Two person acrobatics?

[Chris Hansen]

Hello,

I've been thinking it would be fun if I could practice some kind of two person acrobatics with my wife. Can anyone point the way to some very basic material we can work on? Something that would be a good first thing for beginners to try would be perfect.

Thanks.

[Neal Winkler]

There are just too many ways I could turn this into a joke....

[Seiji]

Oh, Mr. Choke and his jokes

There are some basic things you can find on youtube.

Just make sure the stronger one is the holder/lifter while the smaller person is the flyer

[palmcron]

Have a look at this thread

[Chris Hansen]

Have a look at this thread

Thanks, I'll take a look at it.

[Mikael Kristiansen]

The most important thing you should know is that the base(person under) is the person actually keeping the balance for the flyer(person on top). The flyer is in most tricks essentially a "stick" in a fixed position who does not balance at all. It is the same principle of balancing a broom in your palm, by moving the palm under the centre of gravity of the broom.

Also, you should know, that most tricks can be quite dangerous, especially if the flyer is inexperienced. It feels weird to "not" balance, and can cause people to freak out and start to move, which makes it hard and REALLY heavy to balance for the base. Im not saying this to discourage you, but just to keep as a precaution, so you use mats, spotters, etc when starting out.

Edit: I did look at the resources in the link, and the ones from FEDEC are excellent. FEDEC is a nexus organisation for all Europe's circus schools, and the manual there is great for a lot of different skills. I think this one is about the best you can find on the net.

The most basic I guess is the 2 man high(person standing on your shoulders). It can also be done with the base sitting down in the beginning.

In general, a lot of the tricks you see people doing while standing, you can also do while the base is lying down on the back. This especially applies to the tricks where the flyer is supported in the hands of the base,(hand to hand, foot to hand). Also, a lot of the floor things are very safe to begin with and builds up stability, strength, and most important, trust between the two. Look it up around the internet, and also try to find people who you can learn from. It is a lot of fun, i promise you!

[palmcron]

I just found another resource, that seems interesting, the acro coach training videos from the USA Gymnastics website:

http://www.usa-gymnastics.org/pages/acro/video/.

I only had a short look, but it seems good.

It was posted on the beastskills-facebook-page.

[Chris Hansen]

Cool, thanks!