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Gymnast, Salsa dancer and musical theater performer, Jonathan Platero

I began watching these competitions when my wife wanted to watch “American Idol.” I was drawn into the program, not because of the musicians, but because of the judges. I understood their comments for what they were, constructive criticism intended to help each contestant become professional musicians. Especially Simon Cowell whose comments were so accurate.

Since my industry is acrobatic dance, I decided to watch “So You Think You Can Dance”, too. Both programs are produced by Simon Fuller. At first I was put off by the judges. But as I watched the program I could see their constructive criticisms, too. But more than that I was fascinated by the choreographers.

Each week the dancers have to learn routines that are outside their usual range of training. They are given professional routines to learn from the gamut of dance genre’s of Hip Hop, Contemporary, Ball Room, Jazz, Broadway, and others that I am not familiar with. They are given professional costumes and stunning lighting. So learning what the choreographers are doing I find fascinating.

Jonathan Platero

Jonathan Platero is a gymnast who went on to dance, specifically he trained in Salsa (Ball Room). He even performed in Disney’s, “High School Musical,” so he is more than just an athlete. I enjoyed much of his dancing, and found it refreshing that a male gymnast could break out of the athlete mindset.

What killed him in the competition is his nice personality. He had to dance a Gangsta Hip Hop routine and he could not get into the character. What cut him from the show was his reliance upon his tumbling instead of dance. When I watched his solo routine it was obvious that he was going home.

Ballerina Melissa Sandvig has a strong performance because of her ballet training.

Melissa Sandvig

Unlike Jonathan, Melissa is not a gymnast. Neither is she a Hip Hop dancer or any other. She is a classically trained ballerina. Despite her lack of training in the other dance disciplines, she is able to adapt to those styles. And I am convinced it is because of her ballet training. She is also more mature than Jonathan. He is 20 and she is 29.

So here is my point. Gymnastics training rarely helps gymnasts cross over into theater. There have been some who made their careers in theater, Cathy Rigby, in particular. But sports training does not bring out personalities as does theater. Jonathan leaned on his gymnastics too much and it failed him. The USAG made a big deal out of Shawn Johnson dancing on TV, too. They pushed our votes for her simply because she is a gymnast. But no one should vote on that basis.

Acrobatic Gymnastics is in danger of this same dead end as Artistic Gymnastics. In danger, but not damaged. Acro is already a theatrical medium, even though the FIG is pushing towards more sports mentality. Many acrobats easily move to the professional arena of theater.

Acrobats need the classical ballet training that has been the back bone of Melissa’s performance. Acrobats should seek other dance genre training, too, but they must have the ballet training. It is the backbone of dance, just as tumbling is the back bone of gymnastics.

The acrobatic gymnastics community needs to watch this show and others like it. With “American Idol” they emphasis to the singers that they are to make the songs their own and invest their personalities into their performance. This should be so with acro. In “So You Think You Can Dance” the choreographers talk about the story of each dance and the characters being played in the dance. A few years ago the FIG talked about the element of story in the Artistry category. Judges were confused by the concept. No wonder, for they have the sport mentality and misunderstand the theatrical element of art. This story element needs to be built up in the acro routines.

Of course, only so much can be done with children. But the older athletes who have the maturity should be displaying these elements in their routines. Let us not lose sight of the goal of acro: Cirque du Solei and all the other performing arts companies that are growing up around it. If acro slides into the sport mentality, it will die just as Jonathan was cut from the show.

When the 2008 Olympics began in Beijing this week, Bruno Grandi, president of the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique, or the FIG, which creates the rules for all gymnastic disciplines, and governs all the international competition, made a statement regarding the rules changes in Artistic Gymnastics.  According to an article posted on the NBC website :

International Gymnastics Federation president Bruno Grandi said Saturday he soon will discuss curbing some of the difficulty athletes have been packing into their routines. The federation instituted a new scoring system in 2006, and it has led to gymnasts pushing the safety envelope while seeking higher scores.

“We need attention to the difficulty increases, which are too much,” Grandi said. “I’d like gymnastics to remain artistic, that we don’t lose this part, the artistic. It is not only a sport of biomechanical performance. Expressivity must remain.

