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I am determined to get the neck holds this time!! I always struggle with them as it feels that I don’t have enough head/neck to be able to brace the silk. I find the tension on the first one quite strong along my back, so I feel that I am not as “straight” which doesn’t help with getting the correct posture. Any tips would be great. With the salto, I find coming up to sitting the wrapping makes it hard to get fully upright – I get about 3/4s and then lose the momentum. I am treating it like a double salto in terms of the kick, and trying to dish, but my attempts today weren’t successful. So any tips would be appreciated. I also find getting the fifth wrap a little tricky to reach, is it ok to do the move with just four?
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Starting the challenge early this month, the video shows 2 of my attempts. Here are my questions–
1. Back beats felt pretty high but somehow i still struggle to hook the top leg. IMO, I think my head should be almost upside down as i do the beats but felt scared that I might miss the hook and flip all the way. I wonder if there’s any tips 🤗2. My free leg almost always leads unintentionally when I go to my salto instead of them flipping at the same time. What could be factors for affecting this? I think it would affect the way I’m supposed to “tap the heels” as Brandon is pretty even when he does the salto to sitting up
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I’m having difficulty with the back balance beat transition. I’ve tried it a few times, but it I can’t get my lower arm in the right position to provide enough stability to beat. I ended up in an unstable position and basically had to “fall out” to get back down. Is there an alternative or modification that might work?
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Hi!!! So Happy that Brandon have a new sequence for us also this august!
I struggle with back balance Beats, i can’t understand if the work comes from my top arm or from my legs. Actually, my legs worked likes Crazy without any chance to hook the pole.
The second question Is: the initial wrap for the salto Is a regular hip Key? Also… There Is a way to walk the drop?
Thank you as Always! -
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Hello! I’m struggling with the little foot lock bounce right at the start. It just doesn’t feel comfy on my inner thigh and I’m having a hard time putting all my weight on it. I’m wondering if there’s a placement cue I’m missing, or if I’m just sensitive to pressure in that spot. I can lean to the other side though– away from the locked foot.
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Loving the challenge of this sequence!
I always struggle with the dive through in hip key to set up for the salto. One pole seems to get stuck and I have to really wiggle to get it to the other hip.
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Hi guys. Always fun to do a challenging Brandon combo! I am definitely pushed to my limits… Ha ha. A couple of questions: my shoulders and wrists do not enjoy flamenco grip is there a reason why we should do a flamenco grip for the sequence going into the first neck balance?
Next question… The back balance beats are super challenging. I actually struggle just with back balance. I’ve been working very hard on them and now have muscle spasm in my left rhomboid. It is a cool way to get into hip key but I’m wondering if there is a simplified sequence from that neck balance into HK, that would be acceptable?
Final question… Any tips to not get stuck upside down on the second Salto? -
Another interesting challenge from Brandon! The transition into back balance and then side beats are a struggle with a right shoulder injury. I’ve tried the sequence in the left with mixed results. Is the flamenco grip necessary throughout and is there another entry into the hip key if the back balance beats are not working with my shoulder range? Also like mentioned above, can you provide hints on how to come fully upright in the second salto? I am generally only making one and half turns and the back dive seems a long way away. Any further hints and tips would be very welcome to achieve this month’s challenge 😊. Definitely needing the Q&A session!
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Thanks for the Q&A, that’s great! Back flex is definitely not on my list, so thanks for the wor around.
With the doubles, I’ve tried to edit my location but a drop down list doesn’t show up. Am I too eager? 😂
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only to report you that the autocomplete of the form in profile location did not work. I tried in firefox and in chrome.
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Hey Roberta. We can add your city/town manually from our end while our website guy figures out what is going on. Please email info@silksstars.com
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Hi. Regarding the back salto. Sorry if this sounds like a stupid question. What does “tap the heels” and “tap the toes” mean? I’ve watched the video over and over, and was thinking that the heels need to be tapped/touched by something, and likewise the toes? Can someone explain what the quoted phrases mean. Can I say that this August sequence is difficult. And I guess it’s why it’s called a challenge 🙂 Thanks SilksStars for pushing us:)
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Hey Janice! Not a stupid question at all! Teaching and learning is all about figuring out how to pair words with ideas 🙂
For this particular sequence, you can basically think of the word ‘kick’ and ‘tap’ meaning roughly the same thing. In order to complete the rotations in the sequence, you are keeping the legs engaged and kicking them to rotate the head back towards the pole. For the double salto, you are tapping/kicking the heels back to come upright. And for the back salto, you are tapping/kicking the toes forward to come upright.
While we are cueing the toes, how that controls the thigh/hip connection to the wrap is the heart of getting back upright for both forward and backward rotations. The hips want to stay open for both landings, once they hinge, it’s dangle time!Happy training!
