Contact Staff advice for women please?

I have a couple of questions that are probably more of a female concern for contact staff and was hoping for some advice (men can answer too of course) that has to do with body movement and range of motion limitations so here goes...

Being "top heavy" is rough in general, but it seems that my bust line is restricting how far my arm can reach across my body with staff. I'm probably going to have to find a better minimizer or minimizing sports bra to combat this issue some, but other than doing the old ace bandage wrap trick is there any other way to bypass this issue? Moving my arm over or under the area just feels really awkward and ruins my flow considering how much I have to avoid. Tips from either experience or just knowing someone with a similar situation would help a ton!

Where on my head should I pull up my hair to avoid interference with moves involving the shoulders, neck, and head? I know to have it out of the way and to do that it must be in a bun due to it's length, but where is the best place on the scalp to wrap it up. I normally wear low ponytails and buns and it's still in the way and catches the staff quite often, so I was hoping for some feedback on the most optimal and comfortable place to restrain my mane.

Those are the only two hangups I've encountered so far with hair length and body type, all words of wisdom are greatly appreciated

Cut yer hair or learn how to work around it....but really, just cut yer hair.


why are you needing to reach across yer body? It has always seemed to me that women have an advantage because they got that nice spot for the staff to rest during a matrix and such.

I have dreads and I tie them in a bun as high on my head as possible, I recommend that.

As for boobs, I don't have any so I'm with Poje, what move involves you reaching across your body? Is it just body movement or is it necessary for that move?

Pulling your hair up into a bun, and then shaving the downy hair just at the edge of your hair line on the back of your neck would be the best. Plus if you wear your hair down, nobody will see and it'll make your neck a tiny bit cooler.

Well even getting my arm across my chest for a figure 8 is difficult with a DDD cup. Not trying to be graphic BTW, honestly I can't fold my arms like most people can it has to be above or below that area. Perhaps I'm doing it wrong, but so far something so simple I'd be afraid of ever adding fire to because of my lack in clearance...



I'm pretty tall and have a slender/average build but my chest isn't proportionate to the rest of my body, it's enough for a doctor to "okay" a reduction to be quite honest but I don't think I'll ever do that as I hate surgery, I'd have to get some really hardcore back pain to ever consider such an option. Then again I'm pretty new to staff so I could just be doing it wrong (maybe not rotating my torso enough?). Not a normal issue and a touch embarrassing, but I thought this would be a good place to ask about it.

The shaved underside sounds like a good idea with a touch higher bun placement. Who is going to know when it's down anyways? I use to do it years ago and it was pretty comfortable especially in the summer!

I can do all the basic maneuvers so far, I'd just like a little more range of motion and comfort if at all possible. It's all good.

those are some large tatas

my guess is that you will get it in time. after a few months i doubt you will have any issues because you will have learned how to use yer body with the staff

You can do a fig 8 to the side (in wall plane rather than wheel), no need to reach across your body. I can't see how boobs would be a major problem with staff, any move that they might be in the way for can be done to the side. In fact you have the advantage of having 2 large body parts that you could roll the staff over, its been a while since ive seen one but you can do a boob roll. As poje says, you also have the advantage of a nice shelf to rest the staff on for chest stuff.

As for hair, tie it into a pineapple or cut it off.

Edit: Just thought of a move that you do need to reach across for, the nunchucks type move. That's still only one little move though, there is loads of other stuff.

I have the hair figured out more it seems like I need a no slip headband to help keep my high bun still for any length of time. I've given up on the wheel plane stuff, you're right in essence it's only a few moves that won't work and there is tons more out there.

I've discovered with my extensive dance and gymnastics background I'm great doing floor work, dancing while balancing my staff, and using my legs and feet for contact and throws while on the ground and standing. I may not be too fancy and technical, but it is a promising discovery! I don't know what a boob roll looks like, but they do help me recover any slips involving my head, neck, and shoulders (kinda a quick save in other words).

Most performers I have seen with the one contact staff focus more on the tricks and I think those are going to be really fun to learn, but is my natural style I have picked up that is slow with a contemporary feel represented in the community at all? I feel it's much more "girly" and "delicate" than anything I have seen on a video or in person... I guess my question as a beginner would be is building on this acceptable and respected or should I focus on conforming to a more technical path?

I think you should keep your simple style, as much of the beauty of all of the fire arts comes from the simplicity of many things, but that doesn't mean you can't incorporate more technical things into it without ruining it if you want to. You just have to figure out how to do so.

That's good advice there and does allow for separate practices where I can focus my natural dance ability and choreography with contact moves/throws in one session and work on the more technical skills and their potential in another. I'd love to build my staff skills into dance routines more so than the other way around and something different in terms of performance is always a good offering right?

Thanks much for the encouragement SoD! I picked up staff 2 months ago because of it's beauty and saw so much potential for dance innovations. I started doing poi first, but instantly enjoyed staff after deciding to learn it as well because it opens up different dance opportunities. In the end I love to dance with as much versatility and passion as I can, it just feels awesome!

I think you'd have a lot of fun with it and should give it a whirl, poi is great but staff is just as awesome with a different feel. Doing them both rocks!

I want to try, I wanted to try double staffs, maybe one big staff too, but contact doesn't look too much my style. But if I do do a single staff, it would be a goo thing to know I guess But as I have said before, I'll do it when it warms up and I can get outside. It would allow me to do longer performances having more than one thing to do. And I might have some jobs coming up and having more than one thing I can do would make me more desirable and let me milk out some money
And your welcome for the encouragement, I would hate to see a great style ruined by technicality, which in a way is kind of like advanced cookie cutting Sorry to you tech people, no offense to you as that tech stuff is very hard. Geezus, I've tried it and man O_o Still don't really like it though, what I'm going for is something more like Nick's video of "Atlantis on Fire"
Edit: I bet a natural dancer like you could excel at something like fire fans, I know I want to try it eventually

twist lower down your body?

instead of twisting/reaching with the shoulders, twist with the hips, or twist your spine. they do that you know

stop drop and roll?

a female AND feminine approach to contact staff

the all time star, Linda Farkas

^^^
That's truly beautiful, about half of that looks doable and the other half... *wishes I were flat chested like Linda in the video* well my flower video(I uploaded it in the poi beginner forum for critique and advice)would show the physical challenge I have with certain poi moves, increase difficulty for staff tricks.

All the halo rolls and cradles would be a good starter building area for me, thanks much for the video, it's the modern/contemporary correlation I'm looking to fuse staff with. Next time I go out to film practice I'll upload staff video for critique onto this thread...

1 piece of advice, if you have to reach across you body try reaching behind and doing the move Behind the back entries rock