s or elbows or any outside assistance, bring your body to a
sitting position. If you cannot do this, get your back muscles into
training before you attempt any difficult exertion. If you succeed in
your test, you can safely consider your abdominal muscles to be in
sufficiently good condition to go ahead with acrobatic dancing.

Let me describe a few of the most common of the acrobatic tricks that
all acrobatic dancers must know, and you will no doubt recognize them
as being also favorite tumbling acts of boys and girls on the lawn.
The most complicated and difficult acrobatic exercises are taught in
full in the Ned Wayburn Studios, and are printed in detail, with
simple instruction for their successful accomplishment, in the Ned
Wayburn Home Study Course in Stage Dancing. The few we give you here
are not difficult, and can be mastered at home by anyone who
persistently practices and follows the descriptions with care.

[Illustration: ACROBATIC DANCING PRACTICE.]

BACK BEND

Stand erect. Spread the feet about fifteen inches apart. Have the toes
pointed well out, at about a sixty degree angle. Raise the arms
directly overhead, the hands shoulder-width apart. Put your head
back, pushing forward with your knees. Lean back, bending the arms as
far back as you can, till the palms of the hands rest on the floor. In
doing the back bend, relax the lower jaw and keep the mouth slightly
open to breathe. Throw the strain of the bend in the small of the
back. To come up, acquire a little rocking motion forward and back,
lean forward, and you will come up easily.

_How to do a back bend while standing near a wall._

Stand about 3 feet from the wall, with your back to the wall, feet
about two feet apart. Bend back, touch the wall with the palms and
walk down the wall with your hands until you touch the floor. Then
walk up with your hands until you are erect.

[Illustration: _The Back Bend on the Flat, and Near a Wall_]

HAND STAND

Take a wide step forward with the left foot, place both hands flat on
the floor at least eighteen inches apart in front of the left toe,
fingers open and pointed directly front, right leg perfectly straight,
extended straight back. Swing the right leg up and over and follow it
with the left leg, and when you come down bring down the left leg
first, then the right leg, bringing the left knee close up to the
chest. Do not kick hard or you will go over.

_How to do a hand stand while standing n