top of page
Search

ALL ABOUT HANDSTANDS: Nicolas


One arm handstand

This is the 12th issue of my ALL ABOUT HANDSTANDS Interview series, which I have started to share the many beautiful souls out there who dedicate their time on one or two hands instead of their feet. And my curiosity seems to be endless when it comes to picking the brains of my favorite Instagram Handbalancers, as I am "just" a yogi who loves being upside down, compared to professional contemporary circus artists who have turned their passion into their profession for life.

MEET NICOLAS MONTES DE OCA

I've met Nicolas a couple of years ago at a workshop in Berlin. Before I had only known him from Social Media and always have been amazed by his flexibility (his tuck in particular) and lightness. He has performed at the prestigious Festival Mondial du Cirque in Paris and is now performing for Cirque Du Soleil's Axel. Let's find out what makes this table spinning hand balancer tick.



BREATHE & TRUST

Your IG name is @nicolastanding On which part of your body do you like to stand and why?

Hahaha funny question as I am a handbalancer of course I love to stand on my hands but I also love very much to dance, so we can say I love to stand on every part of my body :P

What are your current goals or what is your current show/performance? One of my life time goals was to perform at the prestigious Festival Mondial du cirque de demain in Paris and amazingly I was able to make my dream come true in 2019! In February I got invited to perform at the festival and performing my handstand spinning table act !

At the moment I am performing at Cirque du Soleil show Axel.

At what age did you start training?

I started to do Yoga when I was 14 and started with handstands when I was 23 at a Circus school in China.

Your tuck is amazing. Would you say this is due to a great amount of flexibility in the upper back and shoulders or strength?

All of them plus lower back mobility. The trick is to make sure your shoulder is always on top of your wrist.



Which are the 3 most important exercises when training handstands?