Hi! My name is Rebekah Leach and Aerial Dance is a loved hobby of mine, as you can probably tell. It is indeed a hobby. I never want to depend on it solely for income or do it in a way such that I feel I have to do something when I don't feel it, and/or lose the passion for it. That said, I do teach and perform whenever I can, wherever I can. This website serves as a great way to record all my journeys in and out of the lives of all I perform with or those whom I teach. Teaching means a lot to me because it is a position of honor to be an influence in someone else's life. (My day job also involves teaching, so I am always teaching something whether it be dance, math, physics, piano, etc.) When I teach, I do not feel as though I am simply showing someone how to do something, I feel I am awakening creativity and expression of the soul. Someone who inspires me is someone whose self expression not only comes out with passion (and passion not for the sake of passion but passion from a purpose and a truth), it comes out with a purity of heart. That is what I aspire to and want to pass on to others. 

The story (long version - for when you're ready to sit for a while):  I get asked a lot, "how did you get into it?" I don't have a short answer, and the story barely makes much sense. I was in the middle of a study abroad in Thailand, and was getting a lot of check marks on my bucket list. And I was thinking about what other things I wanted on my bucket list. I asked myself, "what do I have I always wanted to do?" And what kept coming back to a random flier that I saw years ago in a dance studio where I took lessons. The flier had a picture of dancers suspended on ropes and using that medium for artistic expression. I remember I felt such a longing to do that, and even though it had been years since I saw the posted, the image still stuck with me. Well, I decided to google things that would lead me to aerial dance (although I don't think I even knew those code words at the time). I saw that there was an Aerial Dance Festival happening in Boulder, CO that year, and I e-mailed my dad to sign me up. (Remember, I was in Thailand.)

Fast forward to the day before the ADF that summer. Fred Deb, beautiful fabric artist, was performing with the Colorado Symphony. While watching someone on fabric so elegantly, I just fell in love! I went up afterwards and asked Fred Deb how long she had been doing fabric. She said 11 years. I also asked her how old she was. She was 33. Doing the math, she starting fabric when she was 22 and I was 22!! I told her that I was in her fabric class this week and SO EXCITED to start learning. During the week, Fred couldn't believe it was my first time on the fabric. She moved me into the intermediate class mid-week, so that I went home knowing the entire beginning course as well as the entire intermediate course.

When I went back to California, there was no one doing aerial within a 100 mile radius, and that was fine by me because I'm a person who loves to self-explore with dance anyway. I only started taking official classes in college, and have always just loved to put music on and move. That's all I've ever done - and it's exactly what I did with the fabric. I would take my fabric out to Bishop's Peak, hang my fabric in trees and dance.  

I love teaching, and it was a natural next-step for me. It wasn't long before I started teaching in the area (which was on the Central Coast). I developed "knot theory" on the fabric to help teach students who didn't have the strength to start climbing and all that on the fabric. I taught classes and workshops solely in the knot for the first year. I taught at ECHO artspace in Grover Beach where people such as Linda Camplese, David Runnings, Laurie Hobbs and many others were a huge support to my endeavors. 

When I graduated from college (Cal Poly SLO), my husband and I moved to Ojai, CA for teaching jobs (we were teaching high school physics and math, respectively). I opened an aerial dance studio called A2J Studios out of my home. (A2J stands for addicted to Jesus to remind me of where my dance passion comes from.) In 2007, I began dancing with Aerial Experience Productions. My first production with them took me to Chicago where I got to dance to the music of Herbie Hancock at a benefit ball. Afterwards he told us how great we did dancing out there. It was a fun moment to have a star say those sorts of things to you, when it usually goes the other way around. I am not one to get star-struck; the way I look at this scenario is realize how blessed I am to be able to go and meet amazing people. Herbie's co-singer for the evening was Dianne Reeves, and her voice is b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l. People are famous for a reason. Sometimes it gets to people and ruins a part of what them great, but some are really able to maintain their coolness. It was great to hang around with such powerful God-given talent. It really does lift you up sometimes because of who they are, not because of how famous they are. I have been working with Aerial Experience ever since, meeting amazing, inspiring people all along the way.

Another group I have had the pleasure of dancing with is Daughter of Zion Aerial Dance Company in Santa Ynez, California. Rina van de Kamp, the artistic director, came out of a stroke in her 20s, while traveling with Diavolo. Her story is incredible (you can read about here: http://www.independent.com/news/2008/jan/17/adventures-rina-van-de-kamp/), and makes you realize that prayer is a walk with God; while he heals you, it may take time, but he walks with you. Rina is an incredible Pilate's trainer, with so much knowledge that I can just pick her brain for hours, and the great thing is that she lets you do that sort of thing. 

After my husband and I were both laid off from our jobs, we moved out to Colorado so that my husband could pursue an advanced degree in Physics; however, God had other plans. My husband is currently pursuing his PhD in nuclear engineering, but not in Colorado as we originally thought. I joined the Navy (another long, but amazing story) and have been stationed to Charleston, South Carolina for my first post. In the meantime, at the request of my California aerial students, I have been writing books to help them remember all the things I have taught them. The project is blossoming into something bigger than I first dreamed, and that makes me excited. I am currently working on the aerial fabric and yoga series, then I will move on to other apparatuses, and then I will return to my own work to meld both ground and aerial. All money that is being made from book sales, workshops, and performing is being collected into a fund that will one day be put into opening a fabulous dance studio, including aerial dance, but really focusing on dance overall. The dream is there; God is growing it, and I am enjoying the journey.

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Please feel free to browse my adventures on the archives page. If you have ever taken a workshop with me, perhaps you are in some of the photos! :)

Another site that I have started is AerialDancing.com.  It is a great site to go if you are looking for ongoing classes in your area or aerial dance companies in your state. There is a list of places by state.  There are also other helpful resources for aerialists. The site is forever a work-in-progress but its starting to get there, so keep checking back to find out what's new as the site grows to become a valuable resource for aerialists everywhere.