Abstract

“L’acrobatie et les acrobats” written by G. Strehly and published in Paris for the first time in 1903 constitutes a valuable historical reference that, looked at from a theatrical or circus perspective, enriches the understanding of acrobatic evolution in all aspects of its development. Corporal inversion, acrobatic indication for excellence, is at the same time symbol of social subversion and cultural progress, representing the rigour and multiplicity of the technique, and at the same time is an expression of an eccentric aesthetics based on risk and originality. Therefore, in this article we take pleasure in following the different acrobatic images of Strehly, static or in motion, individual or in group, at floor level or on pieces of apparatus, in which the upside down body is prevalent.