When FIG scrapped the perfect 10 system after the 2004 Olympics controversy, its new judging method made difficulty a more significant factor. Now that the current system has been used for two years, Grandi is convinced it must be tweaked.

This is both laudable and commendable. I hope he manages to regain artistry in gymnastics.  But frankly, I believe that ship has sailed.

For readers unfamiliar with the full scope of gymnastics, I wish to interject since this is a Stunt Gym blog.  Gymnastics in the early 20th century taught all the disciplines together in the YMCA’s, Sokols, Turnveriens, and the school systems.  The full scope that they taught included all the equipment events (called Artistic Gymnastics), props (called Rhythmic Gymnastics), trampoline and tumbling, partner stunts (called Acrobatic Gymnastics) and group pyramids (left to the Cheerleaders, who also abandoned them).

Competition was governed by the Amateur Athletic Union, which governed a multitude of other sports besides gymnastics.  In the late 60′s, early 70′s, the United States Gymnastics Federation was formed, which is now known as USA Gymnastics,  because they had gained the FIG sanction.  Because the Olympics only included the events using equipment, the USGF abandoned all the other disciplines to concentrate on raising American gymnastics to international standards.  In that, they had succeeded in an outstanding way.  The other disciplines formed their own international organizations, but had a hard time gaining admittance into the Olympic competition.  Finally,  in the early 21st century, the International Olympic Committee declared that only those disciplines governed by the FIG could enter the Olympics, so they all disolved as organizations and merged with the FIG.  The same merger occurred at the national levels.

Getting back to Bruno Grandi’s comments regarding Artistic Gymnastics (the six events for men: 1. floor exercise, 2. pommel horse, 3. rings, 4. vault, 5. parallel bars, & 6. high bar; and the four events for women: 1. vault, 2. uneven bars, 3. beam, and 4. floor exercise).  Artistry has suffered because of the increase in difficulty. So he is right. The problem has been the influence of television and business. Extreme difficulty draws viewers and ratings.  And the more television broadcasts there are the more students tend to enroll in our gyms, which also increases the size of competitions and revenues for the governing bodies of the USAG, in the states, and the FIG, internationally.

The new rules were created to encourage even more difficulty, not for TV, per se, but in the interest of more equitable scoring for outstanding athletes and routines.  If Bruno is serious about increasing the artistry in Artistic Gymnastics, I have a few suggestions for him.

The high bar, unevens, rings and parallel bars are still beautiful artistic events.  Reducing difficulty for safety reasons should be pursued, but will not affect the artistry of these events.  I don’t know if pommel horse is considered dangerous, apart from athletic strains, so I see no need to change difficulty there.  Vaulting has little artistry anyway since they are one shot events.  Lower difficulty there for safety reasons.  However, floor and beam need major surgery. For both eliminate tumbling passes altogether.

In the early 1960′s tumbling was separate from floor exercise.  When tumbling stopped being a competitive event in Artistic Gymnastics, AG merely moved tumbling into the floor exercise.  Balance beam had little tumbling on the beam until the 1976 Olympics.   I had the privilege to watch  Abbie Grosfeld and Muriel Davis perform their floor exercise on 16mm film at the University of Washington back in 1974, and it inspired me with a vision of an artistic acrobatic dance style that was masculine for men, and fluid and aireal for women.   There are an abundant number of floor exercise movements that have been abandoned over the years as tumbling in floor became more and more difficult.  Tumbling is back under the FIG control.  Bruno, either make platform tumbling the seventh event for men and the fifth event for women, or let Artistic gymnasts join the Platform tumbling competition that already exists.   What ever is done, I am convinced that artistry in the floor exercise and beam will not be restored until tumbling is removed from these events.

Gymnastics training in the basics does not mean in forward rolls. The basics refer to the family of movements in gymnastics and to position and form. Every discipline of gymnastics has their family of movements. In tumbling it refers to rolls, handstands, cartwheels, walkovers, handsprings and saltos. On the equipment there are families that are specific to the equipment. In acrobatics there are basic movement families for partners in the dynamic and balance movements.

