Xtremely Flameablemember
95 posts
Location: Cairns, Queensland


Posted:
I can do some finger spinning but I still have trouble.

Once I do a full 360 in one hand it stalls and I have to chuck it up then catch it and start again.

It is really annoying I have been told to swap hands and I can do that but it looks really wonky with my left hand.

I would prefer to do it in one hand. Can anybody help me with this problem.????

XF

When a man lies, he murders some part of the world.


poiaholic22member
531 posts

Posted:
The only way to get better at rolling a staff through your fingers is LOTS and LOTS of practice.

Make sure you can do this with both hands in both directions and the more you do it the better you'll get at it.

And primaily use your fingertips.

CharlesBRONZE Member
Corporate Circus Arts Entertainer
3,989 posts
Location: Auckland, New Zealand


Posted:
I prefer to spin staffs, rather than fingers.

Aside from the staffs being longer and heavier, fingers tend to get smelly rather quickly, and the police are a real pain if you start collecting too many...

Sorry XF, couldn't resist it...

Seriously, though, theres one of the styles of fingerspins on the free lessons section of this site

here...
540 degree finger spin

Also, if you don't already, mark the middle of your staff so you can see the "travel" (ie the movement from the middle your finger spin creates).

If you consistently move 2 inches to the left per revolution, you can pinch the staff between your thumb and forefinger as it swings under (or over) your hand to ush it back into position.

Unfortunately, almost everyone has different styles of finger spins, and they are very hard to describe with text (well, for me anyway).

It's here where i should be plug Bec and Elke's Staff Twirling Book and the Art of Staff Video but I think I will resist the urge

could you tell us a bit more about how you achieve this finger spin?

Does it go though 1-2-3 or 4 fingers at once?

Is your thumb or forefinger used more than the rest?

Is the staff spinning clockwise or anticlockwise from your viewpoint?

Are you holding your are horizontal vertical or on an angle?

and so, on...

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Whiffle Squeekaddict
416 posts
Location: Hartford, CT USA


Posted:
to tell you the truth i see a finger spin as more of a parlor trick among true staff moves, i mean really, unless you have fingers of steel theres no way you can match the speed of rotation of that of normal spinning, so all it really serves to do is slow down your routine.

i only use it when im warming up, cause it looks cool, and when i want to switch from split forward rotors to simultaneous forward rotors.

its nifty, just roll it across one finger while the satff is behind you so the other staff can catch up, and voila you have simultaneous double rotors!!!

not much help with the finger spinning, but just to let you know, dont kill yourself over it...

Educate your self in the Hazards of Fire Breathing STAY SAFE!


CharlesBRONZE Member
Corporate Circus Arts Entertainer
3,989 posts
Location: Auckland, New Zealand


Posted:
Parlour tricks are great!

Fake BTB throws...Burnoffs...Fast double figure 8, simultaneous horizontal fingerspins (doubles).

They are all great!

As an entertainer, I do what looks good and what the crowd likes far more than anything directly technical...and it seems to pay the bills quite well...

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simian110% MONKEY EVERY TIME ALL THE TIME JUST CANT STOP THE MONKEY
3,149 posts
Location: London


Posted:
What's a fake BTB throw, Charles? Sounds cool.

And what's the difference between a 'true staff move' and a parlour trick? Is it that true staff moves make your shoulders go krik?

i can't do fingerspins, because i thought that they were girly and silly so didn't bother learning them. Now i see people doing cool moves with doubles where the timing is only possible cos they do a quick fingerspin to get an extra rotation. Now i feel silly

"Switching between different kinds of chuu chuu sometimes gives this "urgh wtf?" effect because it's giving people the phi phenomenon."


CharlesBRONZE Member
Corporate Circus Arts Entertainer
3,989 posts
Location: Auckland, New Zealand


Posted:
Simian...There's always time to learn fingerspins, it just requires a bit of practice like mostly everything else we do...

Finger spins are also great when talking to an audience, you can gesture and point and do all sorts of stuff with the free hand but the moving staff continues to attract new punters into the fold...

A fake BTB throw (my version anyway) is a throw in front from a sideways figure 8.

