DROP ANALYSIS DISCLAIMER!
I love to study and talk about physics and how different drops and maneuvers work. That said, on this blog, and in all web-based discussion forums, I will NOT describe how to do a trick. I feel that doing so is extremely irresponsible as I have no way to check a student’s execution of the skill, evaluate their preparedness to attempt a skill, teach the proper technique for escaping a missed catch or poorly executed maneuver (many times the escape is specific to the skill being attempted), or coach the student through the proper progression toward the skill they wish to learn. The analyses I post will be general and strictly cerebral: for example, how to use slight body position changes to manipulate the movement quality of a maneuver. DO NOT ATTEMPT SKILLS WITHOUT THE GUIDANCE OF A SKILLED COACH!!! Please, please, please don’t do this: it’s incredibly dangerous and not worth the risk! Help keep our circus community safe and happy! That said, I travel frequently and would be delighted to teach workshops wherever there are interested students: shoot me a comment and we’ll set something up. I love you guys.)
The dive roll, which some of my circus friends also know as a salto, 360, or diaper roll/wrap, is a really great way to study body position through a vertical rotation (for term definitions, see the Glossary). This drop can be a complete rotation, or it can be stopped through the power of physics after 270 degrees. I prefer to see it stopped, because when it is the drop ends with a graceful -woosh- instead of a clunky -WHACK-. Let’s take a look.
Woosh:
Whack:
Let’s break this down a little more. In the whack example, very little movement is seen in the spine or neck. This makes the body rotate like a stick, kind of like a propeller or a ceiling fan. If you give the propeller a push it’ll keep turning, gradually losing speed until it stops after like, SO many turns. Since the fabric (or corde) is tied in a knot that only allows for one revolution, the rotation stops all at once as the body crashes into the knot, which is not very pretty. In the whoosh example, we add two hinges to the stick: one at the waist and one at the neck. This allows us to make certain body parts rotate at different times and a different speeds, so we can use the upper body as a counterbalance to stop the rotation of the lower body. Let’s see how this works in super slow motion.
…and with a dolly! 😀
The starting position is slightly arched, straight elbows and knees.
After releasing the hands, the chin drops to the chest and a slight hollow body is formed. The feet remain in their starting position as long as possible.
This allows the upper body to complete about 1/4 rotation before the legs move from their starting position. 
Once the upper body reaches vertical, its position should be maintained as long as possible. As the legs rotate, the upper body serves as a counterbalance, slowing the rotation of the lower body.
As the legs rotate, the hollow belly will open into an arch.
Notice that the legs are the source of this arching, not the upper body or the head.
As the back arches the abs engage, bringing the chest up. For performers with moderate back flexibility, this part of the rotation will be slightly easier: wait until maximum back extension is reached, then allow the legs to pull the chest around. For performers with much greater back flexibility some experimentation is required to find the ideal degree of back extension to stop the rotation smoothly (NOT your maximum, you lovely contortionists, you!!). Note here that the chin is still tucked to the chest. 
Lastly, as soon as the apex of the rotation is reached (which feels like a brief moment of weightlessness), the head drops back. The head is another, littler counterweight which takes the last bit of motion out of the drop.
This rotation/counterbalance concept can be applied to any forward vertical rotation, whether it exists on its own or as just one part of a bigger drop. Experiment with this and see just how slow you can make the rotation. Once you can perform a skill extremely slowly you’ll have the control necessary to perform it quickly and CLEANLY.
Happy twirlz!!!
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[…] you’ve read some of my other posts, particularly the one about controlling forward rotations, you know that if you rotate like a stick you go faster and if you rotate like a lever (or a stick […]