How exciting! My wife Michelle’s Unnata Aerial Yoga class was written up in the NY Times “Thursday Styles” section this past Thursday! You can see a copy of the print article over on the Aerial Yoga website. Or if you like, you can read the article on the NY Times website.

As I have mentioned before, the Aerial Yoga class is now in its new location on Bedford Ave. in Williamsburg, and was recently featured on NBC’s First Look NY. In fact, Michelle’s segment on First Look NY was syndicated, and played in the little TVs in the back of NYC Taxi Cabs for about two weeks! Many people called to say that they saw Michelle in their Taxi Cab!

FYI: Tonight (Sunday Oct. 12, 2008), Michelle is doing an Aerial Acrobatic performance at the Zipper Theatre on 37th St. (b’twn 8th and 9th Aves) at 7PM. Come on down for an exciting evening of mixed aerial performances by some of New York City’s leading aerial acrobatic performers!

It’s been a busy week over at my wife Michelle’s Aerial Yoga class! Last night was the grand opening party at the new home of Unnata Aerial Yoga. And tonight, Unnata Aerial Yoga was featured on NBC’s 1stLook NY, on channel 4 at 7:30PM here in New York City.

As I mentioned in June, Michelle moved the class over to a great new space on Bedford Avenue, in the heart of Williamsburgh, Brooklyn. Last night we finally had a house-warming party to introduce the space to everyone. Since Aerial Yoga is a hybrid of traditional yoga and aerial acrobatic training, the evening featured two aerial acrobatic performances (by Michelle, and Angela Jones), one on-the-ground dance performance (by Ede Thurrell), and lots of Unnata Aerial Yoga demonstrations.

The Aerial Yoga TV piece was taped in August, and was featured this evening on NBC’s 1stLook NY, a half-hour life/styles program produced by LXTV.com. The theme of tonight’s program was “Back to School” — different classes for adults to partake in now that the kiddies are all back in school. Aerial Yoga was one of the super-interesting classes available in the New York area that were featured on the show. Also included were: Skydiving and SCUBA diving lessons, Sushi making and Sake tasting, cooking and bar tending lessons, and more. How fun!

You can see the Unnata Aerial Yoga segment on NBC’s “1stLook NY” website, and of course it’s on the Unnata Aerial Yoga website too.

On Tuesday, June 10, 2008, Unnata™ Aerial Yoga moves to its new location on the main strip in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY.

The new location is at 241 Bedford Avenue (buzzer #7). This is on Bedford Avenue between North 3rd and North 4th. It is only a 2.5 minute walk from the Bedford Avenue stop on the L train; very easy to get to!

Classes at the new location will begin on Tuesday, June 10. Class days and times will be Tuesdays, 7:15-8:45pm, and Saturdays, 2:15-3:45pm. Additional schedule and reservation information can found at the Aerial Yoga Website.

Unnata™ Aerial Yoga’s new location (classes began two and a half years ago over at the Streb SLAM Studio), will offer some distinct advantages over the old space, says founder Michelle Dortignac:

“At this new location, I will be able to hang more apparatuses (when necessary) to ensure no more than 2 people per apparatus – even when class is full! Also, we will be the only class happening in the room when we are there, so it will be much quieter with fewer distractions. I had been looking for a space that would be more conducive to Yoga, and this space is really it!”

Classes, which are designed for all levels – even beginners with no previous experience – will cost $20. There will be a 5-class card for $85 (good for 2 months) and a 10-class card for $150 (good for 5 months).

Happy New Year everybody!

I spent New Year’s Eve watching my wife Michelle Dortignac perform in an amazing show called Cirque Le Masque: Carnivale.

Cirque Le Masque performed six shows over three days at the beautiful Patchougue Theatre, on Long Island. The late show on New Year’s Eve featured a New Year’s party at midnight (during the intermission) replete with Champagne toast and hors d’oeuvres for the whole audience! Nice way to ring in the new year!

Michelle performed a fabulous duo trapeze act with fellow aerialist Kristen Olness; and she also choreographed and performed in a triple silk act along with Kristen Olness and Hilary Sweeney. Michelle, Kristen and Hilary were brought together for this show by Laura Witwer and Angela Jones of ImaginAerial.

All of the performances in this show were STUNNING!

I took a few pictures from the wings on stage-left during the early show, and then more pictures from the balcony during the late show. You can see a mix of my pictures of the Cirque Le Masque show after this:

NOTE: Click thumbnails below to enlarge; then click the RIGHT or LEFT EDGE of enlarged images to move though the gallery of images. (You may also use the right or left arrow keys on your keyboard, once you have opened the first image.)

WOW!

The Baby Janes rocked the house at La Mama for the past two weekends!

This aerial, singing, dancing, musical holiday celebration was put together by Kristen Olness, and starred The Baby Janes: Kristen Olness, Michelle Dortignac, Angela Jones and Laura Witwer, with special guest Terry Beeman. Sara Moore was the eccentric hostess in her character, Pearl Claus.

SEE LOTS OF PICTURES from the closing night performance on Sunday, after this…

Click on the first image below, and then just click the RIGHT-SIDE of each large image to advance through the pictures.

The show, called Above The Belt at the Zipper, is an evening of mixed aerial performances produced by aerialists Carla Cantrelle and Britt Nhi Sarah. Held several times a year at the Zipper Factory Theater on 37th street, Above the Belt always presents a diverse set of aerial performances and styles. The shows feature both veterans of the New York aerialist community as well as newcomers to the Aerial Arts.

I took a few pictures of Michelle’s performance (during her dress/tech rehearsal) which can be seen following:

Here are some pictures of Michelle’s performance (taken during her dress/tech rehearsal).

Doesn’t she look great!