Irina Laura Cotfas

Irina Laura Cotfas is a teacher, performer, and lover of aerial arts. In 2007 she studied aerial tissu (silks) under a former Cirque du Soleil performer for a year, and duo static trapeze, lyra, aerial loop (hammock) and corde lisse with the Detroit Flyhouse Circus School for two years. She started an aerial circus troupe called The Weird Sisters Circus, recently voted "Best Performance Troupe of 2012" by Real Detroit Weekly Magazine. The Weird Sisters Circus has been featured performers at The International Detroit Auto Show two years in a row, Theatre Bizarre "The Initiation" and "The Summoning", The Detroit Piston's Half-Time Show, The Ferndale DIY Festival, and the Ann Arbor Art Fair. Along with fellow Starwood community members Chrissie "Majik" Bingham and Garret "Acronym" Goforth, she helped establish The Detroit Academy of Kinesthetic Arts (D.A.K.A.), a community space in Detroit, MI whose mission is "To build and promote the kinesthetic, circus, and performing arts culture in Metro Detroit by providing affordable space, equipment and physical resources, networking opportunities, professional development and career support, and by making financial investments in the pursuit of creative freedom for all."

Say Ahhhh with Aerial Yoga

This workshop will be all inclusive, very low impact, focused on stretching, breathing, awareness of the body, lengthening, posture and movement using a free-standing outdoor aerial hammock. The hammock will be rigged just 3 feet off the ground to enable the facilitating students to safely move without risking injury. No prior aerial experience is expected. The class will begin with Tai-Chi inspired warm-ups and low-impact exercises to allow students to become open to new experiences before we move into aerial yoga poses on the hammock. The poses will focus on healing and lengthening of the spine, utilizing postures and stretching on both muscular and skeletal levels. We then will cool down with Yin style yoga poses which are held for slightly longer periods of time to encourage the slow and safe opening of connective tissues, leaving students with an overall feeling of lightness, spaciousness and peace.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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