MORE ABOUT CARMEN PARCELLI

Carmen is an aerial performer whose work showcases her formidable musicality and sharp eye for visual detail.  A self-described aerial silks devotee, she discovered her performing alter ego on aerial frame.  In addition, she has done a bit of everything in the air (including rope, sling, and hoop), with a particular affinity for invented apparatus. 

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Carmen began her aerial practice in 2014, with a prior movement background in tai chi and yoga.  After studying privately for a couple of years, she took classes at local studios, as well as countless workshops and intensives with highly regarded instructors.  From early on, however, she took ownership over her practice, training rigorously and learning to think independently about aerial techniques.  In 2023, she began studying regularly with coach Adam Woolley, who has wonderfully enhanced her own investigations.

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Carmen resists familiar patterns in her work - instead exploring a wide variety of movement styles and musical genres, creating different characters and moods.  Her acts often play with the idea of the apparatus as a particular object, for example, the silks as a stream of water or the string of a musical instrument, and the frame as a window or a diamond.  She often explores why her character would get on and interact with the apparatus, as in her piece about a woman under an enchantment who is forced to dance all night, every night (a thinly veiled reference to Carmen’s own obsessive aerial practice).

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Carmen is a life-long resident of the Washington, DC area, where she still resides – a true swamp creature.  She has a gorgeous home studio and enjoys hosting other aerialists and performers.  It is rumored that she practices law in her spare time.

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