Position and form refers to the correct shape of the body for the family of stunts, tightness and explosiveness or flexibility needed for the movements. Basics training is ongoing year round training. Basics need to be reviewed

Rolls

Rolls have many variations: tucked, piked, straddled, as stalder presses, from handstands, from dives and from saltos. Rolling shapes and positions have specific needs for each variation.

Cartwheels

Cartwheels should be mastered on both sides, although everyone has a favorite side. The expressions “righties” and “lefties” does not refer to the hand one writes with but which side is the favorite side. It needs to be understood when learning hurdles and stepouts. Sideways cartwheels have no connecting steps when power tumbling. Cartwheels are also performed forwards, that is with the hips square forward and finish backwards. Such cartwheels are used from a run and hurdle, for choreographic purposes, and for side aireals which are no handed cartwheels.

Handsprings

Handsprings are called that because of the after flight created from the spring off the hands for the landing. Round offs are not cartwheels, but are handsprings, having once been called Arabian Handsprings, a name that is still retained in the Arabian front flip, which is a round off half turn to front flip. Whips are actually saltos, since they are back handsprings with no hand contact, but are trained as back handsprings since they are usually connecting stunts and not finishing stunts as the saltos are to a pass.

Saltos

Saltos are the punctuation marks of tumbling. When in the middle of the pass they provide accent and when at the end of the pass they are exclamation marks. The salto is the most exciting part of the pass for it is pure flight. Saltos have to be properly blocked by the tumbler. Blocking refers to the placement of the feet on take off and landing. In take off and landing the feet should be in front of the gymnasts motion to change the motion from horizontal movement to vertical flight and landing so as not to stumble forward or backward after landing.

Training for all gymnastics by a good coach will be the learning of skills by parts.  A good coach will break a skill into several parts and use drills that help the gymnast move correctly in that part.  Gymnastic stunts take only a second to do, yet the gymnast has to make several movements in that stunt in the right order, at the right time and with the right amount of power.  The mind cannot do this.  Fortunately, the body is directed from the brain by the neural network, which gives us our feeling of touch, and is able to function in micro seconds.  Drills are used to train these nerves so that the body will do what it needs to do in a stunt automatically as a reflex.  This frees the gymnasts mind to know what is coming next in a routine.

The standing back handspring needs drill training for it to be performed effectively.  Many mistakes in the trick occur because of a lack of proper drills training.   The stunt can be divided into these 6 parts:

1. The sit and fall
2. The back dive
3. The handstand
4. The block
5. The snap down
6. The rebound.

So here we have six movements in a one second skill that has to be performed correctly in the right order, right time, right power, and the right form.  Let’s look at each phase of the skill.

The Sit and Fall

For a standing back handspring, as well as for the round off, back handspring,  the body must sit and fall backwards off balance in order for the flight of the back dive to travel correctly backwards.

The common mistake for a standing back handspring is for the gymnast to lean forward as he or she sits before the jump.  Doing so causes the flight to go up more than back.  As a result they end up with high back handsprings that land heavy in the handstand.

To train the correct beginning, have the gymnast sit on a box against a wall. The gymnast should sit so that he or she feels the wall with their back. Arms should swing down with the sit, then swing up at the same time the back hits the wall.

The Back Dive

From the sit and arm swing, the gymnast dives backward to a straight body position.  Placing a foam wedge on top of a landing mat will provide a soft landing for the drill as well as to give the sense of the angle for the dive.

The main point of confusion for a gymnast learning the back handspring is the thought that they must go to a handstand.  As a result they do not jump hard enough to put their body into flight.  The back dive is the back handspring.   The irony of the back handspring is that the lighter the jump the more dangerous the skill becomes.  The harder the jump the safer the skill and less painful the performance will be.  When doing this drill encourage the kids to go for distance on the jump.  Have them try to touch the top of the wedge with their hands.  Obviously, the wedge and mat have to be set a safe distance from the gymnast so that they do not dive past the mat.  If the gymnast is tall try placing a small stack of panel mats in front of the landing mat to increase the distance for the jump.  They should land with their legs straight and tight together with their arms straight and tight to their head.  Their whole bodies should be tight in the landing with their toes pointed.  Emphasize the toe point from the beginning of the jump, not just the landing on the mat.

