Acrobatic Gymnastics officially joined the FIG in 1999. Practised by men and women alike, dynamic Sports Acrobatics are among the oldest known disciplines. The sport was practised as early as the ancient Egyptian period, as we can see in certain frescos. Its name comes from the Greek acrobateo, meaning to rise or go forth. The discipline requires courage and stamina, while demanding flexibility and skill. Exercises are accompanied by music, harmoniously in keeping with gymnasts’ choreography, body movements and musical culture.
Acrobatic Gymnastics (ACRO) favours body control in various positions, both on the ground and in the air. For this reason, the sport is welcomed and very often included in the training programme of pilots, cosmonauts and parachutists. Acrobatics is practised as Men’s, Women’s or Mixed Pairs, as Women’s Groups (3 gymnasts) or as Men’s Groups (4 gymnasts). Time allowed for each exercise is 2:30. The floor area measures 12 x 12 meters. The exercises must include a harmonious combination of choreography, collective acrobatic elements (holds, throws, catches) and individual acrobatic elements (floor acrobatic series), all in perfect synchronisation.
Taster
Acro has four aspects:
Balances
Aerial tricks
Tumbles
Dance
(Todo - find pictures with less cluttered backgrounds - and all KE people)
The group will include specialist tops and bases. Tops are the little people that get airborne. Bases are the bigger people who propell them there - and are also encouraged to catch them on the way back down.
Other Names
The sport was previously known as Sports Acrobatics.
Background and Governance
There are records of acrobatics from as long as 2000 years ago. It became a dedicated sport in its own right in the 1930s - mainly in the Soviet Union, and had its first World Championship in 1974. It is run internationally by theFédération Internationale de Gymnastique (or FIG), and in the UK by British Gymnastics.
Routines may be specialised to either tempo or balance, or be combined. Tempo involves getting airborne. Balance is hopefully self explanatory. Here's an example, showing Molly and Maiken's tempo routine from an international in Portugal earlier in 2009. (To see it bigger - right click and view in YouTube directly)
Groups
There are fixed formats for the team shapes. You can have male, female or mixed pairs, or 3 women, or 4 men.
Routines
The gymnasts and coaches prepare routines for competition. Some competitions and grades have separate routines specialising in balance or tempo, while others expect a combined routine. Each grade specifies some compulsory elements, but also requires a certain number of optional elements. The governing bodies specify difficulty tarrifs for moves, and the competitors and their coaches strive for the best compromise they can reach between getting a high tariff for difficulty - without too much risk that it will go wrong on the day.
Judging
Competitions have a judging panel. There are actually two sets of judges in the group - so that one bunch can take over immediately when one set of gymnasts leave the floor - giving the other lot time to deliberate, before they swap over again when the next lot come on.
Routines are given a mark out of 30, taken from scoring on technical correctness, difficulty, and artistry. Combined with a series of penalties for things like failing to hold a balance for 3 seconds. There are also penalties for ensembles in which the height difference between tops and bases is excessive.
Competitions usually involve a first round followed by a 'final', with say the top 8 groups going through to the final. Usually the score slate is wiped clean for the final, and the competitors can choose to perform their balance or their tempo routine for the final.
Grades
For UK national competition, British Gymnastics offer a National Development Plan (or NDP) system for competiition. At the higher levels, FIG's international World Age Group system is used.
