From the November 1950 issue of Acro-Chat.
Diane Robinson like many others has spent many happy hours working out with the gang at Santa Monica’s “Muscle Beach.” But her real training came from dancing school acrobatic teachers in Oakland and Hollywood, California.
Diane’s ease of manner, grace of work and charming personality has made her a favorite with western audiences. Many contortionists perform their bending on top of a small platform or pedestal, but Diane goes them one better by performing her difficult bends and balances on top of a large ball.
Here she is very much at ease in a free elbow stand balance.
In you want to try the contortionism thing then its still a matter of progressing from where you start. Trying to get the little bit more of back bend each time.
I wouldn’t recommend starting off on top of a ball. Just standing on top of a swiss ball proves to much for most people.
As far of the points of the elbows stand, go ahead and give it a try. Simply start from a forearm balance and raise your hands up. With a little practice you can add this trick to your repertoire.
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
P.S. There’s a few more pictures of Diane demonstrating the front walkover which I’ll put up next time. Until then be sure to check out the new review on the Hand Balancing Mastery Course if you haven’t already.