The Contortionists

Elsa · August 2020

“I hope that you enjoyed their performance,” says the ringmaster. “Now let’s give a big round of applause to our contortionist.”

“Ouch, how does she do that?” questions the ringmaster. “I am going to share with you some information on how find training to become a contortionist.”

‘Contortionists looking to work in circus and related fields may very well want to consider formal training. At Cirque du Soleil, for example, performers are required to have professional circus arts training or to show that they can perform at the professional level if self-taught. You can get professional training at a circus school such as the National Circus School Montreal. In addition to allowing a performer to develop a particular art form, circus arts training programs expose students to a wide range of other disciplines in order to provide a basic level of training across a broad spectrum of performance styles.’ (Info here)

“I would like to share with you what our trained contortionist has to say about this.”

‘I was 15 years old when I started contorting however I always been bendy especially in my back and legs. Friends and family always noticed not only could my body bend in different but my skin also stretches. When I was older diagnosed with the hEDS. This means that my skin stretches. My journey into back bending started by copying a yoga and stretching book. I continually did these movements until I could do the poses. Wanting to take my flexibility to another level I looked up “contortionist” on the internet and began copying the contortion poses.

I started with some of these poses:

As long as you train safely, warm up correctly you should be able to have a long career in the art of contortion. Warming up is always as important as your body changes as you get older. (Info here)

Let’s continue here – The Jugglers

Start at the beginning – Let’s go to the circus!

Haven't read part 1 of this 2-part story, check it out here: The circus is coming to town!