City of Chicago and many more.

In 2005 she received the Glenn P Davis Scholarship to the Aerial Dance Festival, rewarded every year for excellence in aerial choreography. That same year Shayna formed her own company Aloft Aerial Dance and, with a CAAP grant from the City of Chicago, produced the critically acclaimed full-length show Rolling Blackouts. In 2006 her choreography was selected into the repertory of Thodos Dance Chicago and featured in the Best of Dance Chicago Showcase. That same year she was named a Mover and Shaker of the Chicago dance scene. Her work was also presented at the International Circus Performers Gathering in Brattleboro, Vermont, and at many Chicago dance festivals. Shayna formed the Aloft Loft in April 2006 to provide a supportive and vibrant community training space for physical artists of all sorts. In the first year of its existence Shayna produced four full-length shows and interactive performance parties at the Aloft Loft. In the last year she was the aerial director for Willow Creek Churchs massive Imagine Christmas production, performed on aerial hoop in Hong Kong, stilts in Shanghai, her one-of-a-kind rope act in Jamaica, and thrilled thousands at events all over America!

www.aerialgirl.com
www.aloftaerialdance.com

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• aerialist
• aerial act
• trapeze
• silks
• rope
• tissue
• corde lisse
• spanish web
• acrobat
• circus
• cirque