I think it's about the way the body is held, and the shapes made.
I'm going to disagree with margo and think it can be learned
. I've known a few "ungainly" kids who with work on flexibility and practice become beautiful gymnasts.
I have one who's a powerhouse. Struggles with flexibility, bent knees- skills like BWO her lines are terrible, knees always look slightly bent and her angles are always slightly off, never 180 splits etc
. However she looks amazing in the air, neat, tight, straight body, every bit in the right place.
The other is leaner and longer. She's still only 7- she's also not flexible and looks a tangled mess of arms, legs, elbows and knees most of the time. However, she practices, and when she gets it right she is very aesthetically pleasing- she did a competition recently and several coaches came up to me after and commented on her lines, but it's taken quite a bit of work for her to get to this point.
I'm going to disagree with margo and think it can be learned
I have one who's a powerhouse. Struggles with flexibility, bent knees- skills like BWO her lines are terrible, knees always look slightly bent and her angles are always slightly off, never 180 splits etc
The other is leaner and longer. She's still only 7- she's also not flexible and looks a tangled mess of arms, legs, elbows and knees most of the time. However, she practices, and when she gets it right she is very aesthetically pleasing- she did a competition recently and several coaches came up to me after and commented on her lines, but it's taken quite a bit of work for her to get to this point.