You keep facing the airborne staff until it's almost come down and then face the other way at the last second (you hand behind you is directly under the staff) and catch it easily in your hand , and Behind The Back!

It's much easier than it sounds, and almost everyone in corwd, who were watching the staff the whole time, think you threw it in the air, turned around and caught it behind you back without looking...

I think it was Dom who showed me this technique, can't quite remember though.

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Xtremely Flameablemember
95 posts
Location: Cairns, Queensland


Posted:
Yeah I mainly use all the fingers.

I spin it anti-clock wise.

I hold it most of the time vertical but I sometimes spin it horizontal.

Thanks for a couple of the tips Charles I will be working on that in the next few weeks while I have nothing to do.

XF

When a man lies, he murders some part of the world.


[Nx?]BRONZE Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
3,749 posts
Location: Europe,Scotland,Both


Posted:
FINGERSPINNING IS GOOD!

is silly to ignore teqnique because is 'girly' or something, adds pauses, atoms (with double) and makes you look good! Also fingerspinning can be very fast, is only you cannot do it fast yet.

T :fakerussianaccent:

This is a post by tom, all spelling is deleberate
-><- Kallisti


CharlesBRONZE Member
Corporate Circus Arts Entertainer
3,989 posts
Location: Auckland, New Zealand


Posted:
Great, if you use all the fingers then you may have similar style to my own.

When i started learning, I found that the staff tended to have 'traveled' about 3 inches from the time it got to the end of my my hand.

By swirling my wrist (keeping it straight) in a semic circle, like the Karate' Kid's "Wax On Wax Off", I could adjust for this so when i started the spin again the centre of the staff was back in position.

With time, the motion where it flips under the hand (after the fourth finger has spun it) eventually corrected the travel almost all of time, to a point where I can (usually) do continous finger spinns for as long as my fingers hold out.

You may find in anti-clockwise, the staff flips OVER the hand instead of under...

Hope this helps as well.

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ToXiC_staffmember
14 posts
Location: Christchurch


Posted:
yo..
i base my whole technique around finger spins..
about 2 years ago a friend showed my his technique of 720 (2 full rotations) on each axies and his three axies per foot stance..
i havent seen him in about a year but ive adapted and practiced my techniqie so as i can get 4 axies off each stance, so thats 720 in each pane with 2 staffs..

i practice this because of the great control you have over the staff at all times..
and it makes a great 1440 degree windmill..

this is the first chance ive had a explaining my staff moves so im sorry if im not up with the jargon.. peace

We live in the land of the long white cloud..
and in the city with the giant cone..
-someone on RDU


PyrolificBRONZE Member
Returning to a unique state of Equilibrium
3,289 posts
Location: Adelaide, South Australia


Posted:
Fingerspinning is not girly, in fact its required knowledge for a whole bunch of badass moves so get into ASAP

I can fingerspin as fast as I can spin normally, as the fingerspin speed is just a spinoff of the inital entry speed (it doesnt have to be, but accellerating a staff to high speeds in finger grips is unneccessarily taxing on fingers I find)

Finger spinning is an important technique when doing technicalish doubles and for multistaff play. IMHO.

Josh

Josh

--
Help! My personality got stuck in this signature machine and I cant get it out!


Bender_the_OffenderGOLD Member
still can't believe it's not butter
6,978 posts
Location: Melbourne, Australia


Posted:
there's an *excellent* variety of moves on this thread!
me likes to add that fingerspins are required for the staff equivalent of the poi 'buzzsaw' move, either same dir or opp.
"i can't believe it isn't poi!"
ask for it by name!

Laugh Often, Smile Much, Post lolcats Always


Ali-birdmember
102 posts
Location: London


Posted:
I love finger spinning, do it all the time, but that's cos I'm a baton girl at heart.

If you are running through 4 fingers and getting stuck, the easiest way to start again is to turn your hand over - that is, if you'r going through the fingers palm up,when the staff gets to your little finger turn your hand over so it's palm down in time with the last revolution of the staff. Then you can either roll it back through the fingers to the thumb, or cheat and simply roll it over the back of your hand to the thumb and catch it.

Finger spinning can be really fast too, just takes practise and usually a few bleeding knuckles to get there.