The Handstand

It is important that the gymnast not rush past the handstand anxiously to get their feet on the ground.  The handstand landing has to be straight and tight.

Before doing this drill from the back handspring, have the gymnast kick to a handstand with the stomach facing the landing mat. Then they are to keep their body straight and tight as they fall on their stomach.   Teaching a back handspring presupposes that a handstand has been taught correctly first.  If the gymnast is relaxed on the landing he or she may injure their backs.  If they are landing correctly from the stand, then have them move about a body length away from the mat, or if your landing mat is large enough, have them stand on the mat for the back handspring.  Stop them in their handstand to straighten their bodies before the handstand flop landing.

The Block

Blocking is a term that has two meanings.  The original meaning was “to get in the way,” specifically with the feet when changing a forward or backward movement to a vertical movement as when flipping in the air.   As applied to the arms, however, blocking means “to push from the shoulders and wrists”.   If the handstand remains straight upon the landing, then the gymnast needs to vigorously block from the shoulders before snapping the legs down.   If the gymnast snaps the legs down first, there is no chance of a correct push of the upper torso for the stand.  If the block was performed at the right time correctly, the body should be in flight before landing on the feet.  If the hands remain on the ground when the feet hit, then there was no block.

There are many drills for working the block with the snap down.  Donkey hops, as see on the left, are blocks and snap downs done consecutively.  These are real gut busters.

The ability to block will hinge on the shoulder and arm strength of the gymnast.  If they haven’t the strength, then don’t expect them to block.  A conditioning program is vital and should begin on day 1 of any program.

The Snap Down

The snap down and block work together, so the separation is artificial.

The goal of the snap down is to bring the legs down forcefully while standing up quickly.  Using a box against the wall for the gymnast to kick to a handstand raises the athlete up, thus facilitating the stand upwards.

The main mistake of most beginners is that they fail to get their arms and upper torso up quickly from the snap down, thus causing their bodies to lean forward on the landing.   The only way another back handspring can be connected to the first, then is to squat deeply to help the body fall back again.  This is wrong and slows down the back handspring series when being learned.  Teach them to get up fast before introducing the series.

The Rebound

It should be a habit for the athletes to rebound after the skill.  In truth, correct tumbling is more rebounding than jumping.  The difference between a jump and a rebound is that in a jump the athlete bends the knees and jumps off the toes, whereas with a rebound the legs remain straight and the bounce comes from the arch of the foot and toe point.

Rebounding is faster than jumping because jumping requires more distance the body must travel with the knee bend and the straightening of the legs just to get off the ground, than the rebound which is very little movement.

The rebound should have pointed toes and feet. The arms should be up behind the ears.  The head should stay inside the arms in the neutral position of looking forward, not down.   The block and snap should have the feet land  far from the hands for the rebound.  When series are introduced the gymnast will have to learn to undercut.

A drill to help learn the rebound is to stiffen the legs and simple have them bounce on two feet all the way across the floor.

The Dream

Learning the back handspring is the dream of every beginner. The back handspring is an intermediate skill, but is considered a basic skill.  It is considered a basic skill because it is foundational to all tumbling.  But being basic does not mean that it is learned quickly and mastered readily.

Kindling the Flame

Learning a back handspring is like starting a campfire.  We all want the large logs to burn for a lasting fire.  However, if you put a match to a log, it will not ignite.  To build the fire you build a stack of wood with the smallest pieces, called kindling, on the bottom, larger pieces, called tender, with the logs on top of the stack. When you light the match the kindling will ignite first, which will build enough of a fire to ignite the tender, which will also grow big enough to ignite the log.  Notice, however, that the logs are already on top of the tender and kindling.  That way, the flame of the match goes to the log through the kindling and tender.

The comparison intended is that a back handspring has to be taught right away to beginners.  The log compares to the back handspring, but the kindling and tender compares to drills.  Beginners who just jump into the back handspring (the log) without the drills first (kindling and tender) will not have strong back handsprings.

What Are Drills?

So, coaches understand this, and begin all beginners on drills that apply to the back handsprings as well as other skills.  Drills are skills broken down into parts.  Every skill has different parts to the skills that when combined together create the skills.  So while your coach may be working you on other things besides back handsprings, trust him or her, because they are building the back handspring from the parts that they are training.

