Uneven Wicks on staff

I was recently wacthing a Cirqe-du-solie video. "Alegria" And they had a firedancer who did a short staff set, and then a double staff set. Very impressive. The thing I noticed was that the wick on one end of the single staff was double the size as the wick on the other. Even his double staffs had a heavier end. Is it easeir or harder to spin this way or just different?

If one end was heavier it'd move the centre of gravity towards the heavier end, so instead of gripping in the middle you grip slightly towards the heavier end. If you've ever tried spinning a pool cue you'd know what I mean.

However the chances are the staffs are perfectly balanced. Cirque Du Soleil are a top notch organisation and everything is customised to perfection.

If you wanted to do this cheaply you could counter balance the wick with lead shot or something similar.

I'm pretty sure this was done to make it easier to catch his throws, in the same way that clubs are heavier at one end, this would make the staff have more momentum in the direction of travel you want it to be in.

Not only that, but his staffs were so short that he could light the other end just by pushing them forward quickly - the flame would travel from the lit wick to the other.

He also needed the sizes to be different so he could do that very imprssive continuous one hand spin (he left it spinning in the air, reached his hand in every once in a while to give them another push around) I went and saw them in person pretty much just for this guy, although the rest of the stuff was also very, very cool he was by far the best act (I know I'm hugely biased towards fire lol).

The contortionist girl was a close second

I'm glad i'm not the only one who thouroghly impressed by his act. Even in slow mo it looks fast. I'll have to make myself a staff set like his and try it out. I'll let u know how it goes. : > Have they ever had a poi artist in show?

those uneven fire staves are actually Samoan Fire knives AFAIK.

That drop spin is totally possible to do with a normally weighted / proportioned staff too...just takes practice.

Josh

Josh, you beat me to it...

There are lots of pro's and cons to the fire knives, and I've been searching for a Samoan or Hawaiain(how do you spell that word?) to learn short staff and giant fire techniques.

Their methods seem so different to mine on the two occasions I've seen them, I'm sure we can learn a lot from them.

Although I must admit being very scared of having wicks THAT huge on such short staffs, the chance of burning yourself is much much higher than a nice long one...

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Charles (INFERNO)

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http://juggling.co.nz