Tutsdays 8 Petal Antispin with Fans by Gina McGrath

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Hey folks! It’s that time of the week again, it’s Tutsday, brought to you by the Flow Arts Institute.

This week, we have a good friend of mine, the spectacular multiprop flow artist and teacher, Gina McGrath. Gina manages a flow arts-centric youth outreach program in Asheville, NC called GoFlow and is a regular instructor at FAI events like FLAME and Kinetic.

While Gina does spin many different props, at Kinetic 2015, she has brought us a stunning fan technique, the 8 Petal Antispin.  There are many different versions of this move but we are going to focus on this Same Direction variant.

This technique is actually two separate 4 Petal Antispin patterns, interwoven to create this beautiful illusion.  This has to do with the placement of the petals that you create when tracing an antispin flower.   You will notice Gina has her arms separated by about 45° and is moving her arms in 90° increments in the same direction around the pattern, one hand at a time. One hand would create a shape that would look like a diamond, with its points straight up, down, left and right.  The other hand would create a shape like a square, or a box, with it’s points at the diagonals, that being 45°.

Separately, these illusions are incredible, but the real magic is mixing the two, so let’s get down to it.

I am going to base the instructional portion of this on the hand orientation and direction that Gina travels around the pattern.  Obviously, you could switch the direction or orientation of each hand, but let’s focus on task at hand, shall we?

1. Start with your left hand facing straight down, palm outward.  
2. Place your right hand on the pinky side of your left hand, palm outward.
3. From here, antispin your left hand, from the down position, across your body to the right side.  
4. Follow suit with the right hand, while making sure to pass behind your left hand, and stop at the next diagonal point.
5. Antispin up with your left hand, from the right side, on the outside plane of the pattern.
6. With your right hand, take your antispin over your left arm behind the fan. (Be careful not to make any contact between the fans here, as that could ruin the pattern).
7. Antispin with your left hand, from top, to the left side.
   
   This is where things change a bit.  Don’t worry, you can handle this.
   
   
8. Antispin with your right hand, down to the lower diagonal on this half of the pattern, except this time, let it fall in front of the pattern.  
9. Antispin with your left hand, from left to bottom, while moving behind the fan in the right hand.
10. The final piece of this pattern is laid into place, when you move the fan in your right hand over to diagonal on the lower right side of your body, back into the original position.

Certain parts of this technique can be a bit tricky.  Do not let that discourage you. Make sure to practice each part of the move as slow as possible.  This really helps when it comes to fully understanding a new technique.   As Gina demonstrates at the end of the video, this move can be very fluid and effortless looking with some practice.  I personally love it when shapes are fluid and technical at the same time.  

That is all for this week, good people of the flow arts.  Thank you for tuning in!  We hope to see you again this time, next week!

<3

-Sticky
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