Russian swing

File:Аткинсон_Качели.jpg

A Russian swing is a large, floor-mounted swing which is sometimes used in circus performances to make impressive high acrobatic jumps.

Unlike ordinary playground swings, a Russian swing has steel bars instead of ropes, and its swinging platform is able to rotate 360 degrees around the horizontal bar from which it is suspended. Two or more acrobats stand on the swing platform, pumping it back and forth until it is swinging in high arcs. One acrobat (the flyer) then jumps upwards off the swing before it slows to a stationary speed at the peak of its arc. By jumping off the moving swing the flyer can increase their kinetic energy by more than the increase obtainable by jumping from the ground or other stationary surface. The flyer can achieve enough altitude to execute one of various aerial flips before landing at a distance from the swing. The flyer may land on a crash mat, in a vertically slanted net, in the arms of other acrobats (referred to as catchers), in a pool of water, or even on the platform of another Russian swing.{{cite web | url=http://www.circusfederation.org/uploads//news/pdf/FMCInternationalGuideCircus.pdf | title=International Guide to the Circus | page=12 | publisher=Fédération Mondiale du Cirque | editor=Rodney Huey | accessdate=13 January 2013}}{{cite web | url=http://www.circopedia.org/index.php/Glossary#R | title=Glossary | publisher=Circopedia: The Free Encyclopedia of the International Circus | accessdate=13 January 2013}}

Performing companies whose shows have used the Russian swing include:

• Cirque du Soleil (Saltimbanco, O,[http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/home.aspx#/en/home/multimedias/details/videos/E2C508C9F0954C439353677B19A5641F.aspx Russian Swing in "O"] (filmclip) Varekai, Love, Luzia)
• Flying Angels
• Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (Zing Zang Zoom){{cite web | url=http://www.ringling.com/uploadedFiles/Ringling/TextContent/FunZone/Circus_Works_Education_Center_Details/139-CIRCUS-SCIENCE.pdf | title=139th Edition Field Trip Kit: Circus Science: Understanding Gravity with the Gravity-Defying Russian Swing Act | publisher=Feld Entertainment | date=2008 | accessdate=13 January 2013 | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120913043842/http://www.ringling.com/uploadedFiles/Ringling/TextContent/FunZone/Circus_Works_Education_Center_Details/139-CIRCUS-SCIENCE.pdf | archivedate=13 September 2012 }}
• Moscow State Circus
• Troupe Shatalov
• UniverSoul Circus (Zhukau acrobatic troupe){{cite web | url=http://www.universoulcircus.com/zhukau | title=UniverSoul Circus - Zhukau Acrobatics - Russian swing | publisher=UniverSoul Circus | accessdate=13 January 2013}}
• Vorobiev Troupe{{cite web | url=http://www.circopedia.org/index.php/Vorobiev_Troupe_Video_2007 | title=Vorobiev Troupe Video 2007 | publisher=Circopedia: The Free Encyclopedia of the International Circus | accessdate=13 January 2013}}
• Gamma Phi Circus at Illinois State University
• The Great Moscow Circus (Australian touring circus)