If you go

What: Frequent Flyers 'Toward the Light' performance

When: 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 4, and Saturday, Aug. 5; 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 5, and Sunday, Aug. 6

Where: Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder

Tickets: $24-$28

Info: frequentflyers.org/events

Festival at a glance:

The Aerial Dance Festival runs from Sunday, July 30-Friday, Aug. 11.

Morning immersions: New this year, three-hour study immersions with festival faculty, runs 9 a.m.-noon, July 31-Aug. 5 and Aug. 7-11

Daytime classes: Classes run in 90-minute sessions from 1-7 p.m. July 31-Aug. 5 and Aug. 7-11

Evening workshops: Burlesque, 7:30-9 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 8; Thai massage for aerialists, 7:30-9 p.m. Monday, Aug. 7, and Thursday, Aug. 10

Intimate Encounters performance offers a chance to see the festival artists up close and personal with an audience Q&A, 7 p.m. Monday, July 31.

2017 faculty

Angela Delsanter, Boulder, aerial dance mixed apparatus

Katie Elliott, Boulder, intermediate to advanced modern dance

Danielle Garrison, Boulder, intermediate sling-to-air

Danielle Hendricks, Boulder, bungee dancing

Valerie Morris, Boulder, beginner low-flying trapeze, rope and harness

Sarah Romanowsky, Las Vegas, fabric composition, intermediate fabric, beginning to advanced lyra

April Skelton, Boulder, intermediate to advanced low-flying trapeze

Nancy Smith, Boulder, invented apparatus, aerial choreography

Sam Tribble, Corona del Mar, California, cyr wheel, flex and stretch

Teo Spencer, New York, fabric post and hang, advanced fabric and rope

Yuki Tsuji, Boulder, handstands

Mandy Hackman, left, and Alysha Perrin join hands during the Frequent Flyers Dancers rehearsal of "Toward the Light" for the 2017 Aerial Dance Festival 2017 in Boulder. (Cliff Grassmick / Staff Photographer)

Before Cirque du Soleil began blowing mainstream minds late last century, Boulder's Nancy E. Smith was only one of a handful of professional aerial artists in the United States.

By the time "America's Got Talent" a hotbed for aerialists and acrobats rolled around in June 2006, Smith's aerial dance company, Frequent Flyers, was already 18 years old.

Frequent Flyers has performed for Cirque and appeared on Season 5 of the talent reality show but the Flyers were already inked in history books when they organized the International Aerial Dance Festival, which is thought to be the first event of its kind. The festival celebrates its 19th year beginning Monday and features two weeks of immersion into the art with classes, workshops and performances by some of the biggest names in aerial dance.

"There are a number of festivals around the world that have been created as a result of ours," said Smith, Frequent Flyers' founder and artistic director. France founded Les Rencontres Danse Aeriennes in 2008, England's European Aerial Dance Festival began in 2009, and the Irish Aerial Dance Festival was formed in 2010.

Frequent Flyers was more than a decade ahead of the curve.

"Students who have come to the festival over the years have gone to open their own studios, create their own festivals," Smith said. "We've educated and inspired so many people around the world."

As a pioneer in aerial dance, Smith said the art form allowed her to express a childhood love of being off the ground and in the sky.

Aerial artist Sarah Romanowsky, of Las Vegas, will teach at Frequent Flyers' 19th International Aerial Dance Festival, which runs from July 30-Aug. 11. (Randm Vision / Courtesy photo)

"My favorite thing to do as a child was climb trees," Smith said. "And spin around until I got dizzy and fall down." This made aerial dance a perfect match, she said.

New this year are morning-immersion classes, which Smith said will give students a more in-depth experience with the faculty. The two weeks that sandwich the Showcase Performance, planned for Aug. 4-6 at the Dairy Arts Center, will feature three-hour morning immersions Monday through Friday with afternoon "a la carte" 90-minute classes. Students may attend one or both weeks (July 31-Aug. 4 and Aug. 7-11).

Smith called the festival a "real variety show, a cross-pollination of aerial arts and circus performance." To allow for a more structured flow to the popular faculty showcase, Smith said she added for the first time a performance theme: "Toward the Light."

"It's a variety show of professionals working in the air," Smith said. "It has work that's experimental aerial modern dance as well as straight-up, blow-your-socks-off aerial. The loose theme gives the performance more continuity among the artists, who are creating interpretive works."

