Awesome Acrobatics

Talented taekwondo artist minsungimdang shows off his power and precision as he jumps into the air and breaks four ceramic tiles with his feet while performing a backflip. He got a boost from his teammates, but that doesn’t make the feat any less impressive.

Gymnastics were always difficult for us. So color us impressed with this video of Michael Lewis performing 27 front flips in just 20 seconds. We’re equally impressed with the cameraman, who managed to keep him perfectly centered in the frame without tripping over himself while running. The backward version is just as entertaining.

Boston Dynamics’ ATLAS robot continues to amass new skills. We’ve seen how agile the bipedal automaton has become; now ATLAS has grippers, so it can pick up objects while walking and performing acrobatics. This demo video shows off some of the ‘bot’s newfound capabilities as it helps out on the job site – and does it with swagger.

Photographer Mathieu Stern recorded this captivating footage of choreographer and acrobat Yoann Bourgeois performing a routine where he climbs and repeatedly falls off of a staircase onto a trampoline. As he bounces back into the air, he gets back on the staircase to keep the cycle going.

We imagine it’s hard enough to walk on level ground while balancing another person on your head. Giang Quoc Nghiep and Giang Quoc Co pulled off the trick while climbing up 100 stairs. They did it in record time, ascending to the top of the staircase in just 53 seconds.

Watching gymnast Oleg Chernyshenko pulling off the seemingly endless series of flips is impressive, but it’s the cameraman who managed to keep him in the frame the entire time while running sideways down the hill who takes the win in our minds. The second Instagram video shows the cameraman running alongside him.

The acrobatic daredevils from DD Squad have in their possession a contraption called a Russian Swing. In this case, they used the swing to launch themselves through the air and across a road. Along the way, they jump over a moving car, a bus, and a fire truck.

Jumping through a hoop is no big deal – as long you’re small enough and the hoop is large enough. But Jacob Grégoire and his fellow acrobats are a bit more limber than the average person and can glide smoothly through small hoops without bumping into them or tripping up along the way.

The guys from DD Squad are always doing crazy stunts, and this one is quite the spectacle. Watch as the daredevil squad and their friends Jesse Heffels, FaceTeam, and Greg Roe GTR perform flips, acrobatic tricks, and high dives from a trampoline they rigged under a massive stone arch bridge in Solkan, Slovenia.

They guys from DD Squad rigged up a crazy zipline with a hard stop in the middle, making their athletes catapult into the river below when they hit the sweet spot. Given their acrobatic skills, they had to show off with some crazy flips.

Kuma Films spent some time on the streets of Tokyo, Japan with 2A Yoyo World Champion Shu Takada, as he showed off an amazing combination of tricks that blend the wheel-spinning sport with acrobatic flips and dance.

Kuma Films captured this beautifully elegant performance by dancer and athlete A-Chen. Watch in awe as he deftly balances on and inside of his Cyr wheel, and makes the oversize hula hoop do precisely what he asks of it.

It seems hard enough to balance another person on top of your head while standing still, but Pablo Nonato Panduro and Joel Yaicate Saavedra performed the feat while climbing 97 steps, setting a Guinness World Record for their incredible skill.

The acrobats of Project JUMPoff head to the sandy dunes and oceanfront to show off their amazing gymnastic skills. And when they’re not wowing us with their flips and spins, they breathe fire, because why not?

While acrobat Jon Call (aka Jujumufu) didn’t do his split between two moving trucks like JCVD did, he did amp up the danger by holding a 100 pound barbell over his head while doing his.

A group of buskers on the streets of Orlando in Soweto, South Africa show off their amazing (and at times downright freaky) flexibility, but the true highlight of their performance is the floating hat trick.

Taiwanese street performer Isaac Hou demonstrates his incredible balance, strength and grace as seemingly defies the laws of physics on his rolling Cyr wheel. Filmed beautifully by Kuma Films, the track is Heart by Pistol Shrimp.

Pardon the horrible screenshot, but gymnast Aaron Cook really was a blur in this clip, which shows him practicing a power tumbling routine. The track he’s on has springy fiberglass rods, hence the insane bounce.

With the use of a high-speed camera and several unlikely venues, director David Olkarny transforms b-boy Karimbo’s fast-flying brand of breaking into something more like performance art.

If you put breakdancing, gymnastics, a trampoline and tightrope walking all in a blender, something similar to slacklining would probably be the result. Skip to 1:45 to see the action.

Australian gymnast Joel Pocklington never travels without his video camera; to our horror and delight he’s crafted a madcap compilation of face plants, belly flops and runaway stunts. (Thanks Stephen!)

From wheelies to handstands, Ines Brunn offers us a uniquely choreographed mixture of artistic bicycling, spandex and gymnastics on a fixed gear bike in this entertaining video. (Thanks Paul!)

We all know the sick moves that Norwegian pro boarder Torstein Horgmo can execute on tour, but after seeing what he does in the off season, we’re looking forward to his 2011 tricks. (Thanks Colin!)