Trapeze is the converse of knitting

[flexagon]

With knitting there are usually two sticks and a string... with trapeze there's one stick hanging from two strings. :-)

Because of being in a slump, I've been extra strict for the last week or so about doing a) productive things that should give me a sense of motion and b) cool things that should be exciting. Things filed under "a" include finishing knitting a sweater piece, and starting to replace the bathroom vanity last weekend with heisenbug. Things filed under "b" include today's private trapeze lesson (with harm_city_heart, no less).

So this one's for nevers and apfelsingail -- I figured you guys might get a kick out of my first encounter with your favorite apparatus. :-)

First off, I didn't hate the hand-hurting stuff as much as I expected to. The trapeze was not as scrapey as a gymnastics bar is, though it is stickier, and I think I escaped with just one blister and some stinging feelings; I might not even have bruises behind my knees. At one point I did put too much weight behind my right knee and got a truly evil flash of pain -- something that happened once before when I took a mixed circus class with islenskr & co, in fact, and leaves me with no doubt that I will never ever want to hang all my weight from that knee. It's fine -- no joint pain, no residual pain -- there's just a cluster of nerves there or something in the soft tissue that is fine with half my body weight and NOT fine with all of it. That's probably not a limiting factor if I just want to have fun, and if I don't mind doing some tricks only on one side.

And yes, it was fun. I got to hang, sit and stand. We went through a long laundry list of things that probably have different names different places (gazelle, angel both up and down, mermaid, straddle hang, front balance, something with a birdcage, I forget... No meathooks, although I did hold one for a few seconds in the gym the other day -- but then, I don't suppose trying to teach anyone a meathook in their first lesson would be responsible or sane. No toe hangs, neck hangs, heel hangs or ankle hangs -- well, I did do a thing where one foot was in an ankle hang, but not both. And that's okay because all of those look painful, although I'm now more curious whether it's dealable pain or not. :-)

Ultimately, aerial stuff doesn't fill me with awe and desire in the same way handbalancing does. But it's fair to say I have 5x more obvious capacity for it -- thanks to Ido for the straight-arm strength work and acroyoga for the proprioception. If I want to go singlemindedly after the thing that most impresses me, then trapeze or lyra would be, well, either cross-training or distraction. But if I want to perform in a student recital in a year or so, I'd be way better off hanging from something. (This is all in a continuum with contortion, which fills me with even more awe and desire but which I have even less capacity for. Grumble.)

Anyway -- just exploring, for now. After six months under a rock, it feels good.

I should probably set up a private handbalancing session and see what those are like, too.

Comments

[ellenclaire.livejournal.com]

"...although I'm now more curious whether it's dealable pain or not."

It isn't, and then it is, eventually, after lots of practice and damage to your nerves. ;)

[dancing-crow.livejournal.com]

With your strength to weight ratio, you might also like fabric or sling - also hurty but in very different ways, and the strength is really useful for climbing and holding and things

[flexagon]

Yeah, see, that sounds terrible. :-)

[ellenclaire.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the circus!

[flexagon]

Haha, thanks. I do have a high pain tolerance. :-)

[islenskr.livejournal.com]

I totally feel the same awe for hand balancing that you do. Aerial is okay, and I admire it, but not nearly in the same way as hand balancing.

[flexagon]

Yeah, I've tried silks twice and sling twice (if I'm remembering right). I've decided that -- in general, but especially at the beginner/intermediate levels -- trapeze offers a lot more chance to transition gracefully between tricks. So I'm drawn in that direction.

[flexagon]

That's weirdly reassuring to hear.