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Divine Play V
Oct. 13th, 2014 11:54 amOn my way back from Oregon, after doubling up some family-visiting time with some acro-time.
A common theme for Divine Play this year was how the festival looks and feels different when viewed through the (jaded) eyes of a teacher or advanced student -- there's not as much new-to-us stuff on offer anymore. We're on the lookout for a few nuggets of inspiration, or tips that work for teaching, and reconnecting with those once-a-year friends. And I just can’t HAVE those experiences of going and learning 25 new tricks, some of them beyond any tricks I’d ever done before, because that’s not the kind of trick I’m learning anymore.
I was in a big group performance again. The level of dynamic tricks was much higher this year (think 10 big dudes throwing two tiny chicks around), and that broke up a lot of partnerships, leaving flyers basing flyers over on the edges of the big tricks. I ended up not hitting ANY of my basing tricks because the stage was so crowded and my flyer got scared, and also not hitting my standing hand-to-hand because of timing. Not upset though; any 30+ person show that was put together in less than a day is going to be ragged like that, I hear the audience enjoyed watching, and the big multi-person tricks mostly worked. There’ll be one or two nice-ish pictures of me and the Ant, eventually.
And I stayed in a stressfully overpacked apartment full of monkeys, where I got to see Rocky kissing a girl with both of them in a handstand (though not free-balancing). Adorkable.
My actual acrobatic victory was simply that I equaled all my best work so far: I got the cartwheel to hand-to-hand with two bases, and a single inlocate to hand-to-hand, out of lines, with my old teacher Z-dawg. That’d be the first one I’ve gotten in MONTHS, the first one out of lines, and the first one not done with the Ant, so it was important. It helped greatly to have Arthur Davis (yes that Arthur Davis, famous enough to not get a code name) spotting me — I thought he’d assist, but the power of his gaze was such that I popped right up there. @_@
And later, working with Rocky in a Dutch acro workshop, I realized that the same “take off your pants” cue works well for inlocating to two-high as well. I think I’ll double down on cane push-backs and drag-ups, when I have a spare moment to think and plan my own workouts again. Also, did I mention the flyer and base can both jump while in thighstand or in solid base? The latter is fun and easy.
I also learned a few cool cartwheel tricks from a capoiera guy, one or two I’d like to take to LCS and introduce as warmup drills or something.
( List of new tricks I might want to refer to )
I missed the kitty-beasts, and I’m sad at how little time I’ll have at home with them for the first few days back. People actually have scheduled a handbalancing act rehearsal, at Zillian, starting two hours after my plane lands — painful! Let's not even talk about my actually having to go back to work tomorrow.
A common theme for Divine Play this year was how the festival looks and feels different when viewed through the (jaded) eyes of a teacher or advanced student -- there's not as much new-to-us stuff on offer anymore. We're on the lookout for a few nuggets of inspiration, or tips that work for teaching, and reconnecting with those once-a-year friends. And I just can’t HAVE those experiences of going and learning 25 new tricks, some of them beyond any tricks I’d ever done before, because that’s not the kind of trick I’m learning anymore.
I was in a big group performance again. The level of dynamic tricks was much higher this year (think 10 big dudes throwing two tiny chicks around), and that broke up a lot of partnerships, leaving flyers basing flyers over on the edges of the big tricks. I ended up not hitting ANY of my basing tricks because the stage was so crowded and my flyer got scared, and also not hitting my standing hand-to-hand because of timing. Not upset though; any 30+ person show that was put together in less than a day is going to be ragged like that, I hear the audience enjoyed watching, and the big multi-person tricks mostly worked. There’ll be one or two nice-ish pictures of me and the Ant, eventually.
And I stayed in a stressfully overpacked apartment full of monkeys, where I got to see Rocky kissing a girl with both of them in a handstand (though not free-balancing). Adorkable.
My actual acrobatic victory was simply that I equaled all my best work so far: I got the cartwheel to hand-to-hand with two bases, and a single inlocate to hand-to-hand, out of lines, with my old teacher Z-dawg. That’d be the first one I’ve gotten in MONTHS, the first one out of lines, and the first one not done with the Ant, so it was important. It helped greatly to have Arthur Davis (yes that Arthur Davis, famous enough to not get a code name) spotting me — I thought he’d assist, but the power of his gaze was such that I popped right up there. @_@
And later, working with Rocky in a Dutch acro workshop, I realized that the same “take off your pants” cue works well for inlocating to two-high as well. I think I’ll double down on cane push-backs and drag-ups, when I have a spare moment to think and plan my own workouts again. Also, did I mention the flyer and base can both jump while in thighstand or in solid base? The latter is fun and easy.
I also learned a few cool cartwheel tricks from a capoiera guy, one or two I’d like to take to LCS and introduce as warmup drills or something.
( List of new tricks I might want to refer to )
I missed the kitty-beasts, and I’m sad at how little time I’ll have at home with them for the first few days back. People actually have scheduled a handbalancing act rehearsal, at Zillian, starting two hours after my plane lands — painful! Let's not even talk about my actually having to go back to work tomorrow.
