When can I be called an aerialist?

When can you use the title aerialist? I've spent a lot of time wondering about this title over the past few years. I was in a mental place where even though I was currently, and for the previous ten years, working in some way in aerial arts (performer, teacher, student), I considered myself a "former" maybe aerialist. I didn't think I was good enough for the title alone. Even when I was getting paid to teach and perform, I would think of myself as an "amateur" aerialist at best. Why am I never good enough to simply be an aerialist - no qualifiers needed?

I asked the question to aerialist friends of when they thought they could use the title aerialist. Some said after their first performance, after their first paid performance, or after they had financial independence doing aerial work. Some considered it a knowledge or skill definition such as the ability to do a specific trick or when they developed "fabric brain" or could dance and improve with their apparatus. For others, the title came after a particular amount of time of dedication and commitment to the aerial arts.

My lovely friend Julianna Hane spoke the truth when she said, "anyone who actively does a thing can say they are the thing. Do you paint? You're a painter. Do you sing? You're a singer. Do you do aerial? You're an aerialist." But probably my favorite response was from Amy Ell "if you dare to train to become an aerialist....you are an aerialist!!!" So whether you are a recreational, former, amateur, part-time, student, enthusiast, or whatever word you need here - it's time to drop the qualifier and own who you are. You dared to take that first step and join the aerial world - YOU ARE AN AERIALIST!