Howdy folks!
We are back for another entry into the catalog of Tutsdays, brought to you by the Flow Arts Institute. This week we have a good friend of mine and fellow stick waver, Jay Becker. Jay is part owner and lead creator at the awesome prop company Forged Creations. Jay has been exploring the realm of Double Staff ever since his first FLAME Festival, where he took his first doubles class with another of my stick waving friends, Timbo Slice. Even though that was Jay’s first year, he was also the Vendor Organizer for the same event. So as you can probably tell, this man cares about his community.
We were lucky enough to catch up with Jay at Kinetic Fire 2015, where he showed us a cool way to blend reels and anti-spins. This is kinda similar to Malaman’s Move, but I digress. You can worry about all of that another time. Let’s get started.
This move utilizes a combination of a Split/Opp Antispin and Split/Opp Shoulder Reels to achieve a pretty sweet illusion. (At this point, if you are having trouble with this, please take a look at the two hyperlinks in the previous sentence.) This is based on the direction that Jay does the move. Obviously there are two directions to travel around this pattern, so neglect this information at your own peril.
1. This move starts out in the vertical position.
2. Perform ¼ of a Split/Opp Antispin by pushing your center points out to the right.
Ideally, you want to end up with your thumbs facing outward on both sides of the pattern. Jay notes that the palm of his left hand is facing downward while the palm of his right hand is facing upward. This orientation is important to be able to transition to the next portion of the pattern smoothly.
3. Isolate your left hand to your left shoulder.
4. Antispin your right hand to your right shoulder.
5. Drop into shoulder reels as you pivot 180°. You should be facing the other direction, with a staff over each shoulder held pinkie side forward.
6. Reach over your head with your right hand. Match up the ends of the staves that are behind your head and antispin them forward. For this particular pattern, as I mentioned before, it is ideal to end up with your thumbs facing outwards on both sides of the pattern.
7. Antispin the outer ends of your staves back to center to complete the pattern.
But wait, there’s more!
Jay then goes on to demonstrate a slightly more complicated variation of this trick by adding a Hip Reel to the end of his Shoulder Reel.
With a bit of practice, you might even find a cool variation of this technique. Just think of the possibilities.
I hope that this has helped open up some doors for you in your flow. I thank you for reading and hope to see you next week. In the meantime, go check out Forged Creations to see more of what Jay is all about.
Much love <3
-Sticky
[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]