We explain what rhythmic gymnastics is, its history and main competitions. In addition, we tell you what apparatus it uses.
What is rhythmic gymnastics?
Rhythmic gymnastics, sometimes called modern rhythmic gymnastics, is an Olympic sport in which elements of dance, theatre and gymnastics are combined to perform series of physical exercises in a graceful, aesthetic and harmonious way. Rhythmic gymnastics is closely related to female artistic gymnastics and can be part of competitions or simply public exhibitions, in the latter case being a sporting practice close to the performing arts.
Normally, rhythmic gymnastics is practiced to the music of a single instrument (usually the piano) and with the assistance of gymnastic apparatus such as hoops, balls, clubs and ribbons. This discipline is mostly practiced by female athletes and, like other forms of gymnastics, is governed by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), based in Moutier, Switzerland. You must read about Thermal Sensation once.
A typical rhythmic gymnastics performance is performed individually or in groups of six members, in sequences that last from one to one and a half minutes (in the case of individual performance) or from two and a half to three minutes (in the case of group performance). The gymnast’s movements during the performance are free, usually involving at least two movements considered “superior” (due to their degree of difficulty), and aspects such as originality, fluidity and aesthetics of the movement routine are evaluated.
Origin and history of rhythmic gymnastics
Although gymnastics has notable antecedents in classical antiquity, its first modern appearances date back to the 18th century in Western Europe. Its germ was the theories of the French anthropologist Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) on the physical development of infants and its importance in the educational process, something that until then was not part of pedagogical concerns.
These ideas were put into practice by the German pedagogue Johann Bernhard Basedow (1723-1790), who inaugurated a trend of physical education that would later be followed by many others, including the Swede Pehr Henrik Ling, initiator of the “Northern Movement” that created the Swedish academy in 1814.
Ling was the creator of an “aesthetic gymnastics” that escaped the rigid formats of the military world and physical exercise, and allowed students to express emotional content through body movements.
The success of this model allowed it to be transferred to the United States in 1837 by Catharine Beecher, founder of the Western Female Institute in Ohio, where grace without dancing was practiced, a method of female exercise to the rhythm of music. In 1864, Professor Diocletian Lewis went even further, incorporating different artifacts into the exercises: weights, clubs and wooden hoops.
Another important predecessor was, towards the end of the 19th century, the French musician and teacher François Delsarte (1811-1871), who worked with actors, teaching them to use their bodies in a more expressive way, using exercises inspired by the Ling method. He thus created a method (the “Delsarte method”) that would be fundamental for the creation of the Centre Movement, a direct precursor in Austria, Germany and Switzerland of modern rhythmic gymnastics.
The Centre Movement was very successful at the beginning of the 20th century thanks to the incorporation of eurhythmics, created by the Swiss musician and educator Émile Jaques-Dalcroze (1865-1950), which was a method of musical teaching through body exercises.
The greatest exponent of this European dance movement was a student of Dalcroze himself, the German Rudolf Bode, to whom we owe the emergence of expressive gymnastics, the name by which rhythmic gymnastics was then called. Bode founded her school in Munich in 1911 and in 1922 published the successful book Expressive Gymnastics, where she laid the foundations for this new form of artistic-sporting discipline.
Bode’s work was key to the popularization of rhythmic gymnastics in the world, and was continued by the German Heinrich Medau, creator of the Movement College in Berlin in 1929. Medau focused on creating a specific method for young and adult women, which was not only aesthetically pleasing but also beneficial for health.
These new theories and movements were introduced to the world at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, along with contributions from other important Swedish and Finnish schools that pursued a more fluid, less rigid gymnastics movement.
Although this women’s sport had been practiced for the first time at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympic Games, under the name of modern gymnastics, it was from the 1934 World Gymnastics Championship (the first to accept women’s competition) that rhythmic gymnastics gained true international relevance. The rhythmic gymnastics schools of the Soviet Union, where it was called artistic gymnastics (a name that is now reserved for another discipline), had a lot to do with this.
Then, in 1962, the International Gymnastics Federation was founded, dedicated to standardizing the practice of this sport, and in 1963 the first World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship was organized in Budapest, whose champion was the Soviet Ludmila Savinkova. Since then, it was decided to hold the championship every two years, which thus began a period of worldwide expansion of the discipline, which concluded in 1984 with the incorporation of rhythmic gymnastics as an official Olympic sport. Maybe you should definitely read about Halloween once.
Rhythmic gymnastics apparatus
The practice of rhythmic gymnastics involves not only the gymnast, but also a series of gymnastic elements or apparatus, whose dimensions are standardized by the International Gymnastics Federation. This organization also decides which elements are appropriate for each age category in the competition: benjamin (under 9 years), alevín (9 to 11 years), infantil (11 to 13 years), junior (13 to 15 years) and juvenile (15 years and older).