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The double salto + backflip are difficult. I’ve been doing this 1080 degree rotations for 2 days now. But still no success. I am contemplating on either (1) going with mini rig version instead or (2) going with the high rig version but the ending of the 2nd salto and the ending of the back flip will be imperfect, but can be made part of choreo. For example — Hooking one leg to the pole to recover up from the 2nd salto; ending with a mermaid pose after a 75% back flip). What do you advise to be submitted: option 1 or 2?
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Whichever option feels strong and clear enough will be fabulous.
Another thing to look at, notice how the wrap behind Brandon’s back has to be pressed down to be under the thighs to sit up after the double forward salto. That is a whole bum to pass over. Two things to play with. The angle across the bottom hip to wrap the bottom leg can be a little more diagonal, so less low back and more bum. Or you can play with how tight you wrap from the hip key. Tight but maybe not tight tight, you know. As long as the wrap stays around the leg and hips, there is a lot of play with this lock.This drop definitely takes some time and marinating.
Happy training!
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For those of you interested in the “partner challenge” (which is listed under the community tab) who have been having trouble adding your LOCATION to your profiles, we have done an update to the website and it should be working now. As you edit your profile and type in your city/town, a drop down menu should show up. Be sure to select your location from the drop down menu and click save. Let us know if for some reason you are still unable to add your LOCATION to your profile.
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I feel like I have tried everything (watched the training videos several times, done the back up warm up several times, and watched the Q&A replay a few times), but I still can’t seem to get the (1) first salto upright or the (2) second salto. I have spent hours trying to fix it to no avail. Any last minute tips?
Specific issues I am struggling with:
1) I can’t get the free leg to move in line with the weighted leg – it seems no matter how hard I try or tricks I use (ex: one time I tried starting with it back further hoping it would just “catch up” with the weighted leg by the second salto, but it still went faster.
2) Getting all the way up on the first salto (no matter how hard I pike or sit up)
3) The second salto — I am not getting high enough up and so am I grabbing incorrectly (which hurts the left shoulder, so I had to stop doing that).
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/69vw9vcpp65mqi5l90uts/Video-Aug-25-2024-4-15-48-PM.mov?rlkey=6x2haflfr5ijrgex6qnolsvn9&st=sgu0ja03&dl=0In other news though, while not consistent, I actually got both neck balances. I still can’t believe it is even possible. I watch my own video and think “who is that?” Those balances are crazy hard, but at least I (kind of/mostly) got those. lol
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Sure thing!
1) While in many forward rotation drops you can hold an arch and it will move you around, since the legs are weighted very differently in this one, having an active say in the rate of the rotation will help keep the legs moving together as you can check in with them at the start of each rotation. Once you release the hands from the poles, press/kick the toes forward briefly before kicking/arching back. This brief active forward kick acts like the bend of the knees before a jump and gives you a more active role in the rotation rate and what the legs are doing. In practice, you are most likely able to see you toes before kicking them back. In Brandon’s video, this looks like the legs staying in place (so so so briefly) as the shoulders move forward.
In your video, the legs look like they move well together, brava!
2) This idea is key in the second forward rotation, however, the timing can be different of when you actively press/kick the legs in the arch to complete the sit up. As the shoulders are passing the poles, kick forward to prep, fall, and as the toes pass the poles, then use your power to kick the heels back, pressing the back of the thighs strong into the wrap, opening the hips actively even as the shoulders lift to sit up. Although it looks the like the hips are hinging, the leg power pressing down/back into the hip wrap cannot relax as the shoulders come up. If that pressure releases, the sit up loses it’s lever to get your shoulders to the pole. One of the magical hard things about aerial training is not knowing what you need until you actually feel it, even when you are working as hard as you know how to. It’s tough!!
Two other variables to play with in the wrap as mentioned above to Janice. For the second forward salto sit up, the low back wrap has to pass the hips to get under the thighs. That is a lot. So you can play with wrapping from the hip key a little looser so there is play in the wrap for that piece of the lock to pass the hips. You can also play with the angle of the wrap across the back of the hips before wrapping the leg.
3) For the back salto, reaching the arms overhead *even if they don’t make it!* is going to serve you better in the long term. As soon as you reach the hands back to grab, the hips hinge forward and the shoulders stop rotating upright. The arms reach back and then up! And while it might feel wild to not catch, the other option has not worked well for your shoulder so far so that method has got to go. Since this wrap really has you, falling forward will be ok. It’ll keep your shoulder from catching something it may not be able to and it will keep you working on the pathway you do want to groove into your training. The active reach of the arms back and up timed with pressing the hips firmly into the wrap and pressing/kicking the toes forward will eventually give you the height to feel the pole at your shoulder, arms will be overhead and the legs will support the body so the shoulders aren’t doing all the work of catching the landing.Boom boom on the neck braced balance! Way to gooooooo!
Happy training!
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