Hello everyone, I want to share with you a painting project I started over a year and a half ago and now it is finally finished! I love looking at art inspired by rhythmic gymnastics such as drawings and paintings of gymnasts, even sculptures. That is why I decided to try and paint a rhythmic gymnast myself. Lacking any professional skills in this particular area, I chose to do a paint-by-numbers project which is essentially like a colouring book but with acrylics on a canvas. The paint-by-numbers kit was developed in the 1950s, and has been especially popular for re-creating famous paintings ..read more

Hello everyone, If I had to describe the era in Rhythmic Gymnastics between 2013-16, some of the words that come to mind are graceful, musical, lyrical. This period of time was a revival in artistry following a long period of time when the sport had lost its way a little bit. I have talked about the origins of RG in another post (read here) but briefly it started in the mid-20th century as a blend between art and sport. At the turn of the century, however, it changed its overall look rather dramatically and its artistic value largely perished. The Code of Points in 2013-16 introduced changes t ..read more

Hello everyone, This post is about elements in rhythmic gymnastics that have been officially recognised by FIG (the International Federation of Gymnastics) for their originality, novelty and creativity and subsequently named after the gymnast who invented them. To get this recognition, an element is submitted for consideration to the RG Technical Committee by the coaches of the gymnast. If it passes the assessment successfully, the gymnast not only gets the element named after her, but she also gets an ‘originality bonus’ of 0.3 points every time she performs it. Other gymnasts are also allowe ..read more

Hello everyone, Today I have a very special post to share with you! It draws from my personal experience of attending the RG finals at the Commonwealth Games this weekend. The last time I attended a live RG competition was in 2018, and I really missed the feeling of being part of a live audience and witnessing gymnastics from up close, soaking up all the energy and the drama that comes with this sport. So, I was extremely excited to travel to the city of Birmingham, UK for the Commonwealth Games! I wrote a separate post earlier this week about the Games and what they signify, and you can read ..read more

Hello everyone, It’s been a hot summer here in Europe, and frankly little has been going on in the world of rhythmic gymnastics over the past month. To hopefully quench our thirst for an RG competition, this week the focus is on the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, UK! This article is going to provide a brief summary of what this competition is about, who will be competing and when it is all happening. What are the Commonwealth Games? The Commonwealth Games are an international multi-sport event, which takes place once every 4 years. The partaking nations are the members of the Commonwealth w ..read more

Hello everyone, Today’s post is about Ukrainian gymnast Viktoriia Onoprienko. She performed recently at the Italian Championships Series A in Napoli. The Italian RG club ‘Armonia D'abruzzo’ was not only her competitive team, but is also currently hosting Viktoriia full-time and commendably supports her. Like millions of other Ukrainians, this gymnast has had to flee her home country ravaged by war where she would have faced violence and destruction. Her performance at the Italian Championships was wonderful and captivating, while the audience’s response to it was phenomenal! Viktoriia was welc ..read more

Hello everyone, It has been just over a year since my first ever blog post. To mark this ‘MelodyRG Anniversary’ I would like to share with you a brief analysis of one special routine that recently captured my attention and inspired me to write. Similar to my first ever blog post, the gymnast in this new 2022 routine is Bulgarian, and she performs with the ball. The gymnast is called Lachezara Pekova and she took part in the Italian Championship Series A in Bari last weekend. Lachezara performed only one routine (with the ball) as she was a part of a team named Virtus Gallarate consisting of f ..read more

Hello everyone, The third competition from the World Cup series in RG took place last weekend (7-9th May 2021) in Baku. It was very well attended competitor-wise, giving us – the fans - a chance to witness the exciting clash between some of the best gymnasts in the world, both in the individual event, and in group. In this article, I have chosen to share with you what I thought were the most exciting moments from the competition. New Look for the World Cup in Baku The National Gymnastics Arena in Baku where the World Cup took place was completely transformed in comparison to previous years. I ..read more

Hello everyone, A number of individual rhythmic gymnasts have recently announced their retirement from competitive RG, and most recently – Katsiaryna Halkina from Belarus. I have been reminiscing about Halkina’s career in RG and I would like to share with you my thoughts about this gymnast and her unique style, beloved by so many. Olympic Games in Rio 2016 Katsiaryna Halkina performed at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 as the second-best Belarussian rhythmic gymnast. At the time, all eyes were on her compatriot Melitina Staniouta, who was the favourite from Belarus to win a medal ..read more

Hello everyone, Two of the RG World Cup competitions are now concluded – Sofia World Cup (26-28th March) and Tashkent World Cup (16-18th April). These prestigious sporting events provided an intriguing start to an exciting Olympic year for rhythmic gymnastics. Many gymnasts and teams were not represented due to the pandemic situation, but nonetheless we observed the performances of many elite gymnasts from all over the world. And while some of them were well-established ‘veterans’, whom we are used to watching, others made their very first steps at the elite level competitions. It is refreshin ..read more