Visible from the sky. Daniel Dancer's art projects typically involve hundreds, or even thousands, of participants. But it is absolutely impossible to understand the meaning of their actions while on earth. There is only one way to evaluate the author’s idea - by rising high into the sky.
The idea of creating a project called “Art of the Sky” came to Daniel while traveling around South America and acquaintance with the Nazca Lines - giant geometric and figured geoglyphs in the southern part of Peru. Inspired by the creations of Indian tribes, the author decided to do something similar himself. For several years he collaborated with Stan Head, who created huge drawings in the fields using a tractor, but one day an unusual idea came to his mind: while working on another such image, Dancer invited 400 schoolchildren, dressed them in bright T-shirts and put the children along certain lines. However, this idea received its logical conclusion only ten years later, when the author created the first image as part of the “Art of the Sky” project.
To implement his next project, Daniel negotiates with the school management, gives the students bright multi-colored T-shirts and explains who, where and how needs to go. Additional elements of future images could be leaves, shredded tree bark, old clothes or items intended for recycling. When everything is ready on the ground, the author resorts to using a high crane or even a hot air balloon to film everything from above with a photo and video camera. Daniel Dancer is sure that “only from the sky can you understand what is really happening on earth” - and this applies not only to his works.
Daniel Dancer is proud that children take part in his projects with great pleasure. “They wake up in the morning and tell their mother: “Today is the most important day of my life,” the author says with a smile. “And when mom asks why, the children answer: “Today I will be part of the crocodile!” Some are surprised how Dancer manages to manage so many schoolchildren (and five thousand people took part in the author’s largest project), but Daniel assures that it is easy: the main thing is to interest the children, and his projects cannot be called uninteresting.
Acrobatic pyramids can take the form of thematic formations depicting something, or they can simply be colorful performances of several people of different physical training. Pyramids for schoolchildren cannot be complicated, but they can also be colorful - at holidays it is possible to use costumes, flags, and inflatable balloons.
Story
The organization of people into tiered structures in the past was necessary in military formations, when in this way assaults on fortresses with low walls were carried out. Such tactics were especially common among the Romans, who could make similar structures of several floors, forming a kind of flooring from shields required height, which was used to ensure that the top warriors could freely climb the enemy’s fortress wall.
In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, sports pyramids were also considered as part of military training, because they helped unite the team, and also developed strength and endurance. Mass sports facilities made up of people, including children, were popular during the times of Tsarist Russia; in Soviet times, they fostered a sense of teamwork; in the 30s of the 20th century, not a single significant holiday was complete without gymnastic pyramids. People were also lined up in a sporting manner on moving floats during parades.
Now the art of building sports acrobatic pyramids is being revived, even separate competitions are being organized in which different schools take part. Of course, similar exercises are used by support groups sports teams to add color to your performances.
Features of application
Pyramids are often used in sports competitions— they are made up of girls and boys of the support group (cheerleaders). But they can also be done on other holidays, using schoolchildren to make up different words, numbers and drawings that reflect the theme of the holiday. Such pyramids can use poles, cubes and other devices that will help create the necessary shape of the pyramid, while at the same time not putting too much strain on children, since additional devices take on the physical load.
Although the simplicity and safety of the pyramids are paramount, there is always a student who can perform complex acrobatic feats, such students can well be used to complete the pyramid spectacularly. In a pyramid, it is not necessary for everyone to have a serious physical training, some strong athletes can become the basis for a gymnastic pyramid, in the construction of which a large number of ordinary, not very trained children can be involved. The basis for successfully building a pyramid and further performance is thorough training that will allow you to do sports facility multi-tiered and durable.
I place the pyramids that I managed to find. For three, four and group pyramids. They can be considered both male and female and mixed. It's up to you to decide what to choose and who they're suitable for.
As you can see, such tricks are already in the past, but everything new is well forgotten old.
These pyramids can be performed by both men and women, as well as jointly. Threesomes very often have one man and two women or two men and one woman, which greatly diversifies the stunt repertoire.
The schemes are taken from different sources and therefore their quality is different, but this does not interfere with their execution.
Group pyramids are very rare today. Most often in Chinese groups. Group rooms are also welcome there. In Russia, and throughout the world, now all acts come down to one or two performers. The reasons are purely economic. Foreign impresarios, and ours too, want two people to have 2-3 acts, and this ruins the circus.
Sometimes it is clear from the diagrams that they are simply far-fetched and have neither beauty nor complexity, but they awaken imagination and are useful for this.
Next will be photos of pyramids for four or more performers. These pyramids can be used for mass events, team anniversaries. Where it is necessary to show mass character. I mean pyramids for a large number of people. There, with one or two people who know how to stand on their hands, you can create very decent pyramids. And take greatest number participants. These pyramids are used both in parades and cavalcades. In the arena, mainly threes and fours are used, but in group acrobatic numbers sometimes one or two group pyramids are included. Among the Chinese, groups sometimes reach ten people or more.
