Chapter 1, Part 2

What are the horizontal bars? What are barrists? The bars are a series of two, three, or even up to four [2] horizontal bars, of the same height, or five if uneven, also known as Les Barres Fixes. The bars were constructed of fine wood (sticks) built around a steel core. Bars were set at either the same or various heights and could be mounted on either the floor or from an aerial rigging. [3] Today, the modern ancestor of these bars can be seen in three gymnastic events. The first is the women’s gymnastic uneven bars. These bars are horizontal and made of metal, wood, and other materials which are mounted on the floor. One bar is mounted higher off the ground (eight feet) than the other (approximately five feet). [4]

Male gymnasts perform on two types of bars. The first is the parallel bars which are floor mounted bars of mainly wooden construction which are set close together. The bars are about eleven feet long and set about six-and-a-half feet above the ground. The second type of male gymnastic bar is called the horizontal bar. It is made of metal and mounted on the floor with cables. [5] While women and men gymnasts must mount, swing, circle, perform handstands, releases, and dismounts, like the barrists of old, only the women beat (or bounce off) the bar like the barrists once did.

Bar work is more difficult than trapeze work because a trapeze artist uses the swinging trapeze to gain momentum which helps in the performance of certain tricks. A barrist “must generate his own momentum out of his own muscular strength.” A barrist’s speed must also be faster than that of a trapeze artist in order to perform certain positions or moves. Additionally being a barrist “is a painful experience” as you are constantly hitting, curling around, or beating (bouncing off) of the bar. [6] All of us have seen Olympic women gymnasts bouncing off the bars and can relate to this experience. Therefore we can appreciate the tremendous upper body strength and athleticism required by barrist performers. As a barrist aged, the difficulty of continuing with the act must have taken tremendous will power and physical strength. Truthfully it was a young person’s sport.