contort

For more than an hour, I had twisted and contorted myself trying without success to get a grip on that two-inch piece of silicone.

“She bounded around with so many positions and backtracked and so desperately contorted ... . She is more consistent now than she was then.”

Not long ago I came upon a zombie-like scene of contorted people gathered in the northwest corner of the park, their bodies rigid from overdoses of fentanyl or other killer drugs.

But the moves were spectacular - regularly drawing 'oooohs' from the crowd as they spun around, balanced on their head or one hand, swung through flairs or froze on the spot while contorted.

This braced leg then acted as a pivot for the rest of his body to contort over with his bowling arm up high in his unique 'beyond the perpendicular' style.