French climb

From Silkworms

"french climb" or "russian climb":

(step climb)

this is an alternative to what i think of as the basic climb. the fabric isn't wrapped around a leg, so it doesn't flow as easily into moves where the fabric should be around a leg. conversely, it turns out to be easier to generate friction on the fabric running over your bottom foot using this stand position than using the "basic" one, even if you do it clumsily-- so it can be handy for beginners.

i think of this as a stand climb: it works by having a way to stand on the fabric with your feet, so you can hang by your arms, lift your knees up and wrap your feet in the fabric until they have a stable hold, then stand up.

the foothold or "stand" for this climb has the fabric coming down on the outside of what will be your bottom leg, running under your bottom foot, then folding back over the top of that same foot, then folding back again over the top of the top foot.

a useful trick when putting on the stand wrap is to flex the foot of what will be the bottom leg very strongly, lift and turn that leg until the shin is nearly horizontal, and sweep the leg sideways, gathering the fabric of the pole in the crook of your ankle. this makes catching the fabric on your foot and keeping the silk bunched up so that it's easy to manage much simpler.

links: the seattle circus wiki calls this a russian climb and describes it, with a photo using corde lisse, here: http://www.byz.org/cgi-bin/SeattleCircusWiki?RussianClimb that description suggests the fabric may run between the legs and then out under the shin (i.e. you can have the bottom leg's knee on the outside of the fabric). note that the corde lisse is too thick to actually stand on in this climb, so the feet are more side-by-side in that photo than they'd be with silks.

here is a youtube video of this climb.

vocabulary note: i have notes from a class at necca that refer to this also as a "step climb".