Public Network for Contortionists

Just starting

hey, so I breakdance and wanna get into contortion seriously. About 7 months ago i started training contortion, but only for 1 month, then went on a 6 month hiatus from any sort of stretching or dancing, I got back into breakdancing about 2 weeks ago, and wanna train contortion so i can incorporate moves when i dance..anyway, i just wanna ask, where do i start? i read the 'contortionists handbook', which was what i was using as a guide when i first started training, is this a good guide?

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Permalink Reply by Dee T on October 28, 2009 at 5:43am: breakdance and contortion i'd imagine link together.
I mean, they both teach balance and extreme control, so it's good.
as for contortion now, It depends what you want to learn, like what kind of contortion,and what kind of break you do.
balance, flips or footwork?
How flexible are you?

ahhh, check out Shaz Perez, he's a bboy and a contortionist. Pretty damned cool. you can watch his vids on YT.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Sean Kiyoshi on October 28, 2009 at 8:45pm: haha i know who rubberlegz is, checked out shaz too, cool. i just wanna be able to kick my leg behind my head, rest my feet on my shoulder etc stuff like that.. more the front bendy stuff i guess =p. im not really flexible with the frontbends right now but as for backbends, with a bit of effort i can touch my head with my feet while in a handstand(scorpion), and when on my stomach, but thats pretty much it lol. i also have been practicing handbalancing for about a year and a half, and used to be able to balance on 1 hand for a good 15 seconds or so, but i cant quite feel the same balance as i did before i stopped practicing. i think flexibility will help me with picking that up again though; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jenji Dea on October 28, 2009 at 7:45pm: Cool... I googled the suggestion below...very cool....check out rubberlegz ... from germany.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jenji Dea on October 30, 2009 at 2:08pm: So if you are in to backbends you might work the bridges to forearm balances... those forearm backbends might allow you to spin... that would be cool. The contortionist handbook makes it all seem a little easy and fast, which if you can not naturally bend it isn't that easy. But with some work it is possible. You need to be able to grab your feet/ankles overhead that will make you scorpian (handstand w/ feet on head) easier.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Sean Kiyoshi on November 3, 2009 at 4:47am: oh but i wanna practice front bends. get my legs behind my head in FRONT of me ..or should i practice both? if I only practice frontbends would i be able to get more flexible in less time, as opposed to practicing both backbends and frontbends?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jenji Dea on November 3, 2009 at 11:45am: Ohh you need to do both.... very important to practice both. I warm up with frontbend, backbend, then progress to mostly backbends, then wind down with mostly forward bends. Through some twists in the middle. The twists act like a spunge for the spine and you need to ring out you spine. And some of those breakdance move require full spine twists. I didn't see too many backbend but a deep forward bend takes more hip mobility in the hip socket. It is less in the spine and more in the hips. A good backbend is mostly spine but the shoulder and lower hips are what complete the action of bending backward. I think that if you just do one you will very uneven and unbalanced. You pretty much just need to bend in everyway you can imagine.; ▶ Reply to This