An important theme of this site is promoting career opportunities for acrobats and acrobatic coaches. The leading employer is Cirque du Soleil though the number of other options is expanding.
Career opportunities like this are a great motivator for athletes.
The Cirque du Soleil Casting team is specifically seeking artists and athletes in the following disciplines:
Extreme Cross Training is a non-traditional gymnastics course geared towards skateboarding, BMX, motocross, wakeboarding, snowboarding, extreme martial arts, hip-hop, and anything else that inverts.
This class is designed to increase efficiency in basic aerial awareness, thus decreasing the chances of injury out on the real terrain.
Classes will utilize our trampolines, tumble track, air track, mini tramps, and overhead spotting rigs. This is a boys only class for ages 8-10 or 11 & up. Students must first pass or test out of our Handstand level.
We got your flip! 1-800-656-FLIP
The (so-called) extreme athletes are reluctant to get coaching. But as “trained” athletes begin to excel in each discipline, more will sign on for classes like this.
In my never ending quest to buy — or build — a trampoline board that does not break after the first couple of weeks, here’s the latest candidate:
The TRAMPOLINE BOUNCE BOARD is safe to use on the trampoline mat. This is a fun new game for training skateboarders (great for grab tricks), kite surfers, snowboarding, water surfing and skiing. Practice “new moves” on your backyard trampoline before hitting the water or slopes.
Snowboard instructors, wakeboard competitors, gymnastic coaches are all impressed ….
Flexes with the trampoline mat, but returns to its orginal shape. Try this also on our inflatable
water trampolines and have a blast! …
(Designed for 8 – 18 years, but older kids will love it too!)
Waterproof (Durable, Soft, Closed cell foam construction) Strong and Flexible with Great Shock Absorption
Adjustable Foot Straps with Heavy Duty Hook & Loop Closure
Though the Olympics are wonderful, I don’t think much of the IOC. One of the least democratic organizations in the world, it badly needs reform.
I disagree with those like Brian Martin who want to abolish the Olympics altogether. But everyone needs to pressure the IOC to improve.
Alternatives to the Olympics should be encouraged too. The X Games have potential and problems.
I was unhappy when the Goodwill Games were cancelled after 2001.
And what about the biggest alternative of all — The World Games?
The World Games, first held in 1981, are an international multi-sport event, meant for sports that are not contested in the Olympic Games. …
Some of the sports that were on the program of the World Games eventually made it as Olympic sports (such as triathlon) or have been Olympic sports in the past (like tug of war). Participation in past World Games is included in the evaluation criteria used to select new Olympic sports adopted by the IOC on August 12, 2004. However, with the current position of the IOC to limit the Olympic Games to 10,500 participants, it is unlikely than many of the World Games sports will be elevated to the Olympic sports.
Takeshi and Eito Yasutoko, brothers, are two of the best aggressive inline skaters in the world.
Takeshi (the “Samarai”) is famous for a trick for some unfathomable reason called a Double Viking. It’s something like a double back with a half twist — but with the twist done in the most awkward way possible in order to make it more spectacular.
My friend Marceline Goldstein ran the recent audition in Orlando, Florida.
… 16 hopefuls spent all day Tuesday showing off strength and flexibility skills, acrobatic skills (i.e. handstands), explosive power (i.e. flips), rope climbing, chin-ups, tumbling and trampoline work.
The day began with Goldstein asking the acrobats to demonstrate basic skills, such as cartwheels, backbends and front and back handsprings.
Watching closely was Matthew Sparks, head coach and dance captain at La Nouba in Downtown Disney.
“So far, I think there’s some good candidates,” he said. “Not just for ‘La Nouba.’ ”
But more than athletes, Cirque looks for artists, Sparks said.
For instance, take Krystian Sawicki of Poland. He portrays Titan, the swaggering strong man at “La Nouba.” Sawicki was an award-winning trampoline competitor. When he came to “La Nouba” in the role of Titan, he made it bigger than life.
“He’s not just an acrobat,” Sparks said. “He’s an artist. That’s what makes it Cirque du Soleil. People take it to a different level.”
The newspaper also posted a video clip which provides a peek into the audition process.
I observed two other auditions recently in Las Vegas: acrobatic and “circus” run by Dana Brass. And I learned a lot.
Select high level acrobatic athletes are invited based on videos submitted to the company. With over 700 artists currently performing, and new shows in creation, Cirque is always looking for “talent”.
But what is talent?
I learned that you need extreme physical fitness to be considered. Best-in-the-world level strength or flexibility. Artistry is critical too. Great form and line. Showmanship is valuable. You should be one who likes to be on stage.
attempting 1-arm chin-up — photo by Craig Bailey
Unusual body types have always found a place in the circus. Very small acrobats are in demand. And very strong men and women.
Most hired are age-18-and-older, but younger athletes are sometimes invited to get them into the “system” for future consideration.
Tumbling specialists should be training double double, or preferably Miller, though most artists need basic tumbling.
It’s always best if the coach makes first contact with Cirque. If you have an athlete who might be interested, check the Cirque casting web pages.
