Russian Bar

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A Russian Bar or Russian Barre circus act which combines the gymnastic skills of the balance beam, the rebound tempo skills of trampoline and the swing handstands skills of the uneven bars and the parallel bars. The barre itself is a flexible vaulting pole around 4 meters long, typically made of fiberglass.

Technique

There are two porters (bottom people) one at each end of the Russian barre who control the movements of the flyer or top mounter into tempo swings and transitional aerial moves. The porters call the "ready" signal allowing the "flyer" to prepare for the catapult.

With the advancement of highly intricate acrobatic-aerial techniques, two to three poles can be secured together allowing for a higher lift or "airtime". At the present heights, aerial skills such as triple, fliphess (double twisting doubles) and trephisis (triple twisting double) somersaults are possible.

The Russian Barre act requires highly skilled acrobats, tumblers, trampolinist and/or sports acrobats to collaborate on all levels: physical skills, psychological and communicative skills. The act is "portable" in regard to the apparatus itself, although the height of the performance space is site specific.