Make sure you can do most of the movements mentioned in the list in level I.
Also study some pair acrobatics, partner lifts, pyramids, as well as the juggling of objects, or get acquainted with the trapeze, the hanging rope, etc. These are not mentioned further here.
Exercises 3.15–3.22
Exercise 3.15: Seven-step series with rhythm and direction changes in space should be rehearsed at least 2–3 times a week.
Exercise 3.16: Make the impossible possible. Practise movements you are not (yet) able to do with a partner’s help. Important exercise.
Exercise 3.17: Great balance. Practise the movements from sketch 7 and make your own choreography for them.
Exercise 3.18: Improvisation with enchained acrobatic movements alone or in a group, in a defined space. Work continuously, with full focus, for 6–8 minutes, change speed and direction often, and adapt to your partner’s movement (move over, under, behind, in front, with a partner).
Exercise 3.19: Practise jumping and tumbling over chairs, benches and tables (parkour).
Exercise 3.20: Rolling and walking: Walking with a friend, while discussing. One rolls on the floor without losing contact with the partner and the common rhythm.
Exercise 3.21: Walking, rolling forwards with flowers in the hand, continue the walk without breaking the rhythm.
Exercise 3.22: Rolling backwards and forwards with a glass of water, or a spoonful of medicine.
Acrobatic movement as expression of big emotions – two possibilities
With regard to the study of commedia dell’arte, Lecoq craved acrobatic movements, for example a salto, to express an emotion: I jump because I am very happy, or very angry… The preparation for the movement should not be seen, the salto must be done spontaneously.
The Beijing opera actor behaves differently. He ‘stops’ dramatic acting, does the acrobatic movement with full focus on its execution, and only thereafter continues the drama. (Chinese acrobatic movements have a more direct technique, without long run-ups!) The Chinese opera actor practises the rhythmical integration of acrobatic movement in a dramatic situation, but focuses not dramatically, but physically on them[209].
Exercise 3.23: In exercise 3.2, you analysed ‘putting on a coat’. Take that same action and interpolate it with one (or two) acrobatic movements.