ON A SILK AND A PRAYER

AERIAL SKILLS: Eight-year-old Pippa Keyworth (left) came first in the inaugural New Zealand Aerial Youth Championships' junior aerial silks division on Saturday while second place went to nine-year-old Moana Holden-Judd (right). A judges' special award for 'epic drops' went to 16 year old Lani Crick (centre). Picture supplied

A special award for “epic drops”, the name for the aerial artist's plummet while spinning at speed in an unravelling length of silk, went to 16-year-old Lani Crick at the inaugural New Zealand Aerial Youth Championships on Saturday.

Coached by aerial silk acrobatics teacher, Anita Zwart, Lani was presented with the judges special award award for her skill in the youth aerial silks division.

Eight-year-old Pippa Keyworth took out first place in the championships' junior aerial silks division, while second place went to Moana Holden-Judd.

When the Gisborne aerial artists arrived at the competition in Nelson they found that instead of the six metre silks they were meant to perform with they had to work with silks less than 4.5m long. The young competitors — the youngest in the championships — were not fazed though.

“They have been doing aerial silk acrobatics for a good three years now,” says Zwart.

“When they learn a drop they're initially cautious but these are advanced girls and they have a lot of trust in themselves. They know how to hold themselves in the air. They know the mechanics of a drop.”

Taught ballet, jazz and contemporary dance as a child at Nadine Antoinette School of Dance, Zwart later studied physiotherapy at the University of Otago where she also took some dance papers. After graduating she completed a certificate in ballet teaching studies through the Royal Academy of Dance and taught at a dance studio in Masterton. Now back in Gisborne, Zwart has returned to the Nadine Antoinette School of Dance, but as a teacher, and runs her own contemporary and jazz dance school On Pointe Dance Company. She coaches the aerial silk acrobatics classes at the Gisborne Gymnastics Club.

As experienced as she is in the art, she admits to a moment of trepidation before flying through the air.

“Every single time I do a drop there is a moment of ‘am-I-going-to-let-go-now',” she says.

“I have a fear of heights but there's something different about working with silks. I'm more comfortable doing aerial silks than walking on something like a swing bridge.

“I enjoy the spectacle.”