Meet the Women of Dark Sky Aerial

Today we’d like to introduce you to Isabelle Dove-Robinson of Dark Sky Aerial. Them and their team share their story with us below:

In 2014, 501(c)3 Dark Sky Aerial (DSA) was co-founded in Flagstaff, Arizona by five women, Abby Chan, Elisa Venezia, Carrie Reynolds, Isabelle Dove Robinson, and Joanie Garcia. As directors, we share a deep passion for dance, aerial arts, and storytelling through movement. Elisa Venezia is the head creative director. She inspires a sense of curiosity and has set in motion our groundbreaking work. Dark Sky Aerial’s unique style of performance art is rooted in a rich tradition of modern dance, theatre and inspired by the human experience.

Our company has a unique style of performance art. Instead of choosing a traditional theatre space to mount our work, we have opted to utilize unexpected and non-traditional venues. For all of our in-person performances, we use a style of theatre referred to as ambulatory theatre to actively immerse the audience in our work.

The majority of our artists and collaborators reside in Arizona and the San Francisco Bay Area. We weave a wide variety of art forms together to create our work. Our company members include aerialists, dancers, acrobats, actors, visual artists, poets, and musicians. Our performers are skilled at combining multiple mediums to create heart-stirring works and performances. All of our works are original productions brought to life by our artistic directors and our amazing arts community.

To-date, we have produced three original productions: OPIA (2016), TILT (2017, 2018), and OMEN (2021). Our most recent work, OMEN is an original harness dance film created and performed by Dark Sky Aerial and filmed and produced by Nick Geib of Firewatch Media – and Blake McCord, Harlan Taney, and Justin Cliffton of Sandcast Media.

Creating OMEN allowed us to continue to share aerial theatre work amid the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic in a safe and compelling format. The ambitious project was successfully filmed on-location from March 30 – April 1, 2021 in the Grand Canyon. In tandem with the artistic dance film OMEN, a documentary short was produced by Nick Geib of Firewatch Media. The documentary is a comprehensive “behind-the-scenes” look into the artistic process behind the making of the film and Dark Sky Aerial as a company.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road for Dark Sky Aerial has been life-changing for the creative team, but not without challenge – both logistical and emotional. From permitting, weather interference to scheduling – it is not uncommon for the production to encounter a roadblock to challenge and inform the creative process. As an exceptionally tight-knit team, we have been able to overcome even the most unlikely challenges by employing constant change management, strategic planning – and by remaining flexible and compassionate. We have an incredibly supportive community that has stood by us during all of these hardships. As a company, we are not afraid to dream as high as possible and have been able to put in an immense amount of work to forge a new pathway to achieve whatever we dream.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
First and foremost, we are an all female directed company. We are known for providing immersive ambulatory experiences for our audience. Our audience members are active (as opposed to passive) observers in our live performances. We utilize multiple ‘stages’ that our audience members walk to and through. We are the only aerial theatre and dance company in Arizona to combine harness dance (using climbing technology, rope and harness) and traditional aerial dance in partnership with modern dance and visual storytelling. We are ever grateful to be a part of such an embracing and inspiring creative community in Flagstaff.

Dark Sky Aerial is proud of an evolving and rich creative potential and we are eager for our next opportunity – with an aspiration to perform on the vertical, exterior wall of a skyscraper in Phoenix, Arizona. Due to the nature of our work, there is significant complexity involved including: permitting, rigging, scheduling, and funding. Each new work that is created is specific to the non-traditional venue and community, providing the need for grit and dedication. The practice of using ambulation for the audience itself must require a specific expertise and adaptivity in order to craft an impactful audience experience. As such, there are few in the world to combine the diverse modality and performance composition exhibited by Dark Sky Aerial.

We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
The concept of success is more subjective than objective. We do not base our success on finance or fame. We base our success on our ability to create and emotionally hold space for our performers and audience. Through our art we strive to speak to the complexities of our world and the intricacies of the human experience. If the work created an impact, inspired change, or an opportunity for authentic reflection for the viewer – then by definition for Dark Sky Aerial, our work has been successful.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.darkskyaerial.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/darksky_aerial/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/darkskyaerialarts
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChkH67ue8zvKU-faFXZMYeg/featured

Image Credits
Isabelle Dove-Robinson of Dark Sky Aerial Blake McCord of SandCast Media