The Art of Inversion

Kai Fraser

On Thursday afternoon, the 28th of April, in the grasslands of Dalat’s vast campus, Daniel Kang (9) was seen, accompanied by Kai Fraser (12), reviving his previously abandoned art—tricking /flipping. He was reportedly learning a new move called the Raiz, which requires one to twist 360 degrees in the air whilst parallel to the ground, legs twisted apart. Much to Fraser’s chagrin, Kang managed to learn it in a matter of minutes.

Swinging to and fro on the monkey bars were climbers Keegan Oppenheim (12), Bijay Rana (12), Evan Chinn (12), Simon Jeong (10), John Choi (10), Chia Hoong Ewe (10), and Shion Fraser (10). Oppenheim could be seen hanging upside down from one of the bars, while Ewe (10) was climbing away from Fraser (10), who was playing a vicious game of tag with him.

What do these two practices have in common? They both require a form of bodily inversion. Humans have an innate fascination with inversion -- once they get over the fear, of course -- and why is that? Interestingly, the majority of the aforementioned athletes tend to have an affinity for handstands. Handstands are one of the basic forms of inverting, and it serves as an excellent way to acquire a taste of it. Inverting the body gives one a sense of his proprioceptor system and increases the awareness of bodily orientation, but it is not simply a benefit of physiology. Being upside down allows one to see things from a new perspective; attention is drawn to different aspects of the environment and perception is thusly changed.

Jeong (10) speaks on his backflips and states that "life is like a backflip because backflip is life." The statement serves as a good insight into his views on life, essentially stating that his life is all about inversion.

Rana (12), on the other hand, digs deeper with a description of his time hanging from the bars. “When I went onto the monkey bars, the sky moved below me, and the ground moved above. I realized that we walk on the ground every day, but we never really stop to appreciate it. It gave me a whole new way to look at the world. Now I like to hang on the swings at home just to look at the birds flying by.”

These fellows have experienced a new way to look at the world they live in, simply by discovering a change in orientation. Everyone can benefit from trying something new, even if it may not seem like an attractive thing to do. At the very least it will feed one with new experiences that may end up lasting for a long time.