Purpose
Introduces lifts — one body fully supported off the floor — arising from momentum and shared weight rather than strength. The most exhilarating and highest-risk element in the form.
Setup
Only fully warm, experienced, fluent dancers. A stable, forgiving floor — sprung wood if you have it, and not deep foam: a soft base under the base dancer's feet is exactly what you don't want when someone is airborne. A spotter for each pair. Rolling and off-balance work already solid.
Play
- Frame hard: "Lifts come from momentum and shared weight, not lifting. If it feels like weightlifting, stop — that's the injury path."
- Start tiny: "Find a moment where a swing or counterbalance carries one body's feet just off the floor — for an instant. Land it as a roll."
- "Grow the airborne moment gradually. The flyer stays active — responsible for their own landing, always."
- "Let flight arise inside a flowing dance, not as a stunt you set up."
Cues
"Flight is a long counterbalance, not a lift." · "Flyer: never go passive — steer your own landing." · "Small and safe beats big and scary."
Variations
- Easier: feet-just-off-floor moments only; no height.
- Harder: sustained flight, flowing entries and exits — for genuinely fluent dancers only.
Debrief
"Where did flight come from momentum vs. muscle? Flyers — did you stay active through the landing?"
Watch For
The highest-risk game in this book. Spotters mandatory, and a spotter is not a bystander: they stand close enough to feel awkward about it, hands up, with one overriding job — keep the flyer's head and neck off the floor. A spotter who doesn't feel able to catch a particular lift says so, and it doesn't happen.
Agree the exit out loud before the entry — most lift injuries come from confusion about how it ends, not how it starts. One word aborts anything: "Down." Any of the three can call it and everyone goes to the floor immediately, no discussion. Never surprise-lift anyone. The base protects their own spine; the flyer protects their own neck and lands as a roll. When in doubt, don't.