Poetry in motion: a history of artistic gymnastics floor exercise for women

Abstract

In Women's Artistic Gymnastics, the floor exercise apparatus highlights beauty, expression and choreography. On this apparatus, gymnasts recite poems through movements and are able to tell stories with their bodies. However, women gymnasts faced some struggles to be incorporated in Gymnastics. In this conjuncture, the floor exercise event underwent many changes from its emergence in gymnastics for men to the incorporation of women in Artistic Gymnastics. Thus, this article seeks to gain better understand about the development of floor exercise event though historical research. We identified that the skills that make up the floor exercises today were present in Ancient Egypt and in medieval troupes. However, it was in the European gymnastic movement that the genesis of contemporary floor exercises occurred. Initially, the role of women was to be spectators of men’s Artistic Gymnastics, and their participation in Artistic Gymnastics sports universe was achieved through small steps in the XX century. Despite advances over the years, female gymnasts were limited by the femininity considered essential for life in society and by the defense that only sports with aesthetic plasticity would be more recommended for this public. However, we argued that the female gymnasts dictated the (new) direction of this sport, through creativity and incorporation of gymnastic acrobatic skills. Later, these elements became trends and have changed the ways of thinking the sport.