Do you want to know how to teach walkovers?
If you are an acro or modern dance teacher, walk overs are a great skill to teach your dancers. Let’s look at how you would go about teaching a walkover.
What Are Walkovers?
A walkover is a somersault which starts with a handstand, and then slowly moves through a backbend to stand up, or first arches back into a bridge and then slowly moves the feet forward and down to the floor. Front walkovers go forwards, and back walkovers move backwards.
Are you wanting your students to achieve walkovers this year? They look really pretty if done properly, but remember not every body is designed to do these tricks safely. There are a lot of things that the dancers need to be able to do before attempting this trick.
How To Teach Walkovers
First of all make sure the student has warmed up sufficiently.
Start with the fundamental skills!
A basic bridge (backbend) is the first thing the dancers will need to perfect. The weight should be mostly in the legs. The arms should be well stretched and the shoulders should be in line with the wrists on the floor. Pony tail should be aiming to touch the butt.
If the shoulders and upper back are not flexible then this trick will not be a good fit for your student, as they will take a lot of strain in their lower backs when doing a walkover which they need to avoid.
Start them lying on their backs on the floor to get the alignment correct before attempting it from standing.
1️⃣ Bridge Recover:
Next the student will need to learn to reach up stretching out the spine before reaching back into a bridge. The hands should land softly on the floor as the student should be using core and butt muscles to get there. The hands need to be as close to the feet as possible and the belly needs to be lifted to the roof. Lift the head to look past finger nails on the floor.
Make sure that the dancer is using both sides of the body evenly when going into the bridge and recovering.
They then need to be able to stand up using their butt muscles and by pulling in the belly button to support their spines. The arms stay stretched and next to the ears until the student is in a standing position. This also protects them as their arms will hit the floor before their heads if they fall.
Students will need to go down to bridge and recover from bridge on one foot. Remember there should be no weight on the foot in tendu. Start with bridge recover, then work on bridge recover with one foot in tendu.
2️⃣ Square split:
Students who try to kick over with turned out hips tend to flip or fall over. This is because their hips are not square. Work on square splits to help walkover alignment. This will also showcase a wide split in the walkover.
Some dancers will not be able to get a true square split, but keep working on it and let the hips give a little if necessary. Make sure that their chests stay square and lifted.
3️⃣ Bridge Inline:
Before students walkover and kickover, their arms must be in alignment with their feet. Shoulders need to be over wrists and elbows need to be straight. Work the ROM in the shoulder and upper back to achieve bridge inline.
4️⃣ Handstand to Bridge:
This skill helps students learn control. Students should press their legs to the floor, not drop backwards to avoid injury.
5️⃣ Bridge Kickover:
Students can start with a stack to help build confidence in their kickovers. The shoulders should be in line and the head should follow the curve of the spine.
Focus on square alignment and a large split. Students can think of a kick over like a split jump; strong battement from the first leg, powerful push from the second.
At first the dancers legs will be bent when they go over, but they need to work towards an upside split eventually.
Remember to stretch the spine out regularly if doing a lot of back work. You can do this by lying flat on your back stretching your arms and feet away from each other.
Round your spine the other way to by letting your legs fall over your head while lying on your back. This will balance out the spine and stretch it out.
And that is how to teach walkovers. Below is a video to use as a guideline, but I wouldn’t recommend trying to learn a front walkover in only a day as it does require strength and technique.
