Origins

Defining acrobatics precisely is a dangerous exercise as the term now designates, as it did originally, a multitude of disciplines that all stem from the same initial concept. From the Greek acros, meaning extreme, and bates meaning walk, or move forward, the term led to an idea of progression but also of a gap between acrobats and mere mortals. It is a tacit designation of all those who play with the principle of extension and inversion, in other words dancers, tight rope walkers and floor jumpers.  They are all acrobats. They "move around on their extremities," i.e. their hands and toes, and founded the first, remarkable and symbolic artistic diaspora. The medieval juggler, a wit, singer and manipulator of objects, is also sometimes an acrobat. Capable of jumping, balancing on one leg or of walking on his hands, he has multiple skills and identifies with an entire cast. The term "acrobat" has, up to a certain point, been substituted for that of "juggler," which now designates not only a branch of disciplines based on the manipulation of objects, but also the "saltimbanco," who now has a negative connotation, and "tumbler," which defines all those whose profession is jumping and performing tumbling sequences. The actual practise of tumbling is of course influenced by this. 

The roots of acrobatics are global and date back thousands of years. Ritual imitation of animal behaviour lies behind the development of the first acrobatic forms. To convince the gods to place the greatest number of prey on the hunter's path, a group would imitate certain creatures in the most explicit way, by wearing feathers, horns or skins for increased realism and to dissipate any hesitation on the part of the benevolent powers. Speed, strength, agility and flexibility characterise numerous species, and by imitating them, by selecting the most talented individuals from the clan, men would gradually acquire the same skills. An understanding of these strange skills would encourage competition for precision and talent.
When communities of hunter-gathers became sedentary societies of agricultural farmers and animal breeders, they retained the memory of these hunting rituals and gradually turned them into a profane, artistic form, and show acrobatics was born. Circus techniques such as the Chinese poles, contortion, balancing acts, pyramids, hand to hand lifts etc., all arose from these games of imitation and the pleasure of competing to climb a tree as quickly as possible, from the ability to make crawling look like second nature, and from the need to support and lift oneself higher and higher towards the stars. These secular figures and these orchestic rituals echoed like a fertile memory: contemporary acrobatics has no other sources, although it has, of course, continued to develop and grow richer, from this powerful and symbolic base, nourished by hybrid forms and interpretations.
The caravans that tirelessly traverse the faraway lands of Central Asia to deposit the most extraordinary merchandise at the gates of Europe, like the warrior expeditions of Genghis Khan and his descendants who appropriated men and treasure, ensured the link and the spreading of games of skill, performance and masterful manipulation. All along the Silk Route, linking East and West, a universal repertory grew up, through encounters, confrontations, exchanges and aggregates, in a sort of inventory of feats, creating an intuitive footbridge between men and civilizations.

The Mallakhamb, a little-known practice begun in India in the 12^th century, stemming from Malla, which means strongman and khamb, which means pillar, is a sporting discipline codified in the 18^th century in the state of Maharastra and widely developed in the following century at the instigation of Sir Balambhatt Dada Deodhar. Practiced with a three metre high teak or rosewood pole, the aim was to perform a maximum number of figures in one minute thirty seconds. The pole was carefully polishes and oiled to avoid any roughness that might injure the participants, dressed simply in an orange loincloth. Holds and combinations were dramatic, combining extremely flexible shoulders with strength and speed. Purely gymnastic, and very structures since 1958 with regional and national competitions and a very precise scoring system, the Mallakhamb, removed from its sporting context, is nevertheless regularly presents as an attraction in its own right. In 2009, the India show, created by Franco Dragone for Prime Time Entertainment, revealed a collective of 8 Mallakhamb performers, completely choreographed and removed from any gymnastic connotation. The Dai Show, a permanent show also created by Franco Dragone in Xishuangbanna in 2015, included a Mallakhamb sequence.

In parallel, the cathedral construction sites represented a formidable laboratory for integrating acrobatic movement into the medieval visual vocabulary. Acrobats and jugglers were inscribed on stone columns as well as in the bas-relief three-dimensional frescoes destined to decorate gates, in a sculpted restitution of scenes bringing to life the Mysteries performed on the church square. The crafted, sacralised body was dislocated or triumphant, and the acrobat symbolised and reflected the immemorial fascination for games of agility and the evocative power of extraordinary movements as well as a new alphabet and vocabulary. Century after century, branches of techniques and disciplines gradually transformed into a powerful shared trunk. This is how some of the fundamental disciplines of acrobatics arose, grew and blended, and their movements and positions gradually came to constitute a universal repertory that formed the basis of the "Grande Banque d'Occident" (literally the "Great Occidental Bench"). Here the word banque, means diaspora or community again. The word stems form the term Saltimbanco, from the old Italian saltare in banco, literally, to jump on a bench, stage, or the wandering entertainers' platform, from where artists could dominate the crowd to perform their acts and spin their yarns.

The saltimbanques who trod their paths and performed randomly along the way, a recurrent phenomenon since Thespis and his chariot in Greece, were considered harmful and were excommunicated in the same way as actors had been since the 4^th century and the Synod of Elvira in Spain in 305. It was then difficult to assimilate these "vagabonds" to a social body, especially as a sedentary lifestyle was the norm, as were famines, dues to bad harvests, plundering by lawless troops of mercenaries or wagoners, and the epidemics that raged in certain regions, which did not encourage tolerance for difference in any shape or form. The traveller, the other, was therefore inevitably considered as responsible for all the ills of the century. Sometimes an alternative was offered in the shape of corporations, guilds and wandering minstrels who gathered together, federated and protected those representing the same profession. And, like butchers, tailors and tanners, jugglers sometimes had a street, a district or even a hospital reserved for them. Part of the fabric of the city, they thereby acquired a semblance of respectability. This idea suggests the outline of the company, and therefore the clan, family and dynasty. Belonging to the same bloodline was a notion that founded corporations. This was a symbolic link with the organization of former guilds, but in which talent opened doors and was a raison d'être.