Other things: Thoughts about Lyra

    [Doing lyra hoop, it seems that I have a relatively easy time coming up with useful variations to moves, like gripping with palms towards head when starting push-push or top-bar skin-the-cat. Some of this, I think, owes to being influenced much more by breakdancing and poi-spinning than by ballet or western gymnastics, something I think is uncommon in lyra.

A few body shapes from breakdancing can be adapted directly to lyra, but I think the more valuable lesson from breakdancing in the context of lyra is a comfort with uncommon body orientations. More specifically... well, picture the three geometric axes of motion: vertical, horizontal, and front-back. A large portion of lyra moves stay parallel to at least one of the axes, I think partly because it's a good way to get clean lines. In breakdancing, most moves can be done so that the dancer ends up skew to or offline from all three axes at once, in many cases with the head diagonally downwards. Being comfortable with a range of orientations makes it more natural to explore moving in and through those ranges.

About poi-spinning (these are poi), true, there's very little direct analog to lyra hoop. However, it makes a habit of looking for, and mentally keeping track of, variations. Say you start spinning both poi in front of you. First you go clockwise, then stop and go counter-clockwise. Then you split them up, so that the right one goes clockwise and the left one-counter clockwise, then vise versa. For all four combinations you've been spinning so that both poi reach their lowest point at the same time, so you get them going with one half a circle ahead of the other, so that one is at its highest while the other is at its lowest. Then you do all four combinations of clockwise and counter-clockwise (ntr-C) again (both C, both ntr-C, R C + L ntr-C, R ntr-C + L C). 

Then you move one hand high, or low, or out to the side, so that counting the center, each hand can be in four different places, which gives you four times four, sixteen combinations for the two hands. And then we have our four combinations of direction and timing, with sixteen different hand positions, and that gives us four times sixteen is 64 different combinations, and we've only been spinning in front of us. We can still take one poi to each side, like wheels on a chariot, and there's another 64 combinations, and we haven't even started counting movements from one arm position to another... And then the feet start moving...

All the maths aside, and coming back to lyra, the point is about the habit of looking for variations of things, and deciding what I want to use as starting points for variations. The same way ballet has it's first through fifth positions, I can make a list of variations for lyra positions. Take seated position, for example:

1^st seated: square to hoop

2^nd seated: square to hoop, legs crossed

3^rd seated: hips turned

4^th seated: hips turned, legs crossed

5^th seated: hips turned, legs crossed, ankle off top legs passing through hoop.

6^th seated: hoop under thighs, prep for half-roll forward

Or delilah for right leg on hoop:

1^st right delilah: opposition grip, straight line from toe to head

2^nd right delilah: opp. grip, neck, back, and hip extension, knee flexion

3^rd R. delilah: right hand free, straight line toe to head

4^th R. : right hand free grabs left foot

5^th R: left hand free, straight line from toe to head

6^th: left hand free, grabs left foot

Maybe the orders should be different, and maybe in an optimal system there would be more, or less, but the point is that I know for each move, without much effort to recall, “here's my position, and here's five variations I can do.”

Now, true, variations from seated and delilah didn't yield any particularly new shapes. If I take a more advanced move, though, like single knee hang... (everyone's favorite!!!! xD)

1^st single knee hang (bottom bar): free leg straight up, hip in neutral

2^nd single knee hang: free leg behind body, hip on hanging side flexed

3^rd: from 2^nd, grab free foot

4^th: hanging hip neutral, free leg out to the side

5^th: free leg in front of body [feels weird at first, take it slow]

5^th prime: grab free ankle

6^th: free ankle across front of hanging leg, grab free ankle [often feels like I'll slip off]

Ooh, and there's hocks hang from top bar:

1^st: hocks hang, top bar, feet and head on opposite sides of hoop

2^nd: hands push hoop away from head [back scarab?]

3^rd: head and feet on same side [front scarab?]

4^th: hocks hang from span sets, feet outside spans, top bar in front of thigh

5^th: hocks hang, knees outside of span sets [actually very secure, can be sued for scarabs]

I think just about every position can be varied along more or less the same pattern. I'm not sure make a list like above for every single move I know would help all that much, but.... the thing is making the habit of generating variations, even if I don't test all of them, or rehearse them every open studio.

For some groups of moves, each move in the group could be seen as a variation of any of the others. Meathook, reverse meathook, crab, pencil, and... you know the move I'm thinking of, with the body piked. Or there's the group of pike back-balance, half back-balance, back balance, stag balance, gazelle, (...but what do you get if you stop the rotation halfway between stag balance and gazelle?!) where saying one is a variation of any other might be unhelpful.

That all mostly concerns variations in body shape. When it comes to making moves easier or smoother, I tend to look at a different set of variations. The first small thing that often really changes a move for me is hand pronation/supination—am I gripping overhand, underhand, or opposition. Some moves work better with overhand grip, some with opposition grip. Some work better with with hands at a certain height on the hoop, or a bigger or smaller distance apart. Or maybe one hand needs to go on the other side of the leg, or the other side of the eye, or on the other span set. Also, it helps me to remember that, thighs, hips, and back have a fair bit of space to play with. For example, looking at front extension, I can start the move with my hip at the center of the hoop, and gradually slide my hips out, until I've gone all the way down the leg to my ankle, flexed the foot to stop, and I'm in a move with a name of its own.

Regardless of background and sources of inspiration, I think what I'm talking about here comes down to two things: prudent optimism and a habit of looking for variations. Prudent optimism means saying “yes, I can find a way to map that shape to lyra”, or, “Yes, this orientations seems strange... and that's cool... and I'm going to stay in it because I can find something that works”. A habit of of variation-seeking is, well, just that. I think the thing that helps me most is remembering that leg position, arm position, hand placement, and trunk position can all be varied and put in different relation to each other.

That's some of the things that go through my head when I'm looking for new shapes, transitions, or easier/smoother variations. If any of what I wrote sounds particularly useful to you, or just plain interesting, send a message and I can say more about it.