Beginner Contact Staff Tutorial

So you wanna learn contact?

1) get a staff to practise with. Possibly you aready have one. Any bit of metal or wooden tube will do, it should be approximately your chin height, bigger or smaller doesn't have much of a difference. Weighting doesn't really matter at this point.

For learning contact however, the staff you use IS important. And we are doing that right now, so here is the skinny:
mcp - article on contact staffs
mcp - how to build a contact staff


All of the movements in the following sections are related but might not be exactly identical. They should give you a good idea of how the movement works and what the simplest form of the movement is, so you can build it up from there. Once you have learned the basic version of the move, there are usually many different directions you can take it in and many ways to to make it look good.

Sometimes there are also links to 'category' sections where you can find many more movements based on the 'base' movement reaching right up to very advanced. So if you particularly enjoy a movement, you can build on it if you desire.

Don't feel like you have to learn these in order. Some of them, thou the movement is small are very tricky and technical to get right, fishtails for example. Don't get hung up on them, thinking you have to learn them before you advance to the next move. You can totally learn any way you like. Most of the moves here don't build on the ones before, apart from the Steve and the SNES.

Again, don't get hung up on a move you can't do. Find on you enjoy. You're learning how the staff physically moves and how you can get your body to control and manipulate it. You're not really learning "tricks". Play around with the moves you know, sometimes trying to keep the staff in contact with your body for as long as possible, planes (and generally speed) be damned, sometimes trying to get an individual move extremely clean. Try and be mindful of what your body is doing, develop spatial awareness for where your body is and where the staff is. (this will save your head from a bashing)



palmspins

The staff is set spinning horizontally supported under it's center point by the palm of the hand.

bender / spinferno picture tutorial
tomo's baton twirling tutorial - REALPLAYER
mcp firestaff tutorial
feuershow - QUICKLINK: 1209


hand wraps

A very simple contact move, but quite enjoyable. The staff wraps over the wrist of the hand.

mot's gif tutorial
mot's gif tutorial
mot's gif tutorial
tomo's baton twirling tutorial - REALPLAYER
mcp firestaff tutorial
mcp firestaff tutorial - category page
feuershow - QUICKLINK: 1216
feuershow - QUICKLINK: 1217
feuershow - QUICKLINK: 1218


fishtails

quite a deceptively tricky movement. Watch the tutorials closely...

mot's gif tutorial
bender's gif on homeofpoi
tomo's baton twirling tutorial - REALPLAYER
tomo's baton twirling tutorial - REALPLAYER
inspinerate video tutorial
inspinerate - category page
mcp firestaff tutorial
mcp firestaff tutorial
mcp firestaff tutorial - category page
feuershow - QUICKLINK: 1214
feuershow - QUICKLINK: 3032


halo roll

a very basic move, the staff rolls/steps on your upper back from one side of your body to the other.

inspinerate video tutorial
inspinerate - category page
mcp firestaff tutorial
mcp firestaff tutorial - category page


elbow wraps

aka conveyor belt, quite a technical move, not entirely basic. You have to have the center point of the staff in the middle of the triangle you create with your arm and your body.

mot's gif tutorial
inspinerate video tutorial
inspinerate video tutorial
inspinerate - category page
tomo's baton twirling tutorial - REALPLAYER
tomo's baton twirling tutorial - REALPLAYER
mcp firestaff tutorial
mcp firestaff tutorial - category page
feuershow - QUICKLINK: 3263
feuershow - QUICKLINK: 3270


neck wraps

A very basic move, the staff wraps the back of the neck.

japanese video clip
inspinerate video tutorial
inspinerate - category page
mcp firestaff tutorial
mcp firestaff tutorial - category page


belly / back wrap

You release the staff from behind the back, it wraps over the belly, and then you catch it behind the back with the other hand. Tricky, but pretty easy with a big long staff, you should those club jugglers doing it with a club...

mcp firestaff tutorial
feuershow - QUICKLINK: 1295


steve

aka: an armroll then neck wrap then arm roll down the other arm. One of the first decent contact moves I learned, and still one of my favourates.

fireninja video clips
inspinerate video tutorial
inspinerate video tutorial
inspinerate - category page
mcp firestaff tutorial
mcp firestaff tutorial - category page
feuershow - QUICKLINK: 3256


snes

aka: shoulder neck shoulder. A slightly more advanced move, with much ability to bop you in the head. staff wraps the shoulder, then does a neck wrap, then wraps over the other shoulder...

inspinerate video tutorial
inspinerate - category page
mcp firestaff tutorial
mcp firestaff tutorial - category page


kickups

Ever useful for that 'occassional' drop when you're learning...

mcp firestaff tutorial
juggling club kickup tutorial - text
anthony gatto club kickup tutorial - YouTube




References: (and further study)


mcp.tepookatoys.com
www.motsplace.com
www.geocities.jp/performerjin
www.fireninja.com
www.interq.or.jp
www.spherculism.net
inspinerate.com
www.spinferno.com
www.twjc.co.uk
www.feuershow.de


Next week: double staff basics.

go mop!

I wish feuershow would allow direct links... I might put in the quicklink codes anyway...

You really are helping me a bundle
Thanks.

Do it, they will probably be gratefull. i am.
Good work

hopefully going to get this and the other thread stuck at the top for all to see....

Well done lady...

Fishtails are beginner?! Really?!

Pah.

Meg you are a diamond... and have far too much time on your hands...

OCD, strikes again. What can I say? It's the reptilian bit of my brain doin' it...

Along with the Good Cop Bad Cop segments... Honestly you could spilt your brain and serve it like a chocolate orange...

*Giggles at the thought of Meg in a Police Uniform...*

Meg - i hate you

I hate you too strugz!

Get a room! Hmmm, There should be a thread...

YEA !!!!!!!!

Thanks Meg.

mm....I think this needs to be shown in person, like at CG

Good stuff

Meg you foot That is fantastic.

sweet links! can anyone recommend me a place to buy a good contact staff? i bought the 3 piece from here but i kept dropping it so now the locking system is kind of sketchy....

I was disappointed with the three-piece here - go for a solid non-telescopic one.
They are much more durable.

I bought my fav staff from a shop called Oddballs in Brighton.
If there is no such local-ish shop for you, then I recommend a solid one-piece staff from here... but postage can be a pain.

Or if you are just starting out - play around with a home made staff. Any form of pole will do... I like it to be eye-level, but many reccommend chin height.

My first staff was a bamboo stick, my second was a broom handle - on which I had added two broom heads to each end of the stick for the "weight" (to act as mock fire heads), then I bought my current staff for £30.

I think if check Megs site you will find details how to actually make your own staff.

Basically what everyone else has said, good links and thanks.