The Russian Bar act in Cirque du Soleil's Alegria has been around for a long time. I'm sure they've gone through tons of lineup changes and generations of flyers and porters, but this video takes the absolute cake.
I first saw it on TV from the recorded version (see here.) It was one of those mind-blowing acts that made a huge impact on me as a young gymnast. It has all the aerial difficulty you'd expect from an elite trampolinist but with the added challenge of landing on a little flexible bar.
From what I understand, the same team as in the Monte Carlo video is now in Totem, and though their act was amazing when I saw it, I can understand why they wouldn't want to perform their 100% act every night, but why they would want to unleash it for this festival. They came out with a Silver Clown.
It's funny that I never thought about the idea of a 100% act. Think about all of the people in circus that do mind-bendingly difficult and dangerous skills every night. Then think about the skills that they don't perform every night because they're too dangerous to risk injury. It makes me want to rethink the way I evaluate acts when I see them. An act in a show you have to do 8 times a week should leave hints about what else is possible without actually doing those things. I feel like this is a rare occasion where you can see the difference.
Photo via here
Who's ever heard of Mallakhamb? I certainly never had until a few days ago when I came across a few amazing videos. Think gymnastics meets Chinese pole. It's a competitive sport in India based on ancient traditions that date back to the 12th century.
The second guy is probably the best Ive seen. See part 2 here! The second guy in part 2 looks like a teddy bear. If Marjaani is stuck in your head after watching those, I'm sorry. It happened to me too. For more, read on!
Hi everyone, my name is Ryan. (Everyone: 'Hi Ryan') I'm a train-o-holic. (Everyone applauds)
I spent the entire day a couple days ago in a weird, creaky haze. I couldn't get out of bed until noon and after I did, I couldn't be bothered to do anything but eat leftovers from the fridge and sit in front of the computer for the better part of the day. Sounds like a hangover, right? It's kind of like that. I was just totally exhausted. Overtraining is actually a lot like binge drinking.
I don't have any good ones of my own to share lately (though I did kick the board last night pretty hard...) but I've just come up on a couple of straight ridiculous ones.
There are some OK ones in here, but nothing can touch 2:15.
The fly act is pretty easy but super clean, if anything check the beautiful lay in double tuck at 2:50, then skip to 6:00 and I won't spoil the rest...!
And this one's just classic.
Rudi Macaggi seems to do a lot in the New York variety scene, but I've still never managed to see him perform live. What I have seen of him has all been online and whatever he is doing, it's always enormously entertaining and acrobatically absurd.
Frigging handstand block drop over a circular saw. What a hero!
Kendama Blockhead Completed by Keith Nelson from Jim Moore on Vimeo.
For any performer, a breakthrough is one of those reasons to live for. For some variety performers, some breakthroughs and achievements are so esoteric that they require 2 minutes of setup so that the audience actually understands what they're seeing. Seems kind of silly, until they actually do it. Apparently he's been performing this trick for 2 years and never hit it until two days ago.
Congratulations, Keith! Now, try to land it on the peg!!
Originally seen at Dube Juggling Blog.