Acrobatics

{{Short description|Feats of balance and agility}} {{Redirect|Acrobat|other uses}} {{More citations needed|date=December 2016}} {{performing arts}} [[File:AerialShowgirlsTissu1.jpg|thumb|A showgirl performing aerial silk]]

'''Acrobatics''' ({{etymology|grc|''{{Wikt-lang|grc|ἀκροβατέω}}'' ({{grc-transl|ἀκροβατέω}})|walk on tiptoe, strut}})<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Da%29krobate%2Fw ἀκροβατέω], Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek–English Lexicon'', Perseus Project</ref> is the performance of human feats of balance, 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, circus, gymnastics, and freerunning and to a lesser extent in other athletic activities including ballet, slacklining and diving. Although acrobatics is most commonly associated with human body performance, the term is used to describe other types of performance, such as aerobatics.

==History== [[File:Hydria acrobat BM VaseF232.jpg|thumb|120px|A female acrobat (Greek Campanian red-figure hydria, {{Circa|340–330 BC}})]] [[File:Gnathian pelike with female acrobat (Berlin Ant F 3444) 02 - crop.jpg|120px|thumb|Female acrobat shooting an arrow with a bow in her feet (Greek Gnathian style pelike, 4th century BC]] thumb|120px|Acrobatic performance in India {{Circa|1863}} Acrobatic traditions are found in many cultures, and there is evidence that the earliest such traditions occurred thousands of years ago. For example, Minoan art from {{Circa|2000 BC}} contains depictions of acrobatic feats on the backs of bulls. Ancient Greeks practiced acrobatics,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Iversen |first1=Rune |title=Bronze Age acrobats: Denmark, Egypt, Crete |journal=World Archaeology |date=June 2014 |volume=46 |issue=2 |pages=242–255 |doi=10.1080/00438243.2014.886526|s2cid=162668376 }}</ref> and the noble court displays of the European Middle Ages would often include acrobatic performances that included juggling{{citation needed|date=October 2013}}.

In China, acrobatics have been a part of the culture since the Tang dynasty (618–907). Acrobatics were part of village harvest festivals.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.redpanda2000.com/history.htm |title=redpanda2000 |access-date=2006-03-27 |archive-date=2018-01-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180114014021/http://www.redpanda2000.com/history.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> During the Tang dynasty, 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chinese - Languages and ESL Division - Pasadena City College |url=https://pasadena.edu/academics/divisions/languages-and-esl/foreign-languages/chinese/index.php/cultural/acrobatics.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220116101755/https://pasadena.edu/academics/divisions/languages-and-esl/foreign-languages/chinese/index.php/cultural/acrobatics.html |archive-date=16 Jan 2022 |website=pasadena.edu}}</ref> Acrobatics continues to be an important part of modern Chinese variety art.

Though the term initially applied to tightrope walking,{{citation needed|date=October 2013}} in the 19th century, a form of performance art including circus 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, and ''Acrobats in a Paris suburb'' by Viktor Vasnetsov.{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}}

==Types== [[File:Chinese acrobat in midair being watched by other acrobats.jpg|thumb|120px|upright|Chinese acrobat in midair after being propelled off a teeterboard, China, 1987]]

===Acrobalance=== {{Main|Acrobalance}}

''Acrobalance'' is a floor based acrobatic art that involves balances, lifts and creating shapes performed in pairs or groups.

===Acro dance=== {{Main|Acro dance}}

''Acro dance'' is a style of dance that combines classical dance technique with precision acrobatic elements.

===Aerial=== {{Redirect-synonym|Aerialist|a person who practices aerial skiing}} ''Aerial'' is acrobatics performed in the air on a suspended apparatus.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=http://www.nica.com.au/dictionary|publisher=National Institute of Circus Arts|title=Circus Dictionary|access-date=2009-10-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719162832/http://www.nica.com.au/dictionary|archive-date=2011-07-19}}</ref>

====Trapeze==== {{Main|Trapeze}} A ''trapeze'' is a short horizontal bar hung by ropes or metal straps from a support. Trapeze acts may be static, spinning (rigged from a single point), swinging or flying, and may be performed solo, double, triple or as a group act.<ref name=":0" />

====Corde lisse==== {{Main|Corde 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==== {{Main|Cloud swing}} ''Cloud swing'' is a skill that usually combines static and swinging trapeze skills, drops, holds and rebound lifts.

====Cradle==== {{Main|Cradle (circus act)}} ''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==== {{Main|Aerial silk}} ''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==== {{Main|Aerial hoop}} ''Aerial hoop'' (also known as the ''lyra'', ''aerial ring'' or ''cerceau''/''cerceaux''') is a circular steel apparatus (resembling a 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== {{Gallery | width=170 | height=143 | File:Steben Twins.jpeg|A fixed doubles trapeze act | File:Pirates of the Sky 6.jpg|Aerial hoop act | File:Immortal Circus.jpg|Aerial silks }}

===Contortion=== {{Main|Contortion}} ''Contortion'' (sometimes contortionism) is a performance art in which performers called contortionists showcase their skills of extreme physical flexibility

{{Gallery | width=170 | height=143 | File:An acrobat performing in the contortion act of Cirque du Soleil's Nouvelle Expérience, 1994.jpg|Contortionist performing with Cirque du Soleil }}

===Rope and wire walking=== {{Main|Tightrope walking|Slacklining}} ''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.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Acrobatics {{!}} entertainment|url=https://www.britannica.com/sports/acrobatics|access-date=2021-03-05|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref> It is commonly associated with the circus. Other skills similar to tightrope walking include slack rope walking and slacklining.

{{Gallery | width=170 | height=143 | File:Acrobat.jpg|High wire act | File:Korea-Jeonju-Jultagi-02.jpg|Korean tightrope-walking, ''Jultagi'' }}

===Tumbling=== {{Main|Tumbling (gymnastics)}} ''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.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Tumbling {{!}} acrobatics|url=https://www.britannica.com/sports/tumbling-acrobatics|access-date=2021-03-05|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref> Tumbling continued in medieval times and then in circuses and theatre before becoming a competitive sport.

==References== {{Reflist}}

== External links == {{Commons category}} {{Wiktionary|acrobatics}} * {{Cite EB1911 |wstitle= Acrobat |volume= 1 |page=155 |short=1}}

Category:Acrobatic sports Category:Circus skills Category:Performing arts