Acro With Cat

I feel like I’ve seen some similar washing machines floating around the internet lately, but we call these 2-Step Teacups.

In 2017 when I moved back to the US, (I lived in the UK for about 10 years for college & grad school & early working life) the first group of Acro friends I made in LA lived on the East Side of LA and they did a 4-step of version of this, where the base gave foot support to the flyer throughout. That group of East Side acro folks called it Teacups, like the spinning ride at Disneyland. Eventually it lost the hand connection and we used it as a warm up at jams, and when I started teaching, we used it as a foot technique drill for bases and a balancing (and sometimes falling) drill for flyers in classes. I kind of forgot to think of it is as a washing machine, but I suppose it certainly is! We started doing these in hard mode a while ago, ie doing the full spin in two steps - I never thought to post it previously. But if you have ever come to a class of mine, I’ve probably made you do some version of it. 🫖☕️

Anybody know what other people call these?

Never named this, but let’s call it a Switch Hitter 420. Sam and I were playing around with this foot grabby machine that and I wrote back in the day, and we threw in this beautiful 420 (thanks for making the greatest transition of all time). It makes it so it can keep flowing in the same direction instead of figure 8ing. We think it’s neat - enjoy!

Slowly improving, slowly building toward new combos. Soon we’ll get cleaner, higher, and softer. I’ve been avoiding posting as much on this new journey as an Icarian flyer - on a personal level, with me as the limiting factor and no shade whatsoever to my incredibly talented base, I can’t help but feel that it’s not as impressive as watching the product of the years and years of practice and experience and familiarity that I have when posting as a base. And maybe seeing a female base is a lot more exciting than seeing a flyer almost the size of their base. Zach and I don’t do many big flashy skills together. Our partnership is endlessly looking for precision in the foundations. Improving is frustrating, and the little achievements seem small from the outside and sometimes take so much work, and if we let it, it can feel limiting rather than expansive. But I haven’t been giving enough space lately to be proud of myself, and proud of Zach, and further, enough space for gratitude. I think I decided somewhere long the line that being proud is corny, and we should already be at a certain level, or already have some of these skills cleaner and more consistent, and I like to use Instagram as a ruler to measure myself with, fall short of and self-flagellate. As it turns out, that leads to sustained mild depression and anxiety. So I’m going to try to post a little more consistently about the journey and the process and try to appreciate these little things more. I am grateful to have the privilege to be challenged physically and mentally, and to have the honor to work through it with someone I love and trust deeply. I am also so grateful that Zach constantly reminds me of how challenging some of these skills really are, and how far we’ve come so far, and how far we’ll go. It is scary to love something so much, and it is courageous and radical to do so anyway.

Also, if the white tag on my new Alo hoodie is bothering you watching this, know that it also bothers me. 😆

We’ve been working on this foot juggling stuff for a while. It’s endlessly frustrating and small and precise and easy to over-do. It’s also very brain teasing, and feels like a study in geometry and communication and patience. It’s physically difficult for Zach about as often as it is emotionally difficult for me… and I don’t know that it looks like much, but this is the result of maybe 8 months of practice. Starting with 1 at a time, then 2s, then 3s, then 4s etc. Wild to learn this was only 12 seconds of work… Thanks .devin & for dragging us into this world 🦶🏼🤹‍♂️ - grateful for the humbling journey. Here’s to doing 8+ and starting to link some other stuff in.

‘The Walrus 5000’ and ‘The Walrus 5500’, named for our friend Greg, .wallrus who is ‘semi retired’ from acro but we used to make fun of him for only making machines that were a variation on Pick Pocket. (In all seriousness though, he is a legend and we miss him and we love him). He once named a machine wrote the ‘Filchy 5000’. And so, this name was born. I flew the Walrus 5000 on .arman and he was like ‘Too many hands’ so we took one away, and we jokingly called it The Walrus 5500. It’s our favorite thing right now - the 5500 can go so fast!! Greg was an acro speed demon, so it seems appropriate. Reverse bird, back fly, reverse inside star, foot swap and around again. Next, totally hands free?

I am healing from the trauma of my accident well. 🚙🤯 Driving is still scary. I have not been back on the 405. I have nightmares. My lower back and neck still hurt, but we are easing back into acro. It’s frustrating, and also I’m so grateful to move. 🙏🏼