American-born aerial dance has been around long enough to escape the label of "passing fancy." It has become a seriously considered art form around the world, thanks in large part to Nancy Smith's pioneering work in Boulder with her Frequent Flyers Productions.

The company is celebrating 20 years of soaring above the stage in all manner of flying contraptions. And its founder has become a catalyst for change by gathering some of the world's most innovative performers in Boulder each summer.

Smith's hugely successful Aerial Dance Festival is observing its 10th year this month, attracting such artists as the veteran Aussie performer David Clarkson, founder and co-director of a company called Stalker.

"It's been amazing how the art form has grown," he said. "When we started, there was hardly any aerial dance. Now, dancers have to know a number of technical skills - including going airborne."

Clarkson, who is returning to Smith's festival, will be one of the guests appearing in showcase performances at the Dairy Center.

"I've done three stilt pieces here," he said. "Because of that, I'll be doing something different - it will be a piece using three nylon straps we call slings."

Experimenting with a different apparatus comes with being a flying dancer. "Part of the trick is to make the whole work seamless - to smooth out the problems of getting on and off the equipment."

New Zealand-born Clarkson became a performer by accident. He had received an astrophysics degree but thought better of it. "I wanted to do something else, so I went up to a notice board on the (university) campus and decided that I would try whatever was posted."

That's fearlessness. But then, that's a necessary quality for any aerial dancer. The notice was for a class titled "Masks, Mime and Movement." It caught his fancy. "Some of my mother's family were trapeze artists in a carnival, so I guess it's in my genes," he said with a laugh.

Encouraged by his teacher to audition for a circus troupe, Clarkson did and was accepted.

He did street theater in Europe before returning Down Under. In 1985, he formed Stalker, creating pieces such as Red, with dancers on stilts and mechanically raised ladders.

"Nancy brings to the art a dance focus," he said, "while in Australia it had developed with a circus connection. But there's been a morphing of disciplines that's quite exciting."

Clarkson has noticed that those attending the classes and workshops at the festival include circus performers as well as dancers - showing the influence of Cirque du Soleil.

Aerial dance has grown through the use of such flying devices as fabric, bungee cords, suspended cages, multiperformer trapezes, etc.

"Red grew out of a piece with stilts we did for the (Melbourne) Olympics," Clarkson noted. "But I won't necessarily begin with the apparatus in mind. Sometimes, I'll start with an idea and then decide how it could be expressed."

Now more than two decades old, aerial dance shows no signs of turning stagnant. "The only limits are in your mind," Clarkson said.

Marc Shulgold is the music and dance writer. Shulgoldm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5296

Aerial Dance Festival

* When and where: Showcase performances at 8 p.m. Friday-Sunday, 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder

* Cost: $21 to $30

* Information: 303-245-8272