Review – Mallakhamb Gymnastics [India]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EICkwimL3AI] 

In what is sure to be the latest yoga craze that sweeps the west, Mallakhamb is the performance of yoga postures from the top of a pole or while hanging from a rope.

The young kids from the Pune Sports Academy put on an impressive exhibition of this mix of yoga and acrobatics, climbing up into the sky to twist themselves into the most contorted tangles.

With canned, slightly overdramatic backing music and bland, globalised lycra outfits, it had more the air of a shopping mall demonstration than a WOMAD performance though. Still, the talent and courage of these young kids overshadows the shoddy aesthetics.