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Hand-To-Hand Balancing Resources?

Started by emos, February 10, 2013 · 16 Replies · 9,511 Views

emos

Hi. Does anyone have any good links or resources concerning hand-to-hand balancing, i.e. partner handbalancing?

 

I'm due to try some this week with a base who has done some lower-level acrobalance stuff and is familiar with other circus arts, but neither of us have tried hand-to-hand work before. I remember reading a guide once that discussed hand positioning and other things, but I couldn't seem to find it.

 

Any info will be appreciated.

 

Thanks,

emos

Hmm. I really need to make some canes/blocks to work on this side of things.

karimoo

Steve Atlas of "The Body Practice" in the US recently started doing shows.

He has some workshops now and then and he also offers online coaching.

 

Search "The Atlas Brothers" on youtube to see some of his stuff.

kfvorwerk

It's actually pretty simple. Have a spot and know how to twist out to land if you go over. Roll out landings are not a good idea most of the time. It's actually done by letting the base balance the flyer. In the begining the flyer is stff once he's up and the base balances by watching the flyers feet. Like balancing a broomstick. To get in position you roll up to your handstand in a tuck then extend to the handstand. You don't need a handstand to be able to do a hand to hand. Hands are usually held at a slight angle and the base starts with the hands a little high and then sinks into position as the weight comes on.

Handbalancer

Hand to hand is simple in theory but definitely not in practice. It takes a lot of trust and training along with being dangerous. Advanced moves should not be attempted without proper coaching, spotting mats and/or safety lines. For resources, use the fedec one. It is a standard basics protocol of circus schools. Learn very simple stuff like standing on shoulders, foot to hand, etc to build the awareness, strength and understanding of each others bodies before attempting more complicated tricks. For both foot to hand and hand to hand, learn the variations where the base is lying down on the floor before attempting standing up


While its true that you dont need to balance a handstand to be able to fly in hand to hand, its ridiculous to practice it without having a decent handstand. Doing a tuck jump to handstand properly, that is without arching/letting shoulders go forwards(which in turn will affect the position of the base) is very hard for most people who do not have a decent handstand. Also there is a LOT to cover when it comes to wrist positioning, shoulder and elbow position for the base, conditioning the flyer to NOT correct his/her balance. This is just the tip of the iceberg and there is a lot of technique which is important to safely practice. 

palmcron
Handbalancer said:

Hand to hand is simple in theory but definitely not in practice. It takes a lot of trust and training along with being dangerous. Advanced moves should not be attempted without proper coaching, spotting mats and/or safety lines. For resources, use the fedec one. It is a standard basics protocol of circus schools. Learn very simple stuff like standing on shoulders, foot to hand, etc to build the awareness, strength and understanding of each others bodies before attempting more complicated tricks. For both foot to hand and hand to hand, learn the variations where the base is lying down on the floor before attempting standing up

While its true that you dont need to balance a handstand to be able to fly in hand to hand, its ridiculous to practice it without having a decent handstand. Doing a tuck jump to handstand properly, that is without arching/letting shoulders go forwards(which in turn will affect the position of the base) is very hard for most people who do not have a decent handstand. Also there is a LOT to cover when it comes to wrist positioning, shoulder and elbow position for the base, conditioning the flyer to NOT correct his/her balance. This is just the tip of the iceberg and there is a lot of technique which is important to safely practice. 

kfvorwerk

Actually it's not all that dangerous if the base knows what they're doing. You do need a spotter that's good enough to catch the mistakes. Handstands and hand-to-hands are two different tricks.

Handbalancer

I have based quite a lot and I would have to say it is equally important that the flyer knows what he is doing. For lower level tricks it is maybe more important for the flyer to understand the concept than the base. I have seen a 60kg flyer in my class in circus school do a hand to hand on a 47kg girl  who never based before because his placement is very good and he does not create unneccesary movement for the base to deal with.

 

Handstands and hand to hand are two different things but it is not a coincidence that very many flyers are also strong handbalancers on their own. No coach i know would teach hand to hand before approving of the handstand first. Even though it is different, getting into a hand to hand through tuck/straddle jump or pressing, is exactly the same and if you cant do it solidly on floor you cant expect to trust yourself to do it on a base.

 

I have seen people get injured from being reckless with this stuff. There was a guy training in a free training once who was a pretty strong base, but he had just started to train with a new flyer. They both knew what they were doing but were not used to each other. When going down from just a basic hand to hand she jumps down the opposite way of what he expected and twisted her shoulder. Nothing too bad, but still.

palmcron

Hum, somehow my post above did not get posted the way I intended it :(

What I wanted to post was about where handbalancer says it is important for the flyer NOT to correct/balance.

Ideally on the floor, all balancing is done by the wrist, applying pressure through the palm onto the floor. Ideally then, also the angle of the wrist stays the same, the muscles around it just tense for rebalance-actions.
For hand-to-hand, this sensation of feeling pressure in the hand is in my opinion helpful for the base to balance, but generated by actions of the flyer.
Of course it does not feel like balancing on the floor for the flyer, but the principle is similar.

Personally I seem to rely less on vision and more on such feedback for balance than other bases seem to do.

I'm not yet that far, but I believe it is necessary to rely more on feeling the center of gravity through the palm when doing more difficult stuff where the base cannot see the feet of the flyer anymore.

What's your opinion on this, Mikael? (and others of course, too)

Vagabond

Althought most hand to hand people seem to use the combination "flyer stay in position without corrections, base makes the corrections", I've also sometimes seen the opposite ("base stays still, flyer balances himself"). I'm sure in every case, the partners have to tweak things around a little bit to make sure it works out for them.

 

Otherwise, I also have the opinion that flyers should know how to balance themselves. If they spend time on their hands, it's important for them to have the strength to support their own weight, otherwise they might get hurt. They need to be able to do handstands to be in shape for spending any length of time on their hands, and there's no way they'll practice ONLY when they're with their base, unless they live in Eastern Europe or in China where they must practice for hours at a time (and I'm pretty sure part of their training is done individually).

 

For the danger of the tricks, I think it depends a lot what tricks you're doing. I've tried a few tricks with partners, but most of them weren't very dynamic tricks. I think that dynamic tricks need to be made a lot safer compared to static tricks. Per examples, things that were done by "The Atlas Brothers", mentioned above, are fairly safe and can be practiced safely on any stable but not too hard surface, at the condition that the flyer and the base are each ready to fullfil their role and know how to bail out of the tricks they practice. But if you do tricks like the Iroshnikovs do... Safety is a lot trickier.

bigB

How would a hand to hand balance compare to a ring handstand?

Obviously there are different but it would just be interesting to hear someone's perspective.

Daniel Burnham
bigB said:

How would a hand to hand balance compare to a ring handstand?

Obviously there are different but it would just be interesting to hear someone's perspective.

Much different. I'm ring handstand you control the balance. In hand to hand the person under you controls the balance. I would say the base support is closer to the ring handstand than the person doing the handstand.

Jon Douglas
Daniel Burnham said:

 I would say the base support is closer to the ring handstand than the person doing the handstand.

That's an interesting way to look at it. Hmm.

Coach Sommer
Daniel Burnham said:

... I would say the base support is closer to the ring handstand than the person doing the handstand ...

Very accurate analogy.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

jules

We make a joke in circus that the Base does all the work but the Flyer gets all the credit.

I have a friend who can do a solid 1 arm HS during hand to hand, but not by himself on the floor.

He said he just 'locks out' and the base does the rest. Like balancing a standing broom on the palm

of your hand :)