![AerialShowgirlsTissu1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/AerialShowgirlsTissu1.jpg)
Acrobatics () is the performance of human feats of
balance
Balance or balancing may refer to:
Common meanings
* Balance (ability) in biomechanics
* Balance (accounting)
* Balance or weighing scale
* Balance as in equality or equilibrium
Arts and entertainment Film
* ''Balance'' (1983 film), a Bulgaria ...
,
agility, and
motor coordination. Acrobatic skills are used in
performing arts,
sporting events, and
martial arts. Extensive use of acrobatic skills are most often performed in
acro dance
Acro dance is a style of dance that combines classical dance technique with precision acrobatic elements. It is defined by its athletic character, its unique choreography, which seamlessly blends dance and acrobatics, and its use of acrobatics i ...
,
circus
A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclis ...
, and
gymnastics
Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, s ...
, and to a lesser extent in other athletic activities including
ballet
Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
,
slacklining
Slacklining refers to the act of walking, running or balancing along a suspended length of flat webbing that is tensioned between two anchors. Slacklining is similar to slack rope walking and tightrope walking. Slacklines differ from tightwir ...
and
diving
Diving most often refers to:
* Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water
* Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes
Diving or Dive may also refer to:
Sports
* Dive (American football), a ...
. Although acrobatics is most commonly associated with human body performance, the term is used to describe other types of performance, such as
aerobatics
Aerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in conventional passenger-carrying flights. The term is a portmanteau of "aerial" and "acrobatics". Aerobatics are performed in aeroplanes and glide ...
.
History
![Antikensammlung Berlin 525](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Antikensammlung_Berlin_525.JPG)
Acrobatic traditions are found in many cultures, and there is evidence that the earliest such traditions occurred thousands of years ago. For example,
Minoan
The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age Aegean civilization on the island of Crete and other Aegean Islands, whose earliest beginnings were from 3500BC, with the complex urban civilization beginning around 2000BC, and then declining from 1450B ...
art from c. 2000 BC contains depictions of
acrobatic feats on the backs of bulls.
Ancient Greeks
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...
practiced acrobatics, and the
noble court displays of the
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
an
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
would often include acrobatic performances that included
juggling
Juggling is a physical skill, performed by a juggler, involving the manipulation of objects for recreation, entertainment, art or sport. The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling. Juggling can be the manipulation of one object ...
.
In
China, acrobatics have been a part of the culture since the
Tang Dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...
(203 BC). Acrobatics were part of village harvest
festival
A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival ...
s. During the
Tang Dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...
, acrobatics saw much the same sort of development as European acrobatics saw during the Middle Ages, with court displays during the 7th through 10th century dominating the practice. Acrobatics continues to be an important part of modern
Chinese variety art
Chinese variety art () refers to a wide range of acrobatic acts, balancing acts and other demonstrations of physical skill traditionally performed by a troupe in China. Many of these acts have a long history in China and are still performed today. ...
.
Though the term initially applied to tightrope walking, in the 19th century, a form of performance art including
circus
A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclis ...
acts began to use the term as well. In the late 19th century, tumbling and other acrobatic and gymnastic activities became competitive sport in Europe.
Acrobatics has often served as a subject for fine art. Examples of this are paintings such as ''Acrobats at the Cirque Fernando (Francisca and Angelina Wartenberg)'' by
Impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir, which depicts two German acrobatic sisters,
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
's 1905 ''
Acrobat and Young Harlequin'', and ''
Acrobats in a Paris suburb'' by
Viktor Vasnetsov
Viktor Mikhaylovich Vasnetsov (russian: Ви́ктор Миха́йлович Васнецо́в; May 15 ( N.S.), 1848 – July 23, 1926) was a Russian artist who specialized in mythological and historical subjects. He is considered the co-founde ...
.
Types
Acrobalance
''Acrobalance'' is a floor based acrobatic art that involves balances, lifts and creating shapes performed in pairs or groups.
Acro dance
''Acro dance'' is a style of dance that combines classical dance technique with precision acrobatic elements.
Aerial
''Aerial'' is acrobatics performed in the air on a suspended apparatus.
Trapeze
A ''trapeze'' is a short horizontal bar hung by ropes or metal straps from a support. Trapeze acts may be
static
Static may refer to:
Places
*Static Nunatak, a nunatak in Antarctica
United States
* Static, Kentucky and Tennessee
*Static Peak, a mountain in Wyoming
**Static Peak Divide, a mountain pass near the peak
Science and technology Physics
*Static el ...
, spinning (rigged from a single point), swinging or
flying, and may be performed solo, double, triple or as a group act.
Cord lisse
''Corde lisse'' is a skill or act that involves acrobatics on a vertically hanging rope. The name is
French for "smooth rope".
Cloud swing
''Cloud swing'' is a skill that usually combines static and swinging trapeze skills, drops, holds and rebound lifts.
Cradle
''Cradle'' (also known as aerial cradle or casting cradle) is a type of aerial circus skill in which a performer hangs by their knees from a large rectangular frame and swings, tosses, and catches another performer
Silks
''Aerial silks'' is a type of aerial skill in which one or more artists perform aerial acrobatics while hanging from a long length of fabric suspended from a frame or ceiling.
Hoop
''Aerial hoop'' (also known as the ''lyra'', ''aerial ring'' or ''cerceau''/''cerceaux) is a circular steel apparatus (resembling a
hula hoop
A hula hoop is a toy hoop that is twirled around the waist, limbs or neck. It can also be wheeled along the ground like a wheel, with careful execution. They have been used by children and adults since at least 500 BC. The modern hula hoop ...
) suspended from the ceiling or a frame, on which artists may perform aerial acrobatics. It can be used static, spinning, or swinging.
Gallery of aerial artists
Contortion
''Contortion'' (sometimes contortionism) is a performance art in which performers called contortionists showcase their skills of extreme physical flexibility
Rope and wire walking
''Tightrope walking'', also called funambulism, is the skill of walking along a thin wire or rope. Its earliest performance has been traced to
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of Classical Antiquity, classical antiquity ( AD 600), th ...
. It is commonly associated with the circus. Other skills similar to tightrope walking include slack rope walking and slacklining.
Tumbling
''Tumbling'' is an acrobatic skill involving rolls, twists, somersaults and other rotational activities using the whole body. Its origin can be traced to
ancient China, Ancient Greece and ancient Egypt.
Tumbling continued in medieval times and then in circuses and theatre before becoming a competitive sport.
See also
*
Acrobatic gymnastics
*
List of acrobatic activities
References
External links
{{Authority control
Acrobatic gymnastics
Circus skills
Performing arts