Charlotte Yeung
- Feb 3, 2021
- 3 min read

Contortion Tricks for Beginners (ELABORATE STEPS+EXTENDING POSES)

I’ve started doing contortion recently. I’m self training, and I find that the most frustrating parts of self training are the lack of tricks. Today, I’m going to list some examples of contortion tricks for beginners, and how to challenge yourself to advance.

1. Backbend

So far, backbend is the easiest trick that is considered contortion. So, if you are a newbie, make sure to get started on this simple stretch. If you don’t know how, here are the steps:

1) lie down, face side up

2)put your hands over your head, touching the floor next to your head

3)put your feet and FEET ALONE in a standing position, but stay laid down

4)use your hands and feet to pull yourself up

5)if successful, you’ll find yourself in a position somewhat like the one in the photo above

To advance (and make sure you’ have a certain ability level), straighten your legs and try to move your hands and feet closer to each other. You can also try doing backbend with a standing position, leaning down on your back and your hands touching the floor as result.

2. Splits

Splits are somewhat hard for inflexible people, but if you want to successfully become a contortionist, it is a must to reach your splits. It is very simple to understand. Just start with a standing position and slide down, with one leg at the front and one at the back. When you can, reach the ground with your hands and press down to hold your body. A full split is considered achieved when you can sit on the ground in that position. KEEP IN MIND: you have to make sure that your legs form a straight line, and not siding to one direction. It will be harder to correct once you get used to the wrong position.

If you can do the splits, try to: (assorted by challenging level)

Lean forward

Lean backwards

Put your front leg on a chair or a hard higher surface

3. Scorpion

A scorpion is hard to the next level, at least for beginners. Even a lot of my flexible dance friends cannot do it. Why is it so hard? It requires not only flexibility, but also great balance. To do this pose, keeping in mind that you have the flexibility, raise your leg from the back, bended, and use one hand to grab it. Pull it higher to around your head, and use the other hand to grab your leg as well. If you can do it, congratulations! That means that your leg position is accurate. For most cases, you won’t be able to get your second hand on your leg at first. That’s because of mainly 2 reasons. First, your leg is depended on one side. Second, you cannot balance well when your second hand is up. These are both normal. Make sure to look at a mirror to check your pose’s accuracy, or get a friend to help you check. If its the latter, practise your balance. You can check out my post for exercises to improve your balance. You may pull your leg higher and straighten it more to get a needle. Remember, practise makes perfect!

Lastly, as you can probably see on some of my pages, I’ve taken some photos of myself doing contortion. I really hope to share them with you, so here they are!