Interview with Juliane Marx, owner of Vertical – Pole Aerial Dance Studio

Juliane is one of our long-term collaborators, and we consider her to be an inspiration in the local aerial scene. This is why we took our time to find out more about her trajectory in the aerial arts and this is what she shared with us:

1. What is your story with the aerial silks and aerial dancing? How did you start doing it?

My story with the aerial silk started relatively late, as a child I was fascinated by the circus, but due to the lack of possibilities, the implementation was limited to climbing trees and handstands in the meadows.

It was only after I discovered pole dance in my early 20s that I became interested again in aerial acrobatics, especially in aerial silk. It brings great balance to my everyday life and also to pole dance.

2. What are some health benefits in your opinion?

Exercise in itself is wonderful for mental and physical health! What I particularly appreciate about the aerial silk is that the trunk and arm muscles, in particular, are trained very evenly. This is particularly useful as a counterpoint to predominantly sedentary activities.

At the same time, I also greatly appreciate the impact on physical health. Recognizing borders, overcoming them and growing beyond yourself is an absolute boost in self-confidence. In addition, on aerial silk, the only thing you can do is fully concentrate on yourself – so you automatically distance yourself and get important time away from everyday life.

3. Are you giving classes now? Where and what kind?

I teach in my own studio, Vertical – Pole Aerial Dance in Würzburg. My main courses are pole dance, aerial silks and flexibility, but we also offer courses for aerial ring/lyras. Visiting us is always worthwhile.

4. What are things that we should do or not do before an aerial silks class?

Of course it is important to come in good shape and focused on training. Aerial training places high demands on us both physically and mentally, you should feel ready for that.

It is also particularly important for me to focus on myself and the training. Doing extreme things, trying to do the craziest tricks on Instagram and YouTube today leads to frustration and often injuries. In the end, it should never be about who can do the coolest tricks, but who has the most fun.

5. Did you ever struggle to keep motivating yourself when you encountered challenges in this sport? What helped to overcome them?

In fact, challenges have never demotivated me, but the feeling of happiness when you master them is simply too great. But I was also lucky to have built up a lot of strength for aerial silks before, by training with pole dance, which of course makes things a lot easier.

If I fail on a figure today and also try it out several times and do specific strength exercises that still do not help, I actually often put the tricks away for a longer time.

Not every trick is made for every body, and often it’s just not the right time. To be honest, my time and my health are too important to me to get frustrated to work over and over again on exercises that simply don’t want to work (yet). With a little distance and fresh energy, it usually works much better with a new attempt.

And if there is a general lack of motivation for training: I fully listen to my body. With good music, I can’t help but dance – and the motivation for tricks often comes naturally!

6. What was and is your source for learning Aerial Arts?

Since I, unfortunately, had no opportunity to work regularly with a qualified trainer, the books by Rebekah Leach and partly also YouTube were actually the most important sources for my self-study, especially at the beginning. Thanks to my experience with pole dance, I was lucky to have good body awareness, otherwise, it would have gone completely wrong!

I still work on the majority myself today, but I also like to take the opportunity to work with other acrobats or trainers whenever it arises. Basically, I recommend anyone who chooses to train on aerial silk, aerial ring, trapeze or pole to work with a qualified trainer. A lot of things that look so simple require enormous effort and, of course, technical know-how. In addition, the training together is simply more fun 🙂