Author: Rick Mc

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.”

Gymnasts give Cirque auditions a try – Florida Today

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.

Or check this list: Urgent Openings | Year-Round Casting.

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.

Leonid Arkaev was the demigod of Russian gymnastics for 22 years. His successor, you could say, was Andrei Rodionenko.

Now, 18-months-later, it looks like a good move.

Andre is an important reason for the positive turnaround in Russian gymnastics. In the distant Soviet past Rodionenko worked with both the Men and Women’s National Teams.

He is back in a leadership position there after stints in Western Australia and Canada.

And Russia is back in contention at World Championships. The Russian Women were 3rd, the Russian Men 2nd.

Now — can they contend in 2008?

Russia has many problems. But we wish them well.

Amazing images including composite photo of the fantastic Bateau act (combination of parallel bars with horizontal bars) from Cirque du Soleil’s O.

This is done high in the air.

Sean Townsend

Tobey Gifford (aerobics)

more Schatz photos

photo – Grace Chiu

A shout out to Adam Wong for his 9th place at World Championships. That’s a first (a best ever) for a Canadian in the All-Around at Worlds, ahead of the great Philip Delesalle who finished 12th in 1979.

It was a pleasure to watch Adam hit 6 for 6 in finals on Canadian TV this afternoon.

I’ve watched Adam’s steady career from the start. He was well trained by Mark Van Wyk who helped him qualify unexpectedly, I thought, for the Athens Olympics. Two years later he is one of the best in the world, now under personal coach Bin Fan at Calgary Gymnastics Centre.

Adam is a good student, a coach of younger kids, a pleasure to have in the gym. (Now if only someone would buy him some matching socks for training.)

It’s true that some of the top gymnasts — Dragulescu for example — did not compete all-around. It may be that we cannot compare gymnasts under the new code with those who competed under the 10.0 maximum code. Or those who competed 12 routines, compulsory and optional.

But there is a reason the All-Arounder is becoming an endangered species. Under these rules it is increasingly difficult to compete all six. I congratulate Adam and all the others who are well rounded enough athletes to do so at Worlds.

Wow!

What an impressive site.

Martin Vidic has posted dozens of flash animations of handsprings & flips useful for Wushu (Chinese martial arts) — but learned in the gymnastics gym.

Don’t miss this one:
MartinVidic.com – gymnastics

sample – screenshot from Wushu running wallflip

Jacob Small tipped me to a questionable acrobatic “tutorial”.

Interesting. It’s a good idea to have a tutorial formats on the internet, for sure.

But this one is not very good. <see it on Google Video>

A tutorial on backward somersault would take a trampoline coach about 60sec. This one is 11min.

The content is not great, as well. The spotting very poor. Trying to copy Joe Eigo is a lousy way to learn something. Why not go to Joe Eigo’s coach and ask him to teach you?

Tiger Woods has a coach. Michael Jordan had a coach. What is it that makes street acrobats think they are better off learning things on their own?

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.

Huge Skateboarding Ramp Beckons Daredevils – New York Times

see the entire large graphic

(via Wicked Outdoorsy)

I’ve seen a number of Giulio Calisse montage videos. They include highlight reel bits from all sorts of acrobatic sports.

For a sample — worlds best trickers vol 2 — click PLAY or watch the (very low resolution) video on YouTube.

There are at least 2 others in this video series:

>> World’s best tricks volume 1

>> World’s Best Tricks Volume 3

See more of this craziness on the Team Chinese Box website. It may be the best site on the web right now for street acrobatics. Calisse is one of the contributors.

World Championships in Stuttgart 2007 (Sept. 1-9) are the important Worlds. There teams qualify to the 2008 Olympics.

Denmark in 2006 was more a test of the new code of points. A reality check for international coaches and gymnasts.

Surprisingly, the best internet commentary on Denmark was GYMmedia.com, specifically expert commentator Dieter Hofmann.

A quick summary of Hofmann’s conclusions:

Hofmann’s full commentary with photos: GymFamily.Com

Coach Christopher Sommer posted an article on the Testosterone Nation website: Iron Cross for Bodybuilders – Simulated Gymnastics Training With Weights.

He is one of the best, most innovative strength coaches we know. His overview includes some interesting exercises in the inverted position. Reversing gravity is smart training!

… see the full article

Christopher Sommer is the men’s head coach at the Dessert Devil Gymnastics National Team Training Center in Mesa, Arizona and has one of the premiere men’s gymnastics programs in the United States. He’s also been training female gymnasts, Navy SEALS, Air Force Para Rescue, undercover DEA, Hostage Rescue and FBI among others.