Flipping out

When Kristin Allen and Michael Rodrigues take the mat, the students at St. Paul's Circus Juventas can barely keep their mouths from flying open. Allen perches upside down on her partner's right hand, her legs up in a "V" and supported by her right arm, as Rodrigues mirrors her pose on the ground. Allen seems almost weightless, like a balloon Rodrigues can barely keep tethered to the earth.

Chatter had been building among the students since they saw the pair walk into the building. Those two, they whispered, pointing. Yeah, in the Team USA warm-ups. They took silver at the world championships last year. They're among the best in the country.

Elite gymnasts Allen, 16, and Rodrigues, 26, will be among those competing this weekend at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul at the Freedom Cup international acrobatic gymnastics competition. The Junior Olympic National Championships, for junior gymnasts ranking levels 1 through 10, follow from Sunday through next Thursday. Acrobatic gymnastics -- or acro, as it's known to athletes -- features eye-popping moves similar to those taught at Circus Juventas, and performed in acts such as Cirque de Soleil.

Acro is not an Olympic sport, but it is gaining popularity thanks in part to elite athletes such as Allen and Rodrigues, who are among a new wave of American acrobatic gymnasts performing on the world level.

The pair, originally from Livermore, Calif., head to the World Games in Taiwan after the Freedom Cup. In acro, athletes can compete in pairs of two men or two women, a mixed pair, or groups of three women or four men.

Mixed-pair acro is like pairs skating on a mat. Scoring is similar to other gymnastic disciplines: Athletes have a basic difficulty score and are scored on technical execution. But, as in pairs skating, the athletes also receive a score for artistry.

"It's more circus-like," said Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics. "It's not like trapeze or high-wire, but it is more concentrated on performing."

The perfect pair

A perfect acro score is a 30. Rodrigues and Allen normally receive scores of 29.5 or higher, said Tom Housely, acrobatic gymnastics program director for USA Gymnastics. In the year and a half they've been partners, Allen and Rodrigues have become highly attuned to each other's bodies and movements. After leaving a performance on the field at a St. Paul Saints baseball game, Rodrigues said he even had to make slight adjustments to account for the extra weight from Allen's shoes. (They normally practice and perform barefoot.)

The two are a technically perfect match. In mixed-pair acro, the shorter the female is in comparison with the male, the more time she has to execute the intricate moves in a routine. Judges take a size deduction from any pair under the proper proportion. Allen comes up to Rodrigues' sternum, the minimum acceptable height. As the base of the pair, it's Rodrigues' job to stay in control while Allen flies high.

"She understands that no matter what happens, I'm going to get her down safely," he said.

"He's never dropped me," Allen chimed in.

In a sport where elite athletes often receive near-identical technical and difficulty scores, however, artistry is what pushes a duo over the edge. This is where the American pair excels. Allen and Rodrigues choreographed two of their own routines. (The third was done by salsa expert Alex Da Silva of "So You Think You Can Dance.") Allen's mother designs and sews their costumes. And Housely said that Allen is famous for her emotional performances; in acro circles, she's called "The Ballerina."

Off the mat

Allen, a high school student, keeps up with her studies by taking two classes at her regular high school and doing some independent study to round out the curriculum. In between her 20 hours of practice each week she also sketches, paints and choreographs routines for other gymnasts.

Rodrigues works a full-time job as a purchasing agent for a California distribution company. He said the company has been very supportive, even donating money to Team USA last year. For competitions and trips like this one, Rodrigues has a laptop that allows him to work from the road. From work he heads straight to the gym, where he practices about 15 hours a week.

Practice eats up most of their time, though neither regrets it. "I probably see her more than I see my own family members," Rodrigues said of Allen, only half joking. Allen's 17th birthday is on the first day of the Freedom Cup.

Both have been approached by recruiters from Cirque de Soleil, but want to stick to competing for now. Housely said the pair has a real shot at a gold medal in the World Games this year, a goal they've been chasing individually for years. Team USA has won the Acrobatic Gymnastic World Championship before, but a win at the World Games would be an American first that could raise awareness about the sport.

"It's great to know, too, that now we're helping move our discipline along," Rodrigues said. "We're growing the program from behind us. The kids that are coming up are going to be just as good as us -- or better -- because they're getting a lot earlier jump on the game now."

Hayley Tsukayama • 612-673-7415