Sports Handstand Man Lands in Port Moody - CircusTalk

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Sports Handstand Man Lands in Port Moody

Sascha Bachmann calls himself a failed gymnast, and he wears it like a badge of honour.

Last Saturday, the 26-year-old German-born circus performer walked into Port Moody’s Gravity Laboratories gym, popping handstands amidst a buzz of excitement. Dozens had turned up from across the Lower Mainland to take part in the hand-balancing workshop.

And judging by the inverted smiles, he didn’t disappoint.

“To get a chance like this?” said Vancouverite Samantha Hodhod after a set of exercises working her feet up and down the wall. “He’s one of the best in the world.”

Bachmann has the sharp features and neatly coiffed hair of a boy-band star. He’s gymnast-short, body-builder from the waist up, ballerina from the waist down — no surprise for someone who spends much of his waking life upside down.

Bachmann was born in Chemnitz, a city near the Czech border in what used to be East Germany. During the Cold War, his grandfather had his own gymnastics club, competing and coaching with the national team. But when the Berlin Wall came down 30 years ago this week, his family, like many in the former Soviet republic, left, eventually settling in Norway, where they started a gymnastics club.

From a young age, Bachmann was trained in artistic gymnastics but his heart was never in it. “You’re young and your teachers, the parents, they push you. But if your head’s not in it and you’re working against it, you don’t get anywhere,” he said.

At 14, he quit and, after some prodding from his parents, agreed to try out for the National Circus School in Montreal. “It’s kind of like a college for contemporary dance but for contemporary circus,” said Bachmann…

Read the Full Article atTriCity News

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