aerial silk visual glossary

This is an attempt to list all the things I know or have seen in aerial silks. It will be obvious from the photos that I'm not a professional performer; there are probably plenty of fine points of technique these pages fail to show (and I often forget to point my toes). There are certainly alternate techniques for some of these moves which require less strength. Ultimately I'd like to make this a wiki, add video, etc. This is just a first-pass attempt to get down the most necessary info.

(What this is not is any sort of real tutorial on aerial fabrics. Conspicuously missing from these photos are the spotters you'd need in order to learn them safely. If you don't already feel quite comfortable on the fabrics (and have spotters), get someone who is to teach you rather than trying crazy things you read on the internet.)

Part of the motivation for this page was the complete lack of standardized vocabulary for talking about aerial silk moves. I've chosen to use a very dry, somewhat unwieldy, but mostly self-explanatory nomenclature here, following my teacher's naming tendencies. I'd like to collect colloquial names for these moves as well.

Ironically, this "glossary" itself needs a glossary-- some terms we use to refer to the fabric, to parts of the fabric, or to classes of moves. These terms are listed down below, below the main list.

The list:

• basic stand
  • single-foot ankle hang (would like to retake this photo with bent-leg foot in front of straight leg)
• basic climb
  • hand-over-hand climb
    • l-straddle
    • l-sit gathering fabric
    • straddle swing
    • piked side swing
• crucifix
• foot lock
  • side layout
  • open silks step through
  • layback invert (crappy split. take photo with stag knee?)
    • all the way around
  • slough drop
  • crucifix arabesque (photo mostly shows essentials; pose looks terrible. also, take intermediate photos showing how to get into the pose)
  • crucifix knee hook (photo shows everything essential; could be prettier)
  • crucifix straddle split (get photo of someone who has this split)
  • one-leg pike invert
  • locked split silk rollup needs movie
• same side knee hook
  • single thigh wrap slack drop
  • single thigh wrap glissade
  • single thigh wrap as base for lower flyer partner
  • double thigh wrap and dive
    • 1 1/4 dive ("butt-floss" position)
    • 1 1/2 dive (hip key)
  • same side climb
• opposite side knee hook
  • single thigh wrap and dive
  • opposite-side climb
• split silks double footlock (take series of photos showing the method of wrapping, for regular methods)
  • double footlock splits (3 ways)
  • double footlock crucifix
  • split silk double footlock roll-up
    • roll-up crucifix layback
  • crossed-silk straddle invert
    • knee hang
    • ankle hang
    • glissade
    • slack drop
  • crossed knee sit
• frog position behind-the-back cross
  • crossed-silk straddle invert glissade (simpler entry)
  • assisted glissade
  • crossed-silk straddle invert slack drop (simpler entry)
  • "groin-grabber" dive between
  • knee catch dive between
  • another dive between
• split silks double/triple en dedans wrap
  • same skills as double footlock
  • alternate double footlock
  • front balance
  • front fall to knee hang
• uneven split silks double footlock
  • crucifix on front fabric
  • crucifix layback
  • crossed knee sit
• scissors hip key
  • neck hold crucifix
  • hip-key knee-pass dive
  • sit between
  • base partner from underneath
• "ramone" wrap
  • ramone windmill fall
  • hands-free windmill fall
  • "barrel roll" entry
  • double dive
  • 2 1/4 dive
  • 2 1/2 dive
  • triple dive
  • 3 1/4 dive
  • 3 1/2 dive
  • dive to crucifix
  • simple wrap dive
• ankle hang
  • double-wrapped ankle hang
  • drop to ankle hang
  • crucifix to drop to ankle hang (half rotation)
  • hip-key on crucifix, dive to ankle hang
• split silk handstand
  • split silk handstand rollup
• basic hand lock
• split silk double hand lock
  • bird's nest
  • single-leg bird's nest
  • inverted split
  • "angel in the ropes"
  • back arch
  • back arch double attitude
  • front planche
  • angel with straightened front arm
  • back planche
  • single arm back planche
  • meathook
• hand key
  • traditional straps key
  • elbow key
    • striding in a circle
  • partner spins
• open silk hand key
• partner skills
  • single taut silk
    • abbreviated climb
    • arabesque
    • flag hold
  • split silk
    • back layout
    • "monkey hang"

Some terms our group uses, some of which we made up:

• silk, fabric, tissue, etc (what do we call this art?)
• pole, the fabric above you
• tail, the fabric below you
• climb, ways of going up
• drop, fall, dive, etc-- ways of going down
• slack drop, a specific class of drops
• glissade, another class of drops
• hip key, a way of hanging still
• butt-floss position, a preparation for some dives