Staff in different cultures

nice

wee update:

Contact Staff - A young 'western' style of spinning, related to contact juggling and influenced by the juggling community. (At least in Britain.)
youtube.com/watch

Baton Twirling - A slightly older form of spinning. Using short metal 'baton's and heavily based on competition. Incorporates lots of contact, gymnastics, fast precise twirling and throws and very high throws. From 1 to four batons can be used. (Not five just yet.)
youtube.com/watch
youtube.com/watch

Chinese Fei cha - A Chinese form of spinning / contact. Comes from the Beijing / Chinese opera tradition. Done with tridents traditionally. All based on rolling. (Correct me if I'm wrong.)
youtube.com/watch
youtube.com/watch
youtube.com/watch

Rifle Twirling - Obviously heavily militaristic. Generally based on the spinning and throwing of just one rifle.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@field(NUMBER(1301))
http://theblackwatchdrillteam.com/HeribertoVeyran.html

Egyptian Cane dance - I don't know much about this, other than it's a male Egyptian dance involving one or two medium length sticks.
youtube.com/watch
youtube.com/watch

Samoan Fire Knife - Samoan Fire Knife is a warrior dance used to display skill in combat. The knife is very heavy, and is spun very fast, with high and technical throws and catches, there is also a lot of 'performance' elements to show warrior spirit. The knife dance is very old, but the fire a relatively new element. 1 - 4 knifes can be twirled. Recently women have also started competing.
http://homepage.mac.com/kenrom/iMovieTheater136.html
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2891310501027427246

Tai Chi - A martial art form of staff manipulation. Thou generally they use spears.
youtube.com/watch
http://taiji.de/taiji/head5e/index.htm

Wushu - Another martial art, this time a display martial art with flips integrated into it.
http://www.wushucentral.com/videos/v.php/china/1996_nationals/staff
youtube.com/watch

Nupe - A black fraternity form of spinning from America. Uses a short cane, with a round hook, which contributes to a unique set of moves. There seems to be an emphasis on integrating spinning with dance, at a relatively fast speed. The cane can also be tapped on the floor in group performances for making rhythms. Two and three canes are sometimes also manipulated in performances. Generally due to the small and lightness of the cane, planes aren't really considered.
youtube.com/watch
youtube.com/watch


Random other stick manipulations:

Circus:
Cube: http://www.cubefx.com/realaudio/cubefx_video01s.ram
Pyramid: youtube.com/watch
Barbell: http://www.tlmb.net/vids/OlegTeplitskiNightmare.mp4

Weird:
youtube.com/watch
youtube.com/watch
youtube.com/watch
youtube.com/watch

Good work Meg

Enric Rastelli twirling a staff with his foot while juggling three clubs will doing a head balance.

I saw staff in Tonga, Tuvalu, French Polynesia, Kiribati, and the Solomon Islands.

I think we could add staff juggling to the list as another 'western' style of staff twirling. http://video.google.fr/videoplay?docid=-270663563691732845&hl=fr