I just got Pantene-rolled!

How on earth do you tie together a feel-good drama to a hair product?

Well.....kinda like this:



That is one long commercial!  If you're rolling your eyes, just look at it like this:  At least it wasn't an ad promoting the virtues of soft drinks or fast food.

Shin Soo-ji throws like a girl...rhythmic gymnast

Rhythmic gymnast Shin Soo-ji threw the opening first pitch yesterday at a baseball game at Jamsil baseball stadium in Seoul, South Korea:

The South Korean rhythmic gymnast threw out the first pitch at a baseball game in Seoul, South Korea, between the Doosan Bears and the Samsung Lions. But Shin Soo-Ji didn’t just throw her pitch.

 She twisted her body, spun in a circle, threw her leg over her head, and then tossed the ball directly over home plate. 

OK, so it wasn’t directly over the plate. It probably wasn’t even a strike. But the video isn’t really impressive because Soo-Ji’s accuracy. It’s impressive because she practically does a flip mid wind-up and still manages to get the ball to the catcher. 

The pitch stunned the baseball players, got a great reaction from the announces, and amazed the internet. 

According to All K Pop, Shin Soo-Ji’s pitch used an acrobatic move called a “back illusion.” I guess that’s because it looks like the gymnast is turning her back to the plate but she’s actually spinning under leg. 

And here is Son Yeon-jae at the same stadium 2 years ago for the LG Twins, throwing out the first pitch:

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So Rachel thinks she can dance?

Great job, Rachel!

Les Jeunes Filles et la Vie

I'm fascinated by the conditioning regimen of the rhythmic gymnasts. I watch some of their exercises and it's just impressive to me how each sport evolves their strength and conditioning routines to train the right muscle groups for what is needed.

I filmed this video one summer camp day in July (30th, to be exact). It's only some of their warm-up and stretching and conditioning routine. Nothing special; not even their best stuff; just a typical workout on a summer day.

I had great difficulty editing this one; so I shelved it; then came back to it tonight (I seem to be on a roll this weekend).

I really need to do more filming, to do it right. There's just so many interesting movements; especially with the ribbon, ball, hoop, and clubs. Lots of originality.

Part of why I wanted to finish this video is that I love the music in it (usually the case with all my videos). It's from a French modern ballet.

Ever since I saw this (probably on HBO) back in the 80's, I was riveted by the opening scene of White Nights. Baryshnikov makes ballet for men look cool. This is probably my favorite ballet piece (given that I'm not familiar with any others).

Below is another interpretation of the modern ballet piece:

Ballet de Roland Petit
musique de Jean Sebastien Bach
Bach Passacaglia in C Minor (for orchestra)
Le jeune homme = Nicolas Le Riche
La mort = Marie-Agnès Gillot

Academy Meet After Action Report

I didn't get to really do much filming (too busy working). But I'll spend these next two days posting up some of the things that I did capture. Sunday morning started out with a last minute private. Alyssa has only been in my Saturday intermediate class for a few weeks, and only decided to do the Academy Meet midway through her class the day before the Academy Meet (and was also late to class). She pretty much learned the floor routine this weekend. Running late to her private, she explained her mom had to run to Starbucks. That she always has to stop there, no matter what. I didn't realize before what a funny kid she is. She bombarded me with conversation that seemed random and irrelevant to the task at hand. On vault, after landing her handstand to her back, she tells me, "My arm pits smell." Over at bars, we had a conversation that went something like,

Alyssa: "Can I go tell my crazy mom something?"

Me: "Yes."

Alyssa: "You think my mom is crazy?!?"

Don't you love how she set me up?

Participants were supposed to arrive at 12pm. When Alyssa showed up sometime after 1pm when we were about to march out, I asked her, "Why were you late". She nodded her head matter-of-factly, "Starbucks."

She and Sydney can be somewhat of a pair of misfits when they are together in class. They just bonded from day one; had each other at, "Hello." So it's appropriate that they did their floor routine together:



Here is Janie, doing her floor routine:



I don't teach her, but knew her and her older sister Gracie from when they came to SMGC over summer camp.

Alejandra's come a long way, since the last Academy Meet. Grace and Sophie shown here are "graduates" of my advanced group. It is amazing, to see Grace doing this because she is not the kind of person that gets up in front of a crowd. Learning routines did not come easy to her, either. She was invited to team earlier in the year, but wasn't ready then. Same happened with Emma Shapland who is also now on team.



More to be added later....

"What's that? Up on the Ceiling? It's a bird, it's a paper plane...no it's an incoming rhythmic flying object!"

At SMGC, there have been times where we've had an adult come in to open workout, and practice with a rhythmic hoop or clubs. Ceilings at SMGC weren't that high, and the last time a rhythmic gymnast worked out there, one of the ceiling lights got busted.

At LASG, identifiable flying objects seems to be a regular occurrence. This includes shattered lights.

Sometimes it can be quite funny to see rhythmic objects flying where they weren't meant to go.

Last Sunday, Julia had a private with Marena. I wasn't there, but Julia told me the story. She submits the following:

Last Sunday Marena was in the gym and her daughter, Diana, was there as well doing rhythmic. Somehow, Diana's rhythmic ball managed to fly out the door, over the wall and into the the "beautiful" LA River. Marena went nuts saying things like, "Oh my god! One hundred dollar ball!" and went chasing after it, hop[p]ing the fence and going into the river to get it. But once she got her hands on the ball, she couldn't get back out of the river, so Vladimir came to the rescue with one of the bars that was under the trampoline and stuck it in the river to help pull her out.

Too bad I wasn't there to record that posterity-rich moment. Here is a clip of the garage door leading out to a view of the LA River:

Ceilings are much higher at LASG than they were at SMGC; but seeing ropes get caught on pipes and lights is quite common. It's always quite interesting to see the instructors and gymnasts put their precision and dexterous coordination to work in knocking the ropes down by using the hoop.

Here is Olga Fadeeva, rescuing one of her student's ropes from off the ceiling lights (particularly challenging, not to hit the fixture):

On an unrelated side note, Julia left today for New Orleans with her youth group to help rebuild houses damaged by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. She writes:

Each day of our trip, I will be adding new posts to my blog with stories of what we did that day to help the community of New Orleans, including pictures and videos.

While we're off-topic, Al's daughter Carol is selling leotards on ebay, leftover from SMGC. Too bad LASG students are required to wear School uniforms and not allow for more variety.