Acro Gymnastics

Acrobatic gymnastics is a competitive specialisation in which a duo or group of gymnasts perform high-level skills such as somersaults, balances and tumbles. These are choreographed to music.

There are mainly two roles whether the gymnasts are in a duo or a group. The person that throws, catches, supports, etc. is referred to as the base. The person that normally flies in the air, twisting, somersaulting and balancing is called the flyer or a ‘top’. You can also get a ‘middle’ in a group that consists of three people and up. This middle person can perform both roles. Duos and groups can comprise of men and/or women.

What is Hand to Hand?

Hand to Hand is the terminology used in circus for partner or group acrobatics. In the acro hobbyist scene, many call ‘hand to hand’ the specific move where the flyer performs a handstand on the base’s hands. However, in most circus schools and companies around the world, duo or group acro is named ‘hand to hand’ as a discipline. Acrobatic gymnastics is closely related to this discipline, there is much crossover but with some small differences. Many coaches who teach this discipline in circus schools come from a sports acro background.

Many of the tricks and skills in hand to hand and acro gymnastics are very similar. However, in circus performers and artists don’t have the same restrictions regarding age, body type and weight. In performance of these skills at a high level, it is ideal to have an optimal weight difference and skill set between flyers and bases but as the circus industry is more artistic and less competitive, there is more freedom.

In partner or group acro in gymnastics, the gymnasts are often training for competition, therefore the flyers tend to be younger and smaller, peaking in their level of ability at competition time. This helps explain why competitive sports acro is performed at an extremely high level of technical skill and ability.

There are some very high-level acrobats in the circus world and some circus competitions. However, circus acrobatics tends to focus on the artistic rather than the technical. Circus artists who study and train professionally are encouraged to be highly skilled in their discipline but also creative, the goal being to integrate theatre, dance and movement into their act and practice. The end goal is often to perform to an audience in a more theatrical setting than a gymnastics competition.

What’s The Difference Between Sports Acro And Gymnastics?

Sports Acro is the name given to acrobatic gymnastics as a whole. Gymnastics comes in different forms of specialisation. Some gymnasts compete in Rhythmic, some in Artistic and some in Sports Acrobatics.

In Rhythmic gymnastics, women compete individually or in a group using props such as ropes, hoops, balls, clubs and ribbons. This specialisation often has a heavy flexibility focus.

In Artistic gymnastics, women and men compete individually and in groups using a variety of equipment. For women, the vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise is involved. For men, the floor, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars and high bar are used.

In Sports Acro, pairs or groups of gymnasts perform acrobatic gymnastics.