Gymkana Home Show 2013

By:    Linda Billotti
         Junior Family Science Major
         SPH Student Ambassador

Comcast Center lit up on the evenings of April 5^th and 6^th for the annual Gymkana Home Show. The Gymkana Troupe, made up of about 80 University of Maryland students, performed many high flying and fast paced stunts for over two hours. An audience of both young and old oohed and aahed as Gymkana members tumbled, flipped, and balanced. The troupe showcased their strength, balance, and tumbling skills, while performing on many different apparatuses including trampolines, balance beams, high bar, and the rings. 

Gymkana is an outreach program within the School of Public Health that aims to promote healthy lifestyles. All of the Gymkana team members pledge to live an alcohol, tobacco, and drug free life. They go to local schools and other community events to perform and promote this above-the-influence lifestyle. Gymkana welcomes all students who want to be involved, no matter of their skill level, and believes that all people can learn gymnastics if they want to. It was clear to see from their excellent Home Show performance that the troupe puts a great deal of time and effort into what they do.

Gymkana performed many traditional gymnastic components, but added some variety to each. For instance, the show opened with vaulting, Gymkana’s most well known routine. Rather than simply vaulting over an object, Gymkana members vaulted first over people and then through a ring of fire, raising the crowd’s anticipation. Their high intensity performance continued with a series of balancing acts and group balance beam acts. They were followed by a new act, aerial silks, where Gymkana girls showed their strength and flexibility while flying high above the ground wound in silk fabrics.

Gymkana then performed another one of its famous acts, ladders (to the right). Ladders involves three men and six women using great amounts of strength, balance, and flexibility to perform stunts while being supported by an 18’ ladder.

Throughout the course of the evening, all of the Gymkana team members performed various acts showcasing what they have learned and accomplished with the troupe. The evening continued with performances on the uneven bars and double trampolines and on the seesaw and floor. Various groups of doubles, trios, and quartets performed balancing acts, exemplifying the strength they have developed without the use of performance enhancing drugs.

One of the greatest examples of strength during the evening was the chair-balancing act. This performance is also one of Gymkana’s staple acts because of its impressive and entertaining nature. Three men use chairs to create towers and pyramids on which they perform handstands. While there have been variations of this act in other Gymkana Home Shows, this year’s (to the left) was particularly impressive and reminded me of watching the Olympics, but a UMD version.

Gymkana promotes a healthy lifestyle for members and observers, demonstrating all that they have achieved with their healthy bodies. Gymkana uses entertainment as a form of outreach to improve people’s lives. Watching the show made me want to join the Gymkana troupe and brush up on my own gymnastics abilities while living a healthy lifestyle.

Watch Gymkana’s 2013 Home Show and other performances on the Gymkana Troupe YouTube Channel. Learn more about the Gymkana Troupe here.