Acro Principles

Acro Principles

These principles of Acro have slowly been developed over my time training with different partners, and while teaching students of all skill levels. They are focused on the actions of one body working with another body in time and space. The different principles cover all of the styles, and aspects that partner acrobatics have to offer.

I have kept them simple and straight to the point. Which makes them quicker to understand, and easier to implement in the long run. Now before we begin these are principles, not rules. Rules are arbitrary and can be broken and interpreted and bent, and thrown out the window. No these are principles. They are simpler, applied to all situations, they mold, change into the context of the situation, while the principle itself is never lost. Which is important when working with someone else.

All partner acrobatics, with its different tricks, skills, styles, movements, aesthetics, and groupings, all come together under 3 principles. Once we have an understanding of these and the types of skills that come under them, it makes it easier to learn and assimilate new skills. Because we have learned the basic understanding of what makes them work. Which gives us the feelings we should be looking for and the ability to know where to place the attention if its not working.

The principles are;

These acro principles are made to overlay my general principles. Depending on the tricks we are working on in the moment we will focus on a specific Acro principle while using the general principles as a basis of how we work with our partners.

Acro can be quite confusing and overwhelming with all the information coming at us while we work, so using these principles to gather our attention and hone our focus, we can ask better questions to move forward, while also being clearer with our partners about what we need.

let’s begin

PUSH

Push at all times

Both the Base and the Flier are pushing into each other

• Flier pushing into the ground, through the base

• Base being the ground pushing back up into the flier

This principle applies specifically to all skills where the flier is being balanced on top of the base / bases. All of the different flows and poses in L basing comes under this heading, as well as a number of dance lifts, foot2hand, hand2hand, contact dance, etc. the principle is the same irrelevant of the position the base or the flier may be in.

So lets look at it from the L basing point of view, due to the nature of the shape of the base and where the flier is in relation to this. We find the principle of push at all times easily.

The flier is always on top of the base balancing precariously, with gravity always pushing them down. The base is laying down on the ground with their feet pointing towards the ceiling, ( creating the shape of the L, hence the name ) in direct opposition to the flier and gravity. All the skills find themselves at the meeting point of these two forces.

When working with these skills the flier needs to be actively pushing into whatever point of contact they have with their base. That can be their hands, feet, hips, etc. this will then focus their centre of balance, lining it up with gravity to create a point that the base can feel and use to balance them with.

The base being the ground will push back up into that point of contact, either through their hands, or feet, etc. and with this push they become more stable for the flier, making it easier to balance them. When all of the weight is balanced on this point of contact it makes it easier to do all of the poses.

Now this applies the same way with all the push skills, the shapes may change but the pushing into the contact doesn’t. So if the base is standing, their point of contact with the ground is now their feet and so they push through their feet all the way up into their hands, because that is how they are holding the flier. The flier is standing tall allowing gravity to push them down into the base through their feet. So they accentuate that by focusing their center and allowing the weight to push down.

The more stable the base can become. Allowing themselves to be the ground and push against gravity, the more comfortable the flier will feel In pushing back and letting go enough so that they can be balanced by the base.

PULL

Pull at all times

Counter Balance

• The Flier and the Base are pulling against each other at all times

• The center of balance is shared in this tension

This principle applies specifically to the skills where the flier and the base / bases are pulling against each other, regardless of how they do that or what shapes they are in. Some of the skills that come under this principle are the basic counter balance moves like thigh-stand, flag, group skills like toss the flyer, and the large group castelles, etc.

The skills rely on the use of counter forces to create a single unit between the base and flier. The action of Tensegrity is the key factor here, (which is a structural principle based on a system of isolated components under compression inside a network of continuous tension ) the base and flier become the isolated components where by constantly pulling against each other create continuous tension which makes the whole structure become stable turning into one large organism.

Counter balancing begins as soon as the people make contact with each other continuing all the way to the end of the skill, when they have come back down to the ground and are under their own individual center of gravity and in control of themselves, before finally letting go. This is important as the two most common mistakes that are made, are people dumping all of the tension too late onto the structure, or taking their tension away too soon leaving the skill in a precarious position and off balance causing it to fall.

Because counter balance is the action of people pulling against one another, it changes the point of balance from being separate under the people to a singular centre in between them both. Which creates the opportunity for them to explore and rest in sharp angles and shapes.

This principle is not strength based, it instead focuses on the tension created by the individuals which when put together multiplies to be greater than what everyone contributes. Counter balance is more subtle requiring incredible amounts of listening and fine adjustments during the balancing process.

Tempo

Moving together, finishing in a moment of balance.

• Both the base and flier move at the same time

• Finishing in a balance, either push or pull

This principle applies specifically to the skills where the flier and the base / bases are moving at the same time. In the other principles the movements can be broken down so that only one person moves at a time. But with tempo that is not the case, because its the combined effort and use of momentum that generates the power. Some of the styles of partner acrobatics that come under this principle are cheer leading, Sports acrobatics, icarian, dance acro, banquine, etc

Tempo as the name suggests is all about timing and rhythm and using them in combination to generate power and force that when mixed together create the opportunity for explosive skills and tricks to be achieved. Through combining each individual’s power and the use of timing, more momentum is generated than each individual can do alone. Imagine a rocket as it takes off into space, the different stages of fuel that release to generate the force necessary to break gravity. So the overall power used is greater than the individual units because of the timing of when those rockets fire, allowing the momentum to keep building and getting faster.

We are able to achieve the same effect, when exploring these movements. By combining our internal rhythms and learning the timing of the skill. Now tempo generally has two parts, the fast dynamic movement, and the stillness / balance moment. The balance moment can either be a push balance or a pull balance. Or in the case of icarian and some cheer and spots acro skills. The moment of stillness can be when the people are all back on the floor again. Which makes the skill just a continuous dynamic movement. It is important to know the trajectory of the skill, the beginning the middle and the end. So you can work out the timing and when to apply appropriate force.

Now we all have a rhythm that we are born with, its an internal clock that sets our beat and determines how we move and generate power. It is natural and makes us who we are. It can be harnessed and depending on ones training and capabilities can be manipulated and explored. But the simple truth is it cannot be changed without extreme attention and consistent hard work. So the one thing I see that makes teams fail when trying tempo skills, is not their capabilities or individual skill levels, it’s that their rhythms don’t match and so their group rhythm is off.

Tempo is the hardest principle to implement because it takes no prisoners. The unfortunate truth is that some partnerships will never get tempo work. Because their individual rhythms are too conflicting with one another, and to get them to line up will take 5 – 10 years consistent hard work. Most people don’t want to go through those years of frustrations unsure if they will ever achieve their goals.

So how do we know if our timing is off or our rhythms don’t line up? We can figure it out over a few sessions, by practising various drills as we develop the skills. The first thing is that tempo work should always feel light. If at any point it becomes heavy and muscular it means the timing is off and the momentum is not being harnessed. Which means someone needs to slow down or speed up or even that the brakes are being applied because the next step in the skill isn’t being done yet, etc.

If after a few sessions the drills are not clicking or getting easier your tempos may be off. To be clear the way to determine whether its a skill problem and need more practice, or a tempo problem is that if its a lack of skills, you will achieve the drills and things will progress no matter how slowly, and the building up of the drills will feel great. If its a tempo problem the drills will always feel wrong, and you will struggle even with the first steps. You will not achieve the skill. The first drills will take enormous effort and struggle to do. It will not click.

When in doubt seek an external coach who can give feedback.