Interested in nailing your static handstand but unsure of what steps to take? Do you find yourself desperately thrusting your body towards the wall and hoping for the best? In this 90 minute workshop, Mike will introduce the basic biomechanics of building a handstand from the ground up. We'll work on developing postural stability & balance from the wall in order to feel confident carrying this knowledge to the middle of the room, while also exploring how to most efficiently use our energy when entering our handstands. Developing a handstand takes dedicated time & practice, but this workshop will help you understand how to maximize your training and get started!

Soft Acrobatics is a method of approaching acrobatics that gives precedence to continuity and flow, while also paying attention to the efficiency and softness of the body. The practice is designed to be portable, in the sense that once you are comfortable with any number of movements, you can take the practice to any surface. I situate the practice somewhere between dance and athleticism, expressivity and physics in motion. Beyond this, the primary tenets involve moving your spine, shifting weight into your hands, and going upside down. Specific movements often are drawn from a variety of physical practices: contemporary dance, circus acrobatics, martial arts, breakdancing, and more.

In this 2 hour workshop we will cover the basics of soft acrobatic movement (shifting weight onto the hands in moves like cartwheels and rolês, getting into and out from the ground) as well as conditioning drills that help us build the strength and mobility needed to access slightly more "complicated" movements. As we begin to understand the basic concepts and build a small vocabulary of movements, we will look at sequencing these movements as a way to engage with carrying momentum, exploring continuity and flow, and tap into the expressive creativity that our bodies can offer.