Hi I am Rachel Webberman and I'm Hayley Larson.
And we are Duofilimentale.
So when I was in college, I was studying dance.
I got a dance degree from Oberlin and had been dancing since I was four and a really
good friend of mine was basically like oh I do aerial she was doing rope.
And she kept bugging me being like oh you should try it, you will love it, and you will
be so good at it since you are a dancer.
And so I finally tried it and immediately became obsessed and started taking as many
classes as I could find.
So I was similarly doing it while I was in college and you have classwork and other stuff
going on.
And at some point I started realizing that what I was looking forward to everyday were
the few hours we had of training time.
And that was like what I was thinking about while I was doing my homework.
I would like put down my computer for a second and just give myself like five minutes to
think about circus.
Like it was all I wanted to be doing.
And by the time I got to my senior year and I was figuring out what I wanted to do afterwards,
I realized that if I did not do this now this was going to get harder not easier.
Just like I think this is what I want to do.
So usually we set aside at least two hours of training time a day for us as a duo.
Some things are much sided and we have to do the same side in our act or in our choreography.
So you have to really think about what toll am I taking on which part of my body and how
can I do that equally for both sides.
And or work against it by stretching exercises like PT exercises.
And also like learning when to rest is a big thing.
It’s a thing that takes a while to learn.
At the beginning you are like this is the best I want to do it all the time I do not
ever want to stop.
And at some point you learn if you do not stop you get hurt and you cannot do it as much.
And that sucks too.
I think a duo is a lot like a relationship.
You have to have similar ideas about what works, what does not work and there is like
values in what you prioritize in your act, the same way that there are values in any
relationship.
It is a lot about our artistic aesthetic being similar.
So we are compatible in that way.
And then, some amount of stubbornness in thinking that it would be really cool to be a female
duo.
Doing things that not a lot of women are doing.
Cuss it is more likely that I would be a guy and so me being a woman instead of a big dude
makes it cool in our brains.
It also means we have to work really smart.
We cannot just muscle through things.
We have to have our technique really on point.
Which is a nice challenge to have.
And it makes us feel like we are doing the best job we can be doing.
I feel like a common misconception is that people who are doing circus are like did not
have normal things that they do.
You know, like we have always been doing this and that we are like with the circus whereas
like I do not know I think we are pretty normal we just happen to do this.
I feel like another one is that you have to start when you are really young and do this
your whole life otherwise there is no chance.
But like I started as an adult.
I did not have any gymnastics or dance training.
I came into it a lot later in life I just liked being in the air.
And I think the circus is something that anyone can do if they take the time to get stronger
and we see that all the time when we teach and I think a lot of people think you know
you can either do it or you cannot.
And you know it is like anything it is a skill.
You get better with hard work.
My family is supportive.
I think they worry a lot about me getting hurt more than anything else.
Especially since I am flying through the air sometimes.
That is their biggest concern.
But they still like talk to me and take me out to dinner and stuff.
No they are very grateful that Haley catches me.
What I really like more than getting thrown around is we spend time doing research which
is when we think about what our new pathways of movement and what are certain ways to think
about skills other people have not done.
What happens if like I put my foot here instead of their which is where people normally put it.
And that research time is the thing that I think makes me feel most fulfilled when I
am doing trapeze.
It is figuring out something that I feel like no one else has done quite the way we are
doing it before.
It is very satisfying to have an idea in your head and try to make it happen and realize
that your body is physically capable and strong enough to actually fulfill that idea.