It’s impossible to keep such a list completely up-to-date. Specialists on bars, horizontal bar and in-line skaters are currently being auditioned, as well.
The trend to bigger and bigger drop-ins has got to end in disaster. Sooner or later. It’s getting too Evil Knievel for me already.
The largest skateboard ramp in the world can be found on a 12-acre farm north of San Diego among the green foothills of the San Marcos Mountains. …
Pilots routinely adjust their flight paths for a closer look, which is as good a way as any to sum up the scale of the Mega Ramp. The wooden structure is longer than a football field, as tall as an eight-story building, with a creek bed running through a 70-foot breach.
… skaters reach speeds of up to 55 miles an hour and soar like stuntmen.
Approximately 360 feet long, the ramp is 75 feet high at its apex. That is where riders begin their run, speeding down a 180-foot-long roll-in to a ramp that launches them across a 70-foot gap with trapeze netting below. Landing on a 27-foot sloped section, they then boost up to 50 feet above the ground from a 30-foot quarterpipe. A shorter route begins with a 55-foot-tall platform leading to a 50-foot gap, and the 30-foot quarterpipe. …
Completed in September after more than a year of construction, Burnquist’s Mega Ramp cost $280,000, part of which was covered by his apparel sponsors Oakley and Hurley. Although not the first — the X Games builds one each year — it is the world’s only permanent Mega Ramp, and Burnquist said having it at his home allows him to explore all the possibilities of the sport’s most daring discipline.
The Beatles LOVE by Cirque du Soleil was not a show that was easy or inexpensive to create. It never would have happened without the personal enthusiasm of George Harrison who unfortunately did not live to see the final production.
It is the hottest ticket in Vegas right now.
When I first heard of the concept, I was sceptical. I feared that the acrobatics might suffer with a focus on music.
I was wrong.
There is a trampoline act (actually 8 trampolines and a phone booth) which will freak out any trampolinist. There is an in-line skating number which will freak out any skater. And I feel the Mr. Kite swing solo is the single most shocking act in Cirque du Soleil. (Criss Angel assumed it was an illusion.)
My review: Book tickets to LOVE on-line up to 4 months in advance and plan your next holiday to Las Vegas to see LOVE.
Actually, LOVE is still in creation though it may be finalized soon. It’s hard to imagine any other kind of performance in history anywhere having had so many great visuals.
I had forgotten just how brilliant and innovative the Beatles music had been. And some of the remix versions are far, far superior. LOVE samples 130 songs to create 27 musical pieces. The CD goes on sale in November. In the show, each seat is fitted with three speakers including the headrest.
Often as a rehabilitation tool, most gyms have some kind of “wobble” board, home made or of commercial design. Before getting to Woodward I had never seen the Indo board — it’s much more challenging than any other I’ve seen.
It offers a difficult balance task ideal for gymnasts, skateboarders and anyone wanting to improve. This clip was filmed at Woodward West Action Sports camp where skaters, skateboarders and cyclist of every description train in the gymnastics gym — enjoying trampolines, foam pits and training aids like the Indo Board.
The biggest story for me at X Games 12 got little attention.
Fabiola da Silva is the leading female medal-winner in X Games history, a seven-time in-line skating gold medalist, but she won’t even be in California when the games are contested …
… women’s in-line skating was dropped two years ago after organizers said the sport was no longer popular enough to be included.
… When the games debuted in 1995, six of 29 events were specifically designed for women and another, the Eco Challenge, paired a man and woman. Of this year’s 16 events, there are only two — skateboard vert and skateboard street — for women. …
“I really don’t understand why they don’t have more women’s sports at the X Games,” Da Silva said. “It’s really a bummer. They have the opportunity to help women, but it seems like they just keep cutting us off.”
“We’re committed to having women at the X Games in a meaningful way,” Skipper said. “By no means do we have a gender-driven agenda here. I think we just hit a little bit of a blip, but it is our intention to have more events with women in the coming years.”
I want X Games to succeed. I have more faith in ESPN than I do in the IOC when it comes to running an international sports event.
But they are bungling this. ESPN needs to return skating to the line-up. It’s my favourite event. And Fabiola should be prized as one of their brightest stars.
I was in California for X Fest and the summer X Games last year and will be going again this summer. It’s more of a festival than a traditional sporting event.
X Games are very television and internet-driven. Spectacle and high TV ratings are the goal — not necessarily finding the best athletes in each of the current summer sports:
I criticize the X Games for not including inline skating. This is the activity done by more of the spectators than any of the sports above. And it is more exciting than any of the current sports.
Also, I do not like acrobatics done on motor vehicles. This is simply too dangerous. I urge the X Games to drop MotoX.
Justin Slife let us know about a new program at his club in California — 
And what about the biggest alternative of all — The World Games?
The Beatles LOVE by Cirque du Soleil was not a show that was easy or inexpensive to create. It never would have happened without the personal enthusiasm of George Harrison who unfortunately did not live to see the final production.
