flying high

Last night was the second week of my IFW at TSNY DC - the class decided to coordinate a sparkle theme which really turned out great. My favorite was our instructor Will who really took it to the next level...

Now on to the flying... as some of you are aware, I started learning my swings the last week of my mini-IFW in August. Last night was my third class doing swings. This is an integral stage of learning trapeze since the momentum from your swings add height and expand your arsenal of tricks! However some of the timing and movements are counter-intuitive so it takes a lot of concentration while at the same time trying not to over-think things. I'm not sure if my instructors added a trick on to the end of my swings because it would take my mind off the "back-forward-straight-hollow-sweep-seven" calls of the swings and give me something else to focus on... or if they really believed that my swings were solid enough to add a trick at the back end. But whatever the reason - I was so beyond excited!!

Here's a helpful guide to the swinging and what adding swings into a trick looks like. Okay, so I admit, I drew this for my own use, but hey - I like to help educate my readers in all things trapeze!

I learned the back-end straddle whip, which means I get to step on top of the lines before my take-off. My instructor dubbed it the "rope diaper" which I will now forever refer to it as! When you jump off the platform the first swing is backwards (which is very counterintuitive since you're moving forward!) - but after some helpful guidance I was able to get that down. So your first time out you go backward ("sweep"), forward ("hollow"), straight (I focus on pulling my toes down to the ground to help stretch me out!).

On the back it's forward (going against the grain again, which is why learning your swings is such hard work!), backward, trick!! So as soon as you get back near the platform you take off from you very quickly set-up in trick position. Since this was my first night adding a back-end trick, I was a little sloppy and my legs bent going into the straddle. You hold your trick position for the third swing out and whip open to catch the catcher!! I did not attempt to catch this trick, however I was told that I can next week.... CAN'T WAIT!!

Thanks, Tracey for capturing the video of my trick last night!!

Here's a photo of my class and fabulous instructors from sparkle night!!

If you ever have any questions in trapeze or interest in getting involved... there are a number of schools in a lot of cities, please don't hesitate to reach out! TSNY, where I fly in DC, has school in 5 cities... click here for some more information and stay tuned for next week's tie-dye theme along with a (hopefully) catch on my back-end straddle whip!