A Lifetime of Aerial: Interview with Brittany Jimerson
By Sara Schreiber
Brittany Jimerson has become a familiar face at Pole Art Co. in the two years she’s been in Minnesota. After years of performing in various aerials, Jimerson first competed in 2022 at the Land of Lakes Pole Festival. Originally from Texas, she was a cheerleader for most of her life and then joined the Velocity show in Hershey Park as a tumbler and dancer. While performing with them, she learned silk, bungee, lyra, and wire work to fly around the stage. She moved into pole from silks, finding them pretty similar. Her passion for it grew from there, but there were always new avenues to explore. “I was really close to opening my own studio when my husband and I moved to Macau,” says Jimerson. There, they performed in shows developed by one of the creators of Cirque du Soleil. Brittany was preparing for her role in one of their burlesque shows, when she got some exciting news. “We found out we were expecting our first child,” Jimerson says, “so life went on pause, but—oh my gosh—I was dreaming of routines!”
Photo by Erika Ivanová
Brittany had long hoped to compete, but there was always something in the way. While living in Texas, she found a doubles partner and was set to compete with them when she became pregnant with her first child. When she lived in Macau, she went to register for a competition, but the information said it was for Hong Kong residents only. She later learned that one of the women in her husband’s show was able to compete at that very competition. Jimerson was frustrated with herself for not looking into the requirements further. “I was so mad because I kind of stopped at ‘it’s only Hong Kong.’” As soon as Jimerson and her family settled in Minnesota, she began searching for anything aerial and she found Myss Angie and the Land of Lakes Pole Festival.
Photo by Erika Ivanová
In 2022, Brittany finally took the stage in a competition at LOL Pole Festival. She competed in the sport category at the professional level. Although she had spent most of her life performing in some capacity, she found competition had its own challenges. “It’s different when you’re being judged by pointing your toes and having to make a full rotation on spin pole for the moves to count and things like that,” Jimerson says. “Not that it necessarily added more stress, but it was something I had to be more aware of.” For that first competition, she adapted a one-pole routine into a two-pole routine and had to create new transitions, but Brittany loves nothing more than a new challenge.
This year, Brittany is coaching other performers/competitors for the LOL Pole Festival. Jimerson loves coaching and has been doing it in some capacity since she was about sixteen or seventeen years old. Currently she teaches at Pole Art Co. Studio, Villiany Alternative Dance Studio, and Gleason’s. Despite performing for seventeen years, she really enjoys the behind-the-scenes role. “It’s like a proud mom moment for me…we prepare them to be creative and be comfortable in their own skin, and it’s just an amazing feeling,” says Jimerson.
Photo by Torsten Glaenzel
As Brittany trains others to become comfortable on stage, she pushes her own boundaries to grow her comfort zone. In working with Pole Art Co. and Villiany Alternative Dance Studio, Jimerson has been exploring more sides of her pole skills. In Pole Art’s Heroes and Heathens pole show last May, Jimerson was asked to play the Joker. “That was totally out of my comfort zone,” she says, “and I loved every second of it because I’m so used to being poised, elegant, pointing my toes all the time, and then I get to be the Joker who’s smirking and contemporary with their flexed feet. It was fun to just be way out of my comfort zone and play a character that I probably wouldn’t even possess. I was like, ‘How do I do this?’ in my head.” Jimerson took on the challenge to great success and now is ready to explore new categories of performance. “I never got into the theatrical side of it [pole]…but I think having that creative side, I might venture off to that next.”
You can check out Brittany’s journey on her Facebook page and at the Land of Lakes Pole Festival September 8th. She’ll be opening the Friday show in a doubles act with Myss Angie.