Landings

[Papa Lazarou]

So I've noticed something about how most skilled tricksters land their moves. They just sort of hit the ground and wander off. I guess it's like the opposite of gymnastic tumbling, where they stop dead at the end of a pass.

I think a solid landing - which looks controlled - really makes a trick or combo (visually). But I suppose people want to put their very best or most difficult moves in their videos, and so can't always control the momentum completely.

What do people think about this? How important is the look of the landing?

[Augenatic]

I don't care, as long as it's landed.

[kamikaze!]

i think in tricking it doesnt really matter if you land solid or just "roll away".
Its about whats going in the air hehe.
But sure its nice to see a tornado kick (juji vid) with a rock solid landing

[tuareg]

It looks good when its landed haha, i dont think anyone cares too much.

[sesshoumaru]

So I've noticed something about how most skilled tricksters land their moves. They just sort of hit the ground and wander off. I guess it's like the opposite of gymnastic tumbling, where they stop dead at the end of a pass.

I think a solid landing - which looks controlled - really makes a trick or combo (visually). But I suppose people want to put their very best or most difficult moves in their videos, and so can't always control the momentum completely.

What do people think about this? How important is the look of the landing?

I'd say they're pretty important, but you pretty much already mentioned what I was going to say.

Actually...I'll go on and say it for the sake of discussion :tongue:

Dismounts
Like you exclaimed earlier, at the end of any combination it's important to have a "dismount trick" [the trick that put's a "period" on the end of a combo, it should be something that's relatively difficult and kills your momentum]. With alot of us being competitive and/or trying to push this underground sport further...it's common to see a person chuck a difficult technique at the end of a combo. Can he land it cleanly? Honestly, I don't think he knows:

If he does,
Then congratualtions, you pulled off a combo to the best of your abilities :wicked:

If he doesn't,
Then dang, you were hella close [you basically did it], but hey man you went for it :cool:

Regardless of the outcome, it's a WIN-WIN because you're trying your best. If you were to crash the dismount, then that would be different...but to fudge the landing a little bit isn't too big of a deal .

[U]Aerial Orientation & Landings
Another thing to consider is that most of the tricks within MAT start off on and land on one foot [unlike gymnastic tumbling]. We also rotate on more than one plane, and sometimes more than two. In gymnastic tumbling, damn near everything is vertically up and down [with or without spinning]...there are no horizontal twisting skills, and there are no specialized transitions [swingthrus, misslegs, slide-ins, etc.] in between skills.

If you were to take a bunch of trickers, and told them to only do moves that had a vertical orientation in the air, and landed on two feet...I'm sure we'd stick everything we do.

[J-kob]

Agreed with sessh.

[Ryan Sas]

well, i don't necessarily agree with sessh on the last point, being that a trickster could "stick if he really wanted to." truth is, if it was so simple to do, no one would freak out about someone sticking a double double (full in full out). you have to consider that the floor they do everything on is spring loaded, which adds to the difficulty involved in ceasing momentum. but aside from all that, there's no doubt that stuck tricks are hella rare. in my opinion, it only looks appropriate on tricks like double cork, snapuswipe, etc. why? because it's damned epic, that's why. my tricks tend to end with me slouching and walking off or kind of spinning out. nothing i do on purpose, it just saves my knees and prevents me from bouncing off like a gaywad. i guess it also gives a kind of apathetic illusion like "oh yeah, i just did that intense-ass combo, but it was so easy that im just gonna walk back over to the side now that im done." again, i dont do it on purpose, but when you're watching it or see it on tape, it has the effect that bboys typically go for... the "damn yeah i just did that..."

[Skilzat85X]

I think with most tricks people have done a few times they can stick the landing at will.

If I focus on sticking the landing into a firm and set unmoving position I can, but usually I'm not thaaat concerned.

[qwerty the asdf]

I personally think it looks better when the momentum carries you out a trick and you can walk/roll/whatever away easily.

A "sticked" landing looks too much like an abrupt end.