This is a responce to Shayla that was in another staff thread. As I feel it will be hard to find i thought I would answer it and start anothe rthread at the same time...
Shayla, staff spinning with the feet isn't too hard to do clumsily, however I've been unable to make it professional enough yet to brave putting it into a performance.
A few hints that I've discovered on the way though...
* Use a big staff! - Preferably 1.4 metres or even longer, batons, devil sticks etc don't have enough weight to keep their momentum and have too much % of their surface touching your feet to keep spinning.
* Weight - THE HEAVIER THE BETTER, unless you have prehensile toes, (If you do, don't tell me, i don't want to know
)the staff will need to push down on your feet to stay in place, otherwise it will start rolling instead of spinning and fall off straight away.
* Bare feet - Before I took my shoes off, I hadn't been able to do anything at all, was almost on the point of giving up...
* Comfortable position - My back gets really sore when I do this, before even attempting the staff part, practice what positions are more comfortable for you when lying on your back (no rude jokes please Superman!) and make sure your legs and feet are mobile.
* Practice with large heavy objects first - wide heavy pieces of polythene piping, a metal cylindrical rubbish bin etc. The larger they are the easier they are to handle and the less they hurt if you drop them (larger surface area means less weight per square inch, so a softer hit). The overall weight gives metter purchase and less opportunity of rolling.
* Make sure you get the feel of when the object is turning on your feet and when it is trying to 'roll'. Rolling means the object is turning on it's axis like a barrel going down hill. You want it to spin on the spot, keeping one side 'up' and one 'down' as much as possible.
That's about it. I haven't practiced this anywhere near as much as I should. Will try to do it more often from now on...
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Charles
http://juggling.co.nz