We recently connected with Sarah Bender and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Sarah, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.
When it comes to vertical dance, most performances are site specific and designed to be performed on the side of buildings.
There is no risk quite as gratifying as repelling down to side of a 60+ foot building!
There is also no risk as dependent on trusting your team and yourself.
In order to perform this safely one must surround themselves with professional riggers who you can trust with your life.
Once that is accomplished you need to have such a solid grasp of the technical skill needed to perform said piece that you can fly with confidence.
Vertical dance is by nature a risk but also the greatest teacher in how to manage and assess risk in order to reach the reward offered by the art form.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
In addition to her decade long background in dance and aerial acrobatics, Sarah was introduced to the art of vertical dance in 2016. After falling in love with the freedom and endless opportunities that the art form provided, she committed to pursuing the best training opportunities available, from Bandaloop Studios in Oakland, CA, to Il Posto in Venice, Italy. Sarah is currently sharing her knowledge with the students at the Circus Collective during weekly class sessions. If you are interested in experiencing vertical dance please reach out for class times and signups!
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
A lesson I had to unlearn is the obsession with perfection. So much of dance centers around perfection and that approach simply isn’t possible or useful with Vertical Dance.
Since it is such a site specific art form the physics change with every different building you dance on.
Rather than obsessing over perfection I had to learn to be a receptive vessel to the environment around me and dance accordingly. Not only has that been a better approach for my mental health, it has provided a much more authentic experience for those watching.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
The thing I long for most is to collaborate with as many different buildings and places as possible! Every building has a unique and beautiful architecture that shapes the piece being choreographed on it.
I would love to highlight the beauty of that architecture in conjunction with my work as much as possible.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarah_lane_bender/
Image Credits
Jeffery Everard Martha Wirth