Flair Lesson #29: Push Down Pop Up
This is a great, physical move that looks pretty flashy once you get the mechanics and can really get into it. You can do the Push Down Pop Up with any two items you have in your bar, i.e. bottle/tin, 2 tins, 2 glasses, etc. We’re going to focus on the bottle/tin combo here.
1) Start with the bottle in your left hand and the tin in your right.
2) Cross your arms at the elbow, with your left hand (tin) on top.
3) Throw the bottle straight up in the air about two feet while you bring your right arm around and catch the bottle at the top of it’s flight before it starts to fall. The bottle and tin never cross or make a circle – they only travel up and down in two columns. When we’re first starting, we’re going to catch the bottle with our hand palm up.
4) As you are reaching to catch the bottle, gently bring your left arm (with the tin) down by your hips.
5) Repeat steps 3 and 4, but with your left hand.
6) Once you are comfortable with this motion and can keep the bottle and tin straight up and down, we’re going to focus on the push down part of the move. Instead of catching the bottle palm up and stopping while we switch focus to the other hand, we are going to turn our hand palm down and “catch” the bottle as we push down as far as our arm will reach.
7) Play around with this one and find the sweet spot – the balance between how gently you pop up and how forcefully you push down. Have some fun with this one – it has a great appeal when you get it down. Also, practice this one at home a lot with a live bottle. There’s a tendency to let the bottle tip forward – almost all the way sideways – which will make a mess if you’re not paying attention.
The Discussion...