The Need for Drills in Back Handsprings

In the middle of the handspring you can see the handstand.  Handstand training is the brick of the wall of tumbling.  All tumbling skills pass through the handstand. A handstand should be straight so that the bones of the body all line up.  If the bones are in line, they can hold up to 600 lbs of weight. According to a USAG study, a typical round off back handspring performed by a properly trained gymnast increases the body weight by five times due to velocity and centrifugal force.  That means a 100 lb gymnast has a 500 lb force of impact on her handstand!  But the bones can hold 600 lbs if aligned properly.  Now imagine the bones out of line with the head sticking out and the back in an arch.

Unless the muscles are very strong, the athlete will collapse upon impact.   But even with the bones in a straight line, the muscles still have to hold them in place.  So your coach also needs to train your body in overall tightness and increase your muscle strength so they can hold the bones in place.

Round Offs are easy skills that are actually very hard. As teachers we introduce the round off in the beginning training of tumbling. Here at the Stunt Gym the round off is the last skill learned in the Beginner Level.

However, it takes years to master the round off so that it is an effective stunt connected to a back handspring. A good round off will make the back handspring very easy. Many times kids will learn a round off, back handspring before they learn a standing back handspring. A good round off will throw the body into a fast flight backwards, which will cause a back handspring to turn over quickly. But a standing back handspring requires a powerful jump backwards to turn it over safely.

The reason it is taught as a beginner skill is because it is similar to a cartwheel. And once a cartwheel is mastered, it is a simple step to have the front foot catch up with the back foot kick so that they come together in the handstand. Have you ever seen the difference between a beginner doing a round off and an advanced tumbler? They look quite different.

The truth is: round offs are not a cartwheels, they are handsprings. When a gymnast performs a round off, half turn in the air to a front flip, that skill is actually called an Arabian front flip because of the round off entry. At one time, long ago, round offs were also called Arabian handsprings.

Round offs are complicated skills to master. The reason they are complicated, as the drawing above illustrates, is because the athlete has to turn on two axes. The first axis of rotation is on the short axis that goes sideways through the hips and is used in rolls and flips. The second axis is on the long axis which goes through the head to the toes which is the twisting axis, and is used in jump full turns and layout fulls.

Round offs require a large step forward from the hurdle and a long reach of the hands away from the feet to straighten out the body during the short axis rotation so that it may more easily twist for the cartwheel turn. Remember that it is the body that twists, not just the hands.

Getting this part right takes time in itself, yet that is not enough to get the round off effective for back handspring use. There is still the handspring phase. While the body is straight after the cartwheel turn, a forceful push from the shoulders and wrists is necessary to propel the body into the air before the snap down.

It is a common mistake for kids to bend in the waist to bring their feet down without any push. That part of the round off – the snap down – is the handspring phase of the stunt. If the feet simply come down without a push from the shoulders and wrists, it will not be a snap down. Snap downs are also the second half of the back handspring and is the handspring portion of that trick, too. The first half of the back handspring, of course, is the back dive, which is not the handspring portion of the skill.

Good snap downs require strong shoulders that are also flexible The spring action of the shoulders begins in the hurdle before the round off even is done! When the arms swing up to the ears, the shoulders are stretched. This is why it is important that the arms remain by the ears and not reach down for the ground. If they remain by the head, then when the body goes down for the cartwheel turn, the shoulders will sink back into their girdle. That is the spring action. Once they sink, they can recoil to a stretch again, to spring the upper torso upwards and backwards for the back dive of the back handspring.

Round offs are relatively safe skills to practice on your own. Arms have been broken from bad cartwheels and round offs, as have ankles sprained from bad cartwheels and round offs, but those injuries are rare. If you really want to learn how to tumble well, work on straightening out your round offs at home.

This blog has been set up to open discussion on stunt gymnastics activities. If you have a question, ask me and I will post it on the blog.

Here we will discuss how tricks are done, how long it takes to learn and many other aspects of the sport.

So here is your chance. In the comment section below, write your question. I look forward to answering them.