They Did Dick Grayson Things
JZ is working off our traffic tickets by volunteering at the Circus Center (which is on our block. It is, curiously, a separate institution from Acrosports - also on our block. They are each ensconced in the erstwhile gymnasiums for the Polytechnic High which used to be there. They tore down the high school, put in some housing, and retained the book-ending gyms. Now we have two separate institutions for promoting trapeze work on the same block. Both the SF Circus Center and Acrosports were both started by alumni from the Pickle Family Circus, however, so it's not entirely random.)
The San Francisco Circus Center is hosting a big, national American Youth Circus Organization Festival and so they had a performance last night and we got in for free.
So imagine a pack of early to middle teens, mostly girls, dressed like post apocalyptic glamapunkamuffins. Lots of electronica/ravey music. Some hint of plot about these wild children performing for themselves.
There's all kinds of hoop jumping tumbling. Not just the usual dive and roll stuff. Folks diving backwards through the hoops with their bodies folded at the waist after doing a tumbling run with flip flops. The hoops, incidentally, are held by The Mystic Pixies, young girl contortionists. They are lying on their chests with their legs bent all the way back over their heads, holding the hoops with their feet.
The boys really blew me away though. They did Dick Grayson things. There were four of them, all about 15 or 16. They worked mostly on two tall polls (25 feet high? About 4 feet apart) with a crossbar at the top. They just ran up the poles with hands and feet. Boom - instantly vertical. One guy was so unfuckingbelievably strong. Imagine an OC Ryan type, but with a massively broad chest. Maybe 16. He jumped towards the pole and - just using his arms - swung around in smooth circles all the way up to the top. Can you imagine the power? It was like watching an orang brachiate - except human. Girls in the audience shrieked at that display.
But all the guys were flinging themselves up and down the pole with speed and power and pure confidence. Launching themselves into space fearlessly. Holding their bodies horizontal to the ground, drop-sliding down the pole face first and catching themselves with their calves. It was great watching their teamwork on the teeterboard too. They'd lock into a rhythm, the flyer would signal with his arms, the launchers would step/hop to get rhythm shoot up and come down on the far end of the teeterboard and launch their partner 20 feet into the air where he'd do a one and a half gainer. There were some women launching off the teeterboard too. Very very cool. And JZ told me that their best male acrobat wasn't even performing that night. He can do a one-handed handstand on the back of three stacked balancing chairs.
Another fantastic act was the girl who worked with the two long sashes that hung from the ceiling. She pulled her self up, wrapped herself in them, did death spirals spinning in them and catching herself just at the end. Power and grace.
The Mystic Pixies stomped all over JZ's uncanny valley response. Especially when they'd do that spidery thing where they'd lie on their chests and bring their feet alllllll the way over until they touched the ground by their head. Then they'd run their feet around their bodies. I think her brain was just screaming, "No no no no no!" at that sight. But their act was really cool - much better choreographed than other contortionist acts I've seen. Maybe because I've never seen four contortionists working together.
The SF Circus Center has one of the country's best known trainers, Yu Li, who used to be the artistic director of the Nanjing Acrobatic Troupe in China. Apparently Cirque De Soleil is always trying to hire him away.
Anyway, these teenagers were unbelievably well trained. It wasn't a flawless performance, and yet it was better than a lot of adult circuses I've seen.
The San Francisco Circus Center is hosting a big, national American Youth Circus Organization Festival and so they had a performance last night and we got in for free.
So imagine a pack of early to middle teens, mostly girls, dressed like post apocalyptic glamapunkamuffins. Lots of electronica/ravey music. Some hint of plot about these wild children performing for themselves.
There's all kinds of hoop jumping tumbling. Not just the usual dive and roll stuff. Folks diving backwards through the hoops with their bodies folded at the waist after doing a tumbling run with flip flops. The hoops, incidentally, are held by The Mystic Pixies, young girl contortionists. They are lying on their chests with their legs bent all the way back over their heads, holding the hoops with their feet.
The boys really blew me away though. They did Dick Grayson things. There were four of them, all about 15 or 16. They worked mostly on two tall polls (25 feet high? About 4 feet apart) with a crossbar at the top. They just ran up the poles with hands and feet. Boom - instantly vertical. One guy was so unfuckingbelievably strong. Imagine an OC Ryan type, but with a massively broad chest. Maybe 16. He jumped towards the pole and - just using his arms - swung around in smooth circles all the way up to the top. Can you imagine the power? It was like watching an orang brachiate - except human. Girls in the audience shrieked at that display.
But all the guys were flinging themselves up and down the pole with speed and power and pure confidence. Launching themselves into space fearlessly. Holding their bodies horizontal to the ground, drop-sliding down the pole face first and catching themselves with their calves. It was great watching their teamwork on the teeterboard too. They'd lock into a rhythm, the flyer would signal with his arms, the launchers would step/hop to get rhythm shoot up and come down on the far end of the teeterboard and launch their partner 20 feet into the air where he'd do a one and a half gainer. There were some women launching off the teeterboard too. Very very cool. And JZ told me that their best male acrobat wasn't even performing that night. He can do a one-handed handstand on the back of three stacked balancing chairs.
Another fantastic act was the girl who worked with the two long sashes that hung from the ceiling. She pulled her self up, wrapped herself in them, did death spirals spinning in them and catching herself just at the end. Power and grace.
The Mystic Pixies stomped all over JZ's uncanny valley response. Especially when they'd do that spidery thing where they'd lie on their chests and bring their feet alllllll the way over until they touched the ground by their head. Then they'd run their feet around their bodies. I think her brain was just screaming, "No no no no no!" at that sight. But their act was really cool - much better choreographed than other contortionist acts I've seen. Maybe because I've never seen four contortionists working together.
The SF Circus Center has one of the country's best known trainers, Yu Li, who used to be the artistic director of the Nanjing Acrobatic Troupe in China. Apparently Cirque De Soleil is always trying to hire him away.
Anyway, these teenagers were unbelievably well trained. It wasn't a flawless performance, and yet it was better than a lot of adult circuses I've seen.