The Flipping Post

Last night I went over to Caroline and Erik's house for a rapper DVD-watching party. Dave had given Caroline a DVD of last year's Half Moon Sword Ale and we wanted to sit down and all watch it together to critique style points, figures, etc. that we might want to incorporate into our dances (did I mention I'd joined Iron Mountain Sword?). Anyway, one of the cool moves that's in at least one of Iron Mountain's dances (I only know one dance so far!) is the backflip. And I get to be one of the backflippers! (Are we surprised?) Scott is also a flipper-in-training, and Caroline has been doing it for a few years now. So Scott and I arrived early to their house to practice flipping in the backyard. They have a post pounded into the ground specifically for that purpose - it's called the flipping post, of course. So you have a post and a person's shoulder (ordinarily in the dance you would have two people's shoulders, but it's actually nice to practice with the post) and you put your hands on them and flip over backwards. We had spotters for practice, of course. :) The great thing is that Erik used to be a gymnast, so he could watch us flip and tell us what we needed to do differently in order to get over faster or more easily or more flashily. "You just jump straight up, then tuck your knees in to your head, fling your head back and you're over." Easy for him to say! I was doing pretty well after a few flops (I only had to put my hands down once, though!) - it really does help to jump straight up, because the ground doesn't come at you so fast. :P So it was fun, and good practice, but I'm sore in the oddest places this morning!