Sports Acrobatics
July 12, 2007 8:43 PM   Subscribe

Sports Acrobatics Spellbinding gymnastics feats.
posted by ColdChef (24 comments total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
That's a stunning understanding and use of counterbalance. Wow.
posted by mtevis at 8:59 PM on July 12, 2007


Just like cirque du solei, except every weird muscular french clown has been replaced by a 12 year old girl.
posted by mathowie at 9:12 PM on July 12, 2007


that music makes me feel like i should be preparing for a boss battle.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 9:20 PM on July 12, 2007


Even our run-of-the-mill American Olympics-caliber gymnasts are all a mess of stapled tendons and eating disorders; I can't imagine what these athlete's lives must be like, or for how long a person can do that before something gives, or what tragedies occur when it finally does.
posted by hermitosis at 9:22 PM on July 12, 2007


What mathowie said.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 9:34 PM on July 12, 2007


Some of those throws are amazing. And in all of the long shots I was surprised to see that, unlike Cirque du Soleil, there are many empty seats.
posted by peeedro at 9:51 PM on July 12, 2007


peeedro
"Honey, there's a gymnastics competition today. We should go."
"A show with no muscular French clowns? Pass."

But it really is amazing how beautiful the human form in motion can be. They make it seem so easy.
posted by Sangermaine at 10:32 PM on July 12, 2007


A Flickr set from a school in Mongolia that creates these kind of gymnasts.
posted by Tenuki at 11:12 PM on July 12, 2007


That was awesome, especially the women's section. I've always been transfixed by Cirque de Soleil.
posted by fshgrl at 11:24 PM on July 12, 2007


Just like cirque du solei

The music is even by Cirque Du Solei (from Alegria)
posted by -harlequin- at 11:28 PM on July 12, 2007


And in all of the long shots I was surprised to see that, unlike Cirque du Soleil, there are many empty seats.

I think it's the difference between a competition and a show.
I've seen some dance competitions with the same thing going on - they give incredible bang-for-buck compared to touring shows, but since they're an (obscure) sports event rather than an entertainment event, and not massively publicly advertised the way that the touring shows are, the only people that know about the event and thus the only people attending are the people involved in the sport. And their parents :)
posted by -harlequin- at 11:47 PM on July 12, 2007


Now THAT is some hot man-on-man action.
posted by LMGM at 11:51 PM on July 12, 2007


Actually, upon review, the men's pairs and groups tended to avoid close contact and instead focus on throwing each other, whereas the women seemed to wrap themselves around each other much more. The former focused on strength, the latter on flexibility...
posted by LMGM at 11:53 PM on July 12, 2007


If you were friends with one of those teams, the sight gag potential would great. Like introduce them to a friend who they beg for help with a routine because the actual person on their team is delayed and they have to practice now, right now, before they catch their plane, or they are doomed for the competition. But the friend has to strip down to underwear to make it more realistic for their work. Then have the team switch to a spectacularly weird pose with your underwearing friend just as you accompany the friend's mate into the room. The first thing the mate sees is your friend's beatific face framed by three gymnasts' gymtastic crotches. And you, feigning surprise, happen to have your camera.

It's the sort of picture worth putting a little work into.
posted by pracowity at 1:29 AM on July 13, 2007


Wow, genuinely jaw-dropping.

Didn't expect to find the mixed-couples section to be the least impressive, but I did for some reason. Both male and female groupwork was just amazing.
posted by dreamsign at 1:35 AM on July 13, 2007


Jesus, that's insane. I guess I haven't seen enough Cirque du solei.
posted by OmieWise at 5:53 AM on July 13, 2007


I went back and watched this while listening to some random reggae, and it was even better. (That's not code for being stoned.)
posted by OmieWise at 7:40 AM on July 13, 2007


That was extraordinary. Elegantly muscular. Thanks Cold Chef.

I enjoyed the women's groups better than the mixed groups.

I'm a huge gymnastics fan (and used to be gymnastic as a kid). It's my favorite part of the Olympics.

"Acrobatics (from Greek Akros, high and bat, walking) is one of the performing arts, and is also practiced as a sport. Acrobatics involves difficult feats of balance, agility and coordination. Nearly any performance or sport which involves full-body activity—especially in short, highly controlled bursts of activity—can be considered acrobatics, substantial overlap with dance, various sports such as diving and even religious practices."

"Gymnastics is a sport involving the performance of sequences of movements requiring physical strength, flexibility, balance, endurance, gracefulness, and kinesthetic awareness, such as handsprings, handstands, split leaps, aerials and cartwheels. It developed from beauty practices and fitness used by the ancient Greeks, including skills for mounting and dismounting a horse, and circus performance skills."

This Sports Acrobatics seems to meld 3 categories into stunning athleticism, acrobatics -the team thing-, the traits of gymnastics and also the exceptional flexibility of athletes who perform Rhythmic Gymnastics (video compilation of some awesome flexibility). '

Rhythmic gymnastics has until recently been a female sport, especially young females, for biologically understandable reasons. But now there is also men's Rhythmic Gymnastics in Japan. (The "men" are mostly boys and teens). Video page.

A video of a young American male attempting to perform Rhythm Gymnastics. A seriously cringeworthy video of gymnastics bloopers, all are female except for the very last, which shows how difficult, and dangerous, that effortless look really is.
posted by nickyskye at 8:34 AM on July 13, 2007


That's insanely awesome. I actually know a girl who does sports acrobatics (at the state level, but not national) and I think I will now look at her with newfound respect.
posted by jacalata at 8:54 AM on July 13, 2007


Truly amazing. And disturbing.

And, am I an awful person for wondering where the videos of the misses are?
posted by dpx.mfx at 10:01 AM on July 13, 2007


And, am I an awful person for wondering where the videos of the misses are?

At the end of nickyskye's last comment
posted by jason's_planet at 12:07 PM on July 13, 2007


So many moments spent saying to my monitor, "Please don't do what you're obviously about to do," and then they did it anyway.
posted by Skot at 12:23 PM on July 13, 2007


There used to be a touring troupe of three guys that did this in the US a few years ago. I remember they were the halftime entertainment at a Seattle Sonics game in the late nineties. They rolled out a gym mat and the three beefy oiled up guys came out. There were audible groans and catcalls throughout the arena and more than once I overhead "fag" comments from seats around me. It grew increasingly silent as they got into their routine, then tense as some of the seemingly risky high-wire positions took place, then finally when all three men made a tower of some sort with the top guy well over ten feet off the ground in some ridiculous position every person in the crowd was just awestruck. Crazy talent and dedication to this craft. Thanks for the link.
posted by vito90 at 4:18 PM on July 13, 2007


I don't even want to think about how many injuries are behind these moves. There's natural selection in action, folks. These are the ones who didn't break their necks. And remember, it doesn't even have to be your fault. You can do everything right, train religiously under horrible conditions, put your heart and soul into the mere chance at a career, and the next second you're a paraplegic hanging outside of gas stations for handouts because some asshole had a late night and couldn't hold two people up.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:44 PM on July 13, 2007


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