Bilak Brothers as Mario & Luigi: Incredible Park Gymnastics Performance

We have featured the amazing gymnastic twins, the Bilak Brothers, on Kuriositas before, but this new video of theirs tempted me to include the Ukrainian performers Andrii and Misha again.  In it, they cosplay as Nintendo's Super Mario Bros and take to their local park to astonish and entertain.  It takes a while to get the attention of their audience apparently  – this looks like it was done completely unannounced – they simply turned up and did their thing.  Some of their moves are pretty astonishing, something that fans have grown to expect from these remarkably talented acrobat/gymnasts. As they have performed together for over ten years, perhaps it's unsurprising that this kind of planned spontaneity seems so effortless.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Bilak Brothers video without them shedding a few clothes before long and flexing their very toned muscles (something that their fans hate, I’m sure).  I have a Shazam style theory about Andrii and Misha.  I suspect that they are only 14 years old and with the help of a magical word they transform into their stage personas… this is the only way I can explain the gleeful gusto that they exhibit each time they go through a routine – it’s like they have just discovered their superhero powers for the first time each time.  As entertaining as ever, watch Mario and Luigi – sorry, Andrii and Misha, perfectly performing in the park.  Super Mario will never be the same again…

Acroyoga – Mind, Body, Spirit

One thing you certainly will not be seeing at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London is Yoga. Although the Olympics Committee have been petitioned several times the jury is out as to whether or not yoga is really a sport – or a form of spiritual exercise – or both.

Yet over the last ten years a distinct form of yoga has evolved which may at some point in the future be truly acknowledged as a sport – and that is acroyoga. The World in Sport has a feature on this little known activity - with some mind boggling pictures to boot.

Image Credit Flickr User Megan Amber Cox

Turnikmen – Street Gymnastics – Ukraine Style

I think it was George Bernard Shaw who said that youth is wasted on the young. Well, not these boys, that’s for sure. I haven’t seen so much youthful joie de vivre on video for quite a while but I do have to add the caveat that I suspect these boys are all mad bonkers.

Many of the stunts that these boys pull off here will slacken your jaw. Setting the scene, both of these videos were shot in Ukraine. The first was taken at school #1 in the town of Sambir (whence SoN who shot this hails). 

The boys all identify as Turnikmen – street athletes who perform strength exercises of varying complexity in an outdoor setting.  They combine acrobatics and gymnastics using a conventional horizontal bar.   Some of the things that they do here look dangerous to say the least but it is done with such swagger and confidence that it makes you hold your breath but still believe in their ability to pull off yet another spectacular move. They did, however, have to learn how to perform these amazing moves.  I suspect their mother’s probably live in constant fear and expectation of another trip to the local hospital!

See what I mean about mad bonkers? As an educator in the UK, who teaches the age group depicted here I have to say that the management of my institution would have three fits and a faint if anything like this was attempted on site – health and safety regulations would simply not allow it. Yet here the bars and straps seem to have been provided by their school. Different strokes for different folks I guess!

The second video above is once more filmed in the Ukraine – from Sambir again but also the towns of Drogobych and Kalyniv.