Year 2 Electrical Engineering undergraduate Zufar Adnan’s encounter with acrobatics was not a planned one. Indeed, he has had 15 years of experience in gymnastics competing at both school as well as national levels before discovering acrobatics earlier this year. As he practiced, his love for acrobatics only grew stronger. It allowed him to release all the inner negativity and focus on positive energy, making acrobatics his “natural remedy”.
Residential Life had the pleasure of speaking to Zufar after he concluded his Basic Acrobatics workshop last Tuesday at Prince George’s Park Residence (PGPR), for the 100MIN ground up activities.
Zufar all smiles during the event 😀
Acrobatics originates from a Greek word akrobateō, which means to “walk on tiptoe”. It is the performance of extraordinary feats of balance, agility, and motor coordination and can be found in many performing arts, sports events, and martial arts. Acrobatics is most often associated with activities that make extensive use of gymnastic elements, such as acro dance (find out more about acro dance here) , circus performances, but many other activities — both performing and sporting, such as ballet and diving — may also employ acrobatics. While there are certain similarities between gymnastics and acrobatics, gymnastics require specific equipment like vaults, beams and bars while acrobatics focus mainly on the floor exercises aspect of gymnastics, eliminating the need for any special equipment. Common moves of acrobatics include cartwheels, headstands, backflips, etc.
Intimidating as acrobatics may sound, Zufar was convinced that it is simply about understanding how your body works. While there are many variants of acrobatics available, he strongly believed that everyone can find a level best suited for them. This belief motivated Zufar to organize a crash course for all those who in awe by acrobatics and want to give it a try.
The Acrobatics encounter and love that grew
At the back of his mind, Zufar always knew about “acrobatics” and the similarities it bore to gymnastics. He decided to delve more fully into acrobatics in 2015, after having to grapple with limited and costly access to gymnastics equipment. Armed with a background in gymnastics, Zufar decided to pick up basic acrobatics by watching YouTube videos, and began to improvise and create his own moves. One move that he terms his signature move is called The Layout (a backflip with a straight back)
Zufar doing his signature move “the layout” | Courtesy of Zufar Adnan
Leading a stressful life like any other undergraduate, Zufar finds peace of mind in acrobatics by practicing outdoors and being as close to the nature as possible.
Spreading the acrobatics love
Eager to share his love for acrobatics with like-minded fellow residents, he took up the challenge to introduce others to acrobatics to provide them the opportunity to learn about themselves and about life better. Yet he also knew that the participants might be fearful as they may think of acrobatics to consist of flips and high flying actions, something that they are unprepared for.
As such, to ease the participants’ minds, Zufar started the workshop with a huge smile and superb energy and of course, an awesome demonstration to get them excited about what is to come. Participants came dressed in comfortable and sporty clothing and from the looks on their face, we could tell that they were then all hyped up from the great energy in the room.
Participants doing stretching to prepare for what is to come 😀
Participants giving each other a helping hand (or two) and having fun together
With the help of his friends, Zufar demonstrated the moves to the participants and they then took turns to give them a try.
Zufar giving the participants a demonstration of a move
It’s time for the participants to try!
Never was there a dull moment in the hall – it was constantly filled with laughter and squeals of excitement from the participants as they successfully mastered a seemingly impossible move. Even when they failed to do so, Zufar kept the morale high with words of encouragement “It’s okay!”, “Try again!” and “You can do it!” that kept them going strong. 100 minutes passed by in a blink of an eye and many were wistful, wishing they could stay for just a little bit longer.
Zufar and his great team rejoiced at the success of the event. “It was really great to meet so many new people! I hope through this workshop, they can change their perspective about acrobatics and better appreciate their body. Hopefully this will also spark their love for acrobatics and motivate them to take up this as a way to destress – as it did for me!”, Zufar said.
The participants of the workshop with Zufar and the organisers.
True enough, we too left the event not only knowing more about the mysterious sport that is acrobatics (that we used to only be able to look on in awe) but also feeling inspired by Zufar’s love and passion J
Do you have a growing interest or a burning passion you wish to share with like-minded people? We have a platform just for you in the 100MIN Enrichment Series – you can be just like Zufar. Write to us at reslife@nus.edu.sg and we can work something out together J
