Join data scientist, handbalancer and coach Chris Gatti, PhD for the April Circus Smart Speaker Series lecture!
This talk will discuss handbalancing from a perspective that is rooted in practitioner experience and observations from coaching, but that is also informed by foundational principles and research from biomechanics. A broad overview of the handstand will set the stage for more nuanced details related to the structure and function of the body as a whole in addition to a specific focus on the shoulders, elbows, wrists, and hands/fingers. We will discuss overarching concepts and ideas for training handbalancing or working with handbalancers as well as approaches to dealing with common issues and deficiencies.
Can’t make it live?
** RECORDING AVAILABLE ** for one week afterwards
In his talk Chris will cover the following:
• A broad definition of a handstand with some related, perhaps nuanced, tangents
• Specific details on the shoulders, elbows, wrists, and hands/fingers in the handstand
• High-level guiding principles for training
More about Chris Gatti, PhD:
Chris Gatti’s primary interests lie in utilizing a scientific approach to support and improve human performance in circus. An engineer by education, his research background includes work in computational orthopaedic biomechanics and machine learning. After a nearly 25-year gymnastics career, he moved to circus, initially performing with Cirque du Soleil (Corteo) immediately after obtaining his PhD, and then transitioning to coaching and consulting roles. He is currently a data scientist for CRITAC, the research center at the National Circus School in Montreal, where much of his work is focused on motion capture in acrobatic scenarios, numerical analysis, and working with a variety of technologies. As a hobby handbalancer and handbalancing coach, he continues to be enthralled with the journey of exploring what is possible when standing on one’s hands.
Access him online!
Web: www.chrisgatti.com
IG: @bearded_mann