Junior trains, teaches, twists in aerial silks
Hanging from the ceiling by two pieces of nylon silk might not be most people’s idea of a good time. The strength and endurance it takes to climb to the top of the 24-foot silks, along with the danger of falling, often deters most people from even attempting such a thing.
Junior Grace Mortensen, however, performs the sport with ease.
Mortensen started training in aerial silks in 2019 after seeing a flier advertising the sport. The atmosphere of the gym and the height of the silks seemed a daunting task at first as she had a fear of heights. Mortensen, though, soon overcame this fear as she learned to rely on her own skills.
Aerial silks is an aerial acrobatic sport with performative elements. One long piece of hammock silks folds into a loop to make two 24-foot pieces that hang down, brushing the ground. Performers like Mortensen suspend themselves within the fabric and drop themselves in different ways to create tricks.
When first starting aerial silks, Mortensen noticed upper body strength was necessary in order to pull herself up the long strands of silk. As she worked on her craft and continued to get better, she started to be able to do more tricks.
“Learning how to climb the silk can take some people a week or some people, it’ll take them six months before they can climb,” Mortensen said. “And building that upper body strength is very hard because it’s a lot of pull-ups and a lot of grip strength.”
Junior Grace Mortensen poses in the marionette split and a sitting position. Photos submitted by Grace Mortensen.
Aerial silks commonly features three main tricks: climbs, wraps and drops. Performers employ the climb to adjust their height on the silks and correctly position themselves for tricks. They use wraps as a way to suspend themselves in a more static position, often using multiple wraps to hold themselves in place. Drops are perhaps the most eccentric of the three tricks, involving free falling and rolling to adjust the performer’s position in an elegant way.
Mortensen transferred to Augustana in the fall of 2021 from St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota. This change brought different and new challenges to her training of aerial silks. As a busy college student, Mortensen was forced to balance her schoolwork, social life and athletic endeavors.
“I work at Costco when I’m not at school and then [silks], so my time is sometimes spread pretty thin,” Mortensen said. “The hardest thing is that if we have to travel for a competition, it is getting the time off from school and work to get through the competition.”
Mortensen maintained her commitment to aerial silks throughout her first two years of college. During that time, she created a bond with some of the other members of South Dakota Aerial and Arts Fitness Studio, which is near downtown Sioux Falls. Most recently, Mortensen competed in the Black Hills Aerial Cup on March 2-3 in Rapid City.
“Our favorite joke to make is ‘graceful in the air, not on the ground’ because we tend to be really good at some beautiful silks moves and then climbing down and immediately tripping over our own feet,” Mortensen said.
Junior Grace Mortensen poses in the double footlock split and a back balance. Photos submitted by Grace Mortensen.
Earlier this year, Mortensen earned the opportunity to start teaching at her gym and brought some other Augustana students along with her.
“Usually we’ll start a class with just a light warmup just to get people ready to go,” Mortensen said. “And then from there, I have a lesson plan that I’ve come up with ahead of time that usually will either build off of last week while adding new skills. I do a lot of poses and then check on people to make sure they’re doing it correctly and staying safe while they do it.”
Mortensen’s love and passion for silks shines through her ability to teach students of all skill levels.
“With my busy schedule, sometimes I sign up for the beginner classes, but I am more of an intermediate,” Isaac Harris, a student at SDAA, said. “So when [Mortensen] is teaching, she will give directions to the other students and then she will come over to me and tell me to do it but with some extra steps to help challenge me.”
Mortensen's next performance at the South Dakota Aerial and Arts Fitness Studio is April 20 at 6 p.m.
