Tag: Acrobatics

Juggling Adventures

Happy New Year!

Last year, Tobias Frank and I co instructed acroyoga at Buddhafield. This was only the first of our collaborations and over the festive period Tobias and I joined forces again at the annual Jugglers Festival in Regensburg, Germany. This intimate event is held ever year between Christmas Day and New Year.  Over the years, I’ve become more and more entranced with acrobatics and circus skills, and I knew sooner or later I would come head to head with the challenge of juggling. So in some ways you can say this was my juggling judgment day, but what better environment than being surrounded by juggling experts and aficionados to provide inspiration, passion and experience to set my butter fingers to task. The Festival was located at ‘Utopia’; it was to be our place of work, rest and play for the whole duration. Not only was it a privilege to learn under the guidance of masters, but to watch close up such talent at work was a joy. One of the virtuosos at work was Manne Hanke who’s ability is nothing less than art and had me dumbfounded. Watch him in action hereand for more go to his YouTube channel.

My attempt at juggling was pitiful and bordered on the comical.  After epic fail after epic fail, my sanity and credibility was rescued by a poorly disguised desperate play of showmanship in the form of handstands – executed only to remind my  all too frail ego that I can do something of worth. It was good to leave with the aide memoir that practice, practice and practice make perfect. What a great end to 2009 and start to 2010.

Show Business

Jesse Saunders is a name you’ll read time and time again throughout this blog. He’s my trusted and brilliant Acroyoga teaching partner, super talented acrobalance accomplice and needless to say, close friend. We have been working together for over three years and a natural accumulation of our partnership and love of showmanship led to stage performance.  Having dipped our toes at the annual Mind Body Spirit Festival 2009 and London Yoga Show 2008, we were poised to create something bigger and better.

Drum roll please.

Jesse and I were invited to put on a show at the Scratch That cabaret night at the Hanger, also known as the Aircraft Circus School based in South East London in July. Having received our invite only two weeks before the big night, Jesse and I began preparations immediately. We knew what we wanted to achieve; an entertaining narrative that incorporated the multidisciplinary arts of acrobatics and circus skills, topped off with a very generous helping of character and comedy. Borrowing from popular culture, we took created a sketch featuring the quarrelsome antics of Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee. What ensued was unabashed acrobatic inspired slapstick, as the bickering twosome squabbled over a poor hapless suitcase.

Our big night was filled with the typical pre-stage butterflies, but a warm audience and the bright lights made for an exciting, memorable roller coaster experience. Post performance highs guarantee a sequel!

We Are Family

As a self confessed acroyoga junkie, I was thrilled to be part of Acroyoga London’s inaugural closed course group. Having attended Sunday night classes for about a year I felt I was ready for take on the challenge of progressing my Acroyoga skills to the next level. The course certainly did not disappoint and  over the six months our group transformed into micro community who were united in the need and experience of learning and practice of asanas, performance skills, massage techniques and flying routines.
Jaqui Wan and Jesse Saunders led a group of students, most of which already had a strong foundation from attending regular open classes. Together they helped us progress to the next level of competence and confidence; each month we delved more deeply into the multidisciplinary practices of Acroyoga. We enjoyed guest instruction from experts like Brett Jackson of the Swamp Circus, and due to our solid background  he was able to share advanced and invaluable circus tips and tricks.
Our Group formed a genuine bond; and so it was no surprise when we elected to rent a mini bus and take a group outing to Holland for the annual Dutch Acrobatic Festival; where we were able to share with the world how strong and accomplished Acroyoga London had become and it’s position as a bedrock in the global Acroyoga family.
It was a genuine pleasure and an honour to be part of the Group and the broader community; the opportunity to deepen my practice with dedicated teachers and committed students who embody Acroyoga’s principles is not a chance to be missed.

By Danny Attias

Welcome!

YogiForm1

Although I am freshly squeezed from my yoga weekender in Bath and en route to Germany, thanks to the wonders of technology I’ve just redirected my web site and experimenting with the joys of WordPress. And 10 November 2009 heralds the start of this trial and a blog. In this new beta site over the forthcoming months I’ll be revisiting and recounting the summer’s adventures: stories of Acrobatics, Italian getaways and thrilling European workshops. Plus, I’ll be consolidating all my online media so it is accessible all in one place. To get you started, please enjoy this courtesy of the legend in the making Vaclav Elias (and if you like where all this is going, please make use of the RSS feed.)

Also, it just would not be right kicking this off without giving thanks to all the people: friends, family, students, teachers and colleagues that have made 2009 memorable for all the right reasons. Thank you!

By Jaqui Wan