While I can barely hold my own body weight and my strength training is abysmal, I decided to interview the one girl on campus who actually can climb, invert, and swing from the ceiling on a light blue colored silk: Ariana Solodar-Wincele.
HC: What are you involved in on campus and what is your major?
AS-W: I’m an Anthropology and Spanish double major with a dance minor I’m in Dance Company and I used to be Vice President and before that I was Fundraising Chair but then I went abroad. I do African Drumming Ensemble, I’m in PSP, and African Dance Troupe (which I was President of). Long term I’d like to do something with immigration law or advocacy.
HC: How did you learn about the silks?
AS-W: I studied abroad for a year in Argentina and that’s how I learned the silks. It’s really popular in the community and there’s a park, which I lived right next to, called Parque Central, and right next to that is a pedestrian bridge with cars below it. I was walking back from classes one day with my friends and I saw a bunch of people in the park doing the silks and I got really excited and thought it was so cool but my friends didn’t reciprocate my reaction. I made them come with me and we talked to them and they said I could try it, but I really couldn’t do anything but it was fun.
HC: Did you take classes around town or anything?
AS-W: The people in the park told me they do it at different studios around town, but the gym at my school had classes for it. But because I was an international student I had to do a lot of paperwork to be approved to do it. I went to the first-class free at the studio next to where I lived, but then I never went back. My friend’s host sister actually had one hanging in her living room and we asked Luci, who is 8, to teach us at the park and little Luci taught us how to do stuff on the silk.
The self-taught Luci on the bridge in Mendoza
HC: So you didn’t take classes?
AS-W: No, I did! I traveled and then when I got back I decided I would sign up for the school’s gym and do the paperwork, which was very annoying, but I finally got it. The classes were 2-and-a-half hours apiece throughout the week, and I started going twice a week, but then eventually I was going four times a week.
HC: Was it easy for you to learn?
AS-W: It was not easy but it was really fun and you can feel yourself getting better really quickly. For the first hour of the class it was warm-up and team bonding—very similar to the summer camp icebreakers—and then there’s a lot of physicality. I put myself on the Beginners side of the gym, but I could climb very quickly, and I would get to the top and wouldn’t know what to do next. I made some friends who had put themselves on the Advanced side, so then I put myself there with them. On the Advanced side the teacher is much more attentive to you and teaches you more things.
HC: Did you learn from the teacher, meaning did she demonstrate and you mirrored or was there another structure to the class?
AS-W: You learn from your peers as you take the class together, as well as from the teacher. Well, the teacher is especially helpful if you’re on the Advanced side.
HC: How long did you take classes for?
AS-W: I took the classes from March until July, which is when I left. In April I actually bought my own silk with my friend, which I was able to get a discount on from my host family. Because we had our own, we were able to coordinate with our friends from the class and go to the park and do it, so it ended up being five to six times a week. The price of the silk was about $40 maybe, while here if you bought one online it’s about $200 or more.
Ariana on the bridge in Mendoza
HC: Since I know you personally, was having a background in yoga and dance helpful?
AS-W: I think that the coordination of dance was very helpful and the strength of yoga was helpful. But the strength training that we did at the class helped develop the strength that is necessary to do it.
HC: Were you able to find opportunities to continue learning once you came home?
AS-W: It was hard and sad to come home, because there wasn’t someone to continue teaching me things to do. My teacher actually wanted to come to F&M and teach a class but it ended up not working out. It’s sad because no one does it here. At home in Portland there’s a Circus Conservatory of America where I could work on it, but I only went once. I also used a tree in my yard—my dad helped me climb a ladder and you would just slipknot the silk through.
HC: Do you remember everything you learned while you were there?
AS-W: I’ve forgotten so much of what I’ve learned. YouTube is great but it’s hard to look things up because I learned all of this in Spanish, and it doesn’t always directly translate into English so things I learned I can’t find.
HC: What was the hardest thing you accomplished on the silk?
AS-W: It took me forever to climb up and invert (go upside down). It was so hard for me, I don’t really know why. It might have been a combination of mental and physical, because it takes a lot of strength to climb up, and then you don’t have as much energy to do the inversion. But once I did it I could do everything and it was so exciting because that was really holding me back. Learning how to do silks and learning it in Spanish and then teaching it in Spanish was a really rewarding experience. I really miss learning more things to do, especially since I lost so much of it.
HC: For someone reading this article or watching the performance and wanted to learn it, what is something you would suggest they do before starting?
AS-W: Strength training—especially arms and abs—is really important. My roommate is really good at it and she works out a lot and plays ultimate Frisbee. Toning is just an important aspect of it, and not being afraid is a big thing, because it can really hold you back.
HC: What made you decide to choreograph a piece for the Spring Dance concert with the silks?
AS-W: I’ve been putting it up on the fire escape next to the Sustainability House, and that was really fun because it would help de-stress me, but when it got cold I couldn’t do it anymore. So I asked if I could put it up in the dance studio, but there were too many liability issues. Then Professor Brooks told someone (I don’t remember who) that I was choreographing in the spring, even though that thought hadn’t crossed my mind, but then I was like wait—I could. Professor Vail thought I wanted to do a solo, but I didn’t, I wanted to do it in a small group so I could teach people and I could bring it to the community. It’s pretty cool not only for the F&M community but also for the Lancaster community. F&M has also been extremely helpful, especially because they bought me a careener and they’ve been very accommodating and receptive.
HC: Was it hard to get it approved, especially with liability issues and concerns similar to that?
AS-W: Professor Vail was the liaison between the F&M liability people and me, so I didn’t really see a lot of what was going on. I was told in December it was possible, but then in January I was told I couldn’t, and then it was approved because there are restrictions on what the dancers can do on the silk.
HC: Are you nervous teaching other students how to do it?
AS-W: I’m not scared teaching, because it’s exciting to see where it’s going and how the group is improving, especially because everyone’s learning so quickly. I’m teaching them for the sake of this dance, not for doing flips or inversions or anything, and there are restraints on what the other dancers can do which makes it less nerve-wracking for me.
Ariana’s first time on the silk, learning from Luci
For the opportunity to watch Ariana perform with the silk (and to see Charley Hagist; Anje McLish; and myself, Kate Matson, attempt to accomplish the silk), come see the Spring Dance Concert April 14-16 and the Spring Dance Showcase April 17!