Come celebrate the 21st annual gathering of aerialists from around the globe at the Aerial Dance Festival – July 28 - August 9, 2019 at the Dairy Arts Center in Boulder. The Aerial Dance Festival (ADF) is an opportunity for people from all walks of life to experience the joy of dancing in the air, for beginners through advanced aerial dancers. This 2-week immersion provides classes, lectures, demonstrations, informal discussions, networking, and performances. Nancy Smith is the founder and artistic director of Frequent Flyers® Aerial Dance since its inception in 1988 and the international Aerial Dance Festival since 1999. This annual festival has brought prominence to the company for advancing the art form of aerial dance.
Nancy is an alumna of The Colorado College who studied under the master’s program in dance at UCLA before moving to Seattle to work with Joan Skinner’s dance company, where she trained in Skinner Releasing Technique. After moving to Boulder from Seattle in 1985, Ms. Smith returned to visit Seattle where she saw her former teacher, Robert Davidson's performance of "Airborne: Meister Eckhart” a seminal aerial dance performance. From that moment forward she was hooked, thus began learning and developing the art form here in Boulder. Her work with Frequent Flyers® Aerial Dance has been seen in the Bahamas, Boston, Utah, Louisiana, California, Montreal, Virginia, Washington DC, and throughout Colorado. The Company has performed for many corporate clients, including Cirque du Soleil, Patron Spirits, Denver Broncos and more. Her choreography was performed at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington D.C, in collaboration with the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra March, 2017 and received a standing ovation and multiple curtain calls. Nancy has received numerous awards and honors including the “REAL” award for arts, “Living Legend of Dance” honor from the Carson Brierly Giffin Library at DU; “Women Who Light the Community,” “Cutting Edge” Award from the Colorado Dance Alliance, the Boulder County Pacesetters Award for Arts and Entertainment, a BCAA Neodata Endowment Fellowship in Dance, and the “Arts Innovation Award” from the Colorado Federation of the Arts. Along with her colleague, Jayne Bernasconi (Baltimore, MD), Nancy co-authored the first book on aerial dance, Aerial Dance. It was published, June, 2008 by Human Kinetics. Schedule of events for the Aerial Dance Festival – July 28 - August 9 July 28: Opening Reception July 29: Intimate Encounters July 29-August 2: Week A Classes August 2, 3, 4: Showcase Performance August 5-9: Week B Classes |