Some which will be never-before seen performances.

"It's an artist-driven festival," said Smith. "It gives the artists free reign to use their own creativity and showcase what they are seeking to artistically express."

Aerial queen of social media

Also new to this year's festival is a new faculty member, Las Vegas-based Sarah Romanowsky, who will be teaching fabric and lyra classes. Romanowsky, who has quite the decorated aerial resume, said the festival is "very famous."

"It has such a great reputation," Romanowsky said. "Nancy Smith and Frequent Flyers are such big names and are highly regarded in the aerial dance world. I've never been, but I've always heard so many wonderful things. I'm excited to meet people, to connect with other aerialists who have a similar passion as I do. "

And Boulder will be lucky to have her. In her career as an aerial artist, Romanowsky has been suspended above celebrities, floated in air on TV, and soared above the cast of "Glee" in a Super Bowl commercial. Just weeks ago she went from teaching and judging an aerial competition in Ecuador to performing in Los Angeles at an ESPY's after party. ("LL Cool J performed after we did," she said.)

"It's always a fun novelty having behind-the-scene moments and also be celebrity adjacent," Romanowsky said.

Romanowsky said she grew up as a dancer, training in ballet, jazz and tap, then studied dance at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Following graduation she moved to Las Vegas, where she was a showgirl in the iconic variety show "Jubilee!" After attending Hollywood Aerial Arts she became a teacher and performer, working wherever her trade takes her Indonesia, Dominican Republic, Antigua, Panama, Mexico and Singapore. She's been featured on Nickelodeon's "Kids Choice Awards," Disney's "Shake it Up" and the 2011 Chevrolet Super Bowl ad with "Glee." From Cirque du Soleil performances to Vegas shows to music festivals, Romanowsky, at 34, has flown many friendly skies.

But her total "dream-come-true moment" came in New York performing at Radio City Music hall with The Rockettes.

"They were right below me as I was doing harness work in the air," Romanowsky said. "To do a contract in such a famous, huge and respected venue, it was such an honor. It was such a wonderful moment, an absolute dream come true."

Romanowsky has become quite a spectacle on social media.

"The social media thing started with YouTube, I was just uploading videos for different jobs, when one day, I was teaching at a studio in Oakland and a student recognized me, saying, 'We've all seen you on YouTube,'" she said. "I was shocked. I thought, 'You mean someone found these videos? Someone is watching these videos? So I went and looked and sure enough, the videos had a ton of hits."

Upwards of a hundred thousand, in fact. So she started an Instagram page, which has become her "mini little side job," developing and uploading content for her loyal following.

"I guess people were paying attention, so maybe I should," she said, laughing.

An art form that empowers

The Aerial Dance Festival is open to all ages and offers beginner to advanced classes. Smith said it's an opportunity for "people from all walks of life to experience dancing in the air." Students can learn how to fly on trapeze, fabric, lyra, bungee, invented apparatus and more, while learning from the pros.

If people who are interested but a bit apprehensive of being in the air, Smith and Romanowsky said a good teacher will never push anyone into an uncomfortable spot.

"It's OK to have a little bit of healthy fear not a paralyzing fear, but healthy fear," Romanowsky said. "The person needs to respect what they're doing, to respect the danger of what they're doing because anything can happen. But if you can stay centered, you can approach it with a calm mind. It may be a little overwhelming, but you never have to do something you don't want to do."

Smith said it's important to be present in the moment while in the air.

"You have to have laser-like focus, there's risk involved while being off the ground," said Smith, who co-authored a book on aerial dance with Jayne Bernasconi, published in 1988.

On top of flying through vertical space, aerial dance also offers another pretty cool plus, Romanowsky said: empowerment.

"As an aerial dancer, you have to learn to trust yourself in the air and that confidence can help permeate other areas in your life," Romanowsky said. "Especially for women. A lot of women participate in aerial performance and even just gaining the upper body strength can be a very empowering thing for women."

Smith said she expects about 200 students to enroll and more than 1,000 to attend the performances.

"You can't see this anywhere else," said Smith. "It's such a unique event and Boulder is a hub for aerial artists, so there will be some mind-blowing performances."

Christy Fantz: 303-473-1107, fantz@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/fantzypants

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Aerial Dance Festival brings two weeks of classes, performances to Boulder - Boulder Daily Camera