One of the many wonderful things I got to do recently was take a class with Cirque du Soleil's Yuliya Mihailovna, the incredibly talented handbalancer who lights up
Amaluna with her smile. The class itself was unbelievably painful, but it helped a lot. Particularly technique-wise. Turns out, I've been doing splits wrong for years, and the silks have been reinforcing my bad habits. I need to keep my shoulders and hips square and pointed forward rather than letting them turn sideways. Turning feels natural, particularly in silks, when I typically have one hand reaching back anyway for balance and style.
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You can see me, as the black princess, turned out of square with my upper body,
and my back leg is bending so that I can still look like I have a straight line. Chihaya,as the
princess in pink and white, has spent a lot of time as a classical ballerina,and is a lot more square.
You may also notice she doesn't have a problem keeping her back leg straight.
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Having Yuliya grab my shoulders, pull them square, and force my hip down onto the floor was a lightbulb moment, cheesy as that sounds. Technique is important for flexibility, who knew?
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| Yuliya signed my program! Fan girl squee! |
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