The most commonly used apparatus in this practice are:
The rope
Made of hemp or other synthetic fibers, it has knots at the ends, like handles, and its length varies according to the age of the gymnast. Its execution consists of turns, hits, throws and harmonic jumps, ensuring that the rope touches the ground as little as possible.
The hoop
This is a rigid plastic hoop, weighing about 300 grams and between 80 and 90 centimeters in diameter, and can reach the height of the gymnast’s waist. It can be smooth or rough, and is usually wrapped in colored ribbons. Its execution involves the imaginary creation of a space, within which the gymnast moves, entering and exiting the hoop in a graceful and coordinated manner, making it roll, jump and turn at the same time.
The ball
It is a rubber or plastic ball between 18 and 20 centimetres in diameter and weighing at least 400 grams, which accompanies the gymnast in her performance and must remain in motion: rolling, turning, bouncing, but never remaining motionless on the floor.
The gymnast is expected to handle the ball smoothly and freely, without gripping it too tightly, and to perform vertical throws, bounces, rolls, rotations and other pirouettes with it, always keeping the ball under her control.
The clubs
These are plastic, rubber or wooden sticks about 8 to 5 decimetres long and weighing about 150 grams, with a spherical head and a thin neck that allow them to be held firmly.
It is an ideal device for ambidextrous gymnasts, since it requires both hands to handle it through turns, twists and other asymmetrical figures that imply maximum psychomotor precision. The clubs can be hit one another gently, they can be thrown in the air or held in the hands.
The ribbon
Made of a non-starched material such as satin, it consists of a cloth ribbon tied at one end to a wooden, plastic or fiberglass rod or stylus, which serves to control the ribbon and move it around the gymnast or her limbs.
The ribbon is between 4 and 6 centimeters wide, and up to 6 meters long, and is normally used to create zigzag figures, spirals and other silhouettes that harmonize with the gymnast’s movements, so that the end of the ribbon never touches the ground and is in continuous movement.
Characteristics of a gymnast
Compared to other sports disciplines, rhythmic gymnastics practitioners lead short and demanding sports lives, which begin at an early age. In general, they have short and robust bodies, ideal for symmetry of movement and the combination of three fundamental aspects: beauty of movement, mastery of the apparatus and musical coordination.
In general, rhythmic gymnasts are expected to master a set of movements, such as:
- Jumps: These are movements in which the gymnast acquires a certain flight, holding artistic poses similar to those of ballet and dance. These jumps must always be coordinated with the apparatus used.
- Rotations: These are turns performed on the body axis, supporting themselves on pointe or on some part of the body, to achieve at least a 360° movement. During the turn, the gymnast must maintain a graceful and strong body shape, often holding the rest of the limbs in the air.
- Balances: These are positions that the gymnast holds for a few seconds, normally on one leg, either on pointe, half-pointe or flat foot, coordinating the body posture with the apparatus in use. Depending on the figure held, we can speak of passé, grand écart, arabesque, among others.
- Push-ups: These are body movements that test flexibility and body coordination, carried out on the support of one foot or any other part of the body.
Major rhythmic gymnastics competitions
The most important competitions in rhythmic gymnastics are the following:
- The International Olympic Games, organized by the International Olympic Committee and held every 4 years.
- The World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship, organized annually by the International Gymnastics Federation since 1963 (except in Olympic years).
- The European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship, organized annually since 1978 by the European Gymnastics Union (UEG).
- The Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup, organized by the International Gymnastics Federation since 1983, every two years.
Other types of gymnastics
In addition to rhythmic gymnastics, there are other gymnastics disciplines, such as:
- General gymnastics: Also known as “gymnastics for all”, it is the only non-competitive gymnastics discipline, that is, it is done for the pure enjoyment of exercise and physical well-being. People of all ages can participate, and it consists of the execution of movements in a synchronized manner, generally in groups of between 6 and 15 gymnasts.
- Artistic gymnastics: It is an Olympic discipline that consists of the performance of high-speed and demanding choreographies, through body movements performed on different gymnastic devices, such as the pommel horse, the bar, the rings, among others.
- Aerobic gymnastics: Also known as “sports aerobics”, it is a gymnastic discipline that consists of performing different sequences of high-intensity movements derived from traditional aerobics, in periods of one minute or a minute and a half.
- Trampoline gymnastics: It is an acrobatic gymnastic discipline, which uses trampolines and other elastic devices so that the athlete can perform different jumps, pirouettes and body exercises.
- Acrobatic gymnastics: Also known as “acrosport”, it is a group gymnastics discipline (in duos, trios, quartets or more) in whose collaborative practice the body of one athlete serves as an instrument for another and vice versa, in order to perform human pyramids, jumps, figures and choreographies.
