Trapeze Tuesday

I *love* Tuesday nights. This new series that Dino and Jeff (?) put together rocks!! Tonight I described it as the reward series after doing all of our homework -- we finally get to play... But form is more important than ever now, because when I'm not tight, nothing works right, so it's a good way for me to work on a bunch of things that I need to fix.

We were lucky enough to have Jeff guest teach tonight... After a bunch of warm-up swings and turn-arounds, I got to work on a wide array of bar tricks. Since I had never done it before, I thought it would be nice to try the regrip turn-around -- one swing out, regrip in the seven, then a turn-around. Here is my attempt to do it to a cut-catch:

As you can see, the cut-catch portion of the trick still needs a lot of work!!

Next, I tried a straddle mount -- taking off in a straddle position, into another trick. Although I didn't manage to hold it, I still wanted Jeff to give me instructions about what to do next (Thank you so much Marisa for capturing my "debate" with Jeff!! That's actually what I miss most about not having him teach):

After doing a couple of those with a marked lack of success (would like to try out of lines as soon as I'm permitted to -- the lines create a mess!), I decided to move on to an front-end uprise. It ended up looking more like a sloppy pull-over:

And then to cap off the evening's flying entertainment, I tried a half-half... The first attempt:

and the second:

I think the first was better. The second looked like a slow pirouette. (Thank you Marisa, Amy and Renee for your videography skills!) But truly, by that point in the evening, after so many swings, it was surprising that I had it together enough to even try to figure the half turn out. Also nice to discover that Sunday's adventures did not have any lasting effects on me.
It was nice seeing Amy in class tonight -- I haven't flown with her in over a month, and she has become a really strong flyer. Although she was worried that her monster-size rip would prevent her from flying, she stuck it out for the entire class!! Marisa was as motherly as usual -- wanted to put the lines on me, and know what trick I was doing... I think that she has realized that as far as her mothering of me goes, I am firmly in teenage mode and want to do it all myself!! But she made her cut-catch! Very gracefully and with toes pointed, I might add!
After a little break, it was on to static trapeze. I have to say, that after flying as intensely as we do for as long as we do in the skills class, my hands are burning by the time I have the static bar set up. And although I think I have the strength for most of what I want to do, it really hurts to grip. But I'll keep doing it, since static seems almost effortless on days when I don't fly first, and the progress I make then is a direct consequence of pushing myself on fly days. And as exhausted as I was, though, I figured out a few new combinations/transitions, and I do feel like I am making progress, but like I need a class to remind me what I know, and maybe teach me a few new skills.
I ended my hour with trying my front and back levers--ha! Will I get them in this lifetime? Well, I don't know, but chances are much better if I practice them when I'm fresh.

Looking forward to flying again on Thursday, in a class where no matter who is catching, I will feel comfortable throwing anything that they let me take across. That doesn't happen often, but hey, Manny, Dino and Jeff are teaching that class!
(These videos take forever to load to youTube. Sorry if incomplete when you are reading this, but I'm losing patience and need my sleep)