Right that's it I'm off to Clapham, feel the need for some spinning!!

Why is it that everthing which is fun is illegal, immoral, or fattening?


Tanessamember
91 posts
Location: Canada


Posted:
Let me add on to the 540 degree finger spin to make it what baton would call "complete finger twirls".

See how in the video his palm is up, and he is rolling the staff over his index finger, then middle finger, then, the next, and then stops the fingers twirls by turning his hand over and letting the staff come into his fist. Well, if you don't stop there, follow along with me, you can finish the finger twirls. Let's start all over again kind of using the video as a start. With palm up, let the staff roll over your 1st finger, 2nd finger (as the video shows), then the 3rd finger, now it wants to roll over the pinky finger, but it can't because it is stuck between the 3rd and 4th little finger. It is stuck, right? If it isn't do it again. When you get to this stuck position, FLIP YOUR HAND OVER so the palm is facing down. Now go back OVER your fingers, each one, starting by going over the 3rd, 2nd, then 1st, then it should just roll into your hand (palm down). The palm up part of the finger twirls is easy (just like shown in the video), but flipping the hand over and going back OVER the fingers is a bit harder. It almost feels like your pressing the staff thru your fingers. Once you get the scheme of it, it will all start to flow. Then the fingertwirls can go on forever, whichever way you want.

This written version of learning always takes longer. I just taught a staffer (2 nights ago)how to do them and it took him not even 2mins to start doing finger twirls. He is happy with doing them. I like seeing guys doing finger twirls, reminds me of watching good rock shows with great drummers, he, he.

Remember to practice in both hands!!!

Tanessamember
91 posts
Location: Canada


Posted:
Plus once you have them, you can do them vertically or horizontally. In baton, we have to do them both ways within different schemes. But once you have them, you have them, and they are fun!

ToXiC_staffmember
14 posts
Location: Christchurch


Posted:
hey Tanessa.. have you noticed that you can do more than 2 panes with your finger-spinning?
i can get up to 4 panes without moving my feet..

and this makes for a lot of fun when using two staffs after a while you can put set your staffs spinning wherever you feel like it.. 2 full rotations in each pane..

We live in the land of the long white cloud..
and in the city with the giant cone..
-someone on RDU


[Nx?]BRONZE Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
3,749 posts
Location: Europe,Scotland,Both


Posted:
ok, ill bite.

continious fingerspin.

once youve got to the palm down stage described above by tennessa you can keep it going indefinatly by using your thumb to shove the stick back up between 2nd and 3rd finger with the palm still down, the thumb resets the centre and the fingers just roll the staff over as usual.

i still havent cracked backwards continious, and i have not idea what ben means by 4 plane spinning.

T

This is a post by tom, all spelling is deleberate
-><- Kallisti


SilvurBRONZE Member
sumthin sumin smmnm....
372 posts
Location: home sweet home, USA


Posted:
so i've been reading all of this, and i follow the continuous spinning. i was playing with my staff last night and i figured out a way to go from a figure 8 on the right to a fingerspin moving left, and i pick it up with my left hand and keep the spin going through my left hand, into a figure 8 on the left, into a finger spin moving through my left hand going right, carry it through to my right hand, and so on. it sounds complicated, but it looks really cool. it ends up rotating like 8 times in front of me, and i figured out how to do it smoothly. although i am a little worried about doing this in a burn, because when i transfer it between my hands mid spin, there is a fraction of a second where i'm not holding on to it. so is this a bad idea, even tho it looks SOOO cool?

Tanessamember
91 posts
Location: Canada


Posted:
Finger twirls work great for me. I love to do them vertically and horizontally in all ways. I have a light staff which enables me to finger twirl very fast, with the untrained eye not catching the difference between normal staff spinning and finger twirls (momemtum not slowing).
What is more challenging for you more advanced spinners is doing double staff finger twirls....horizontal (vertical, no problem) . Oh, to get them to look perfect like helicopters. But let me tell you that perfect timing of them both spinning horizontally, flow going, one above, one below, switching, up and down, while spinning yourself around, all finger twirls..... looks very beautiful!
I encourage everyone to try them and have fun. Once you get the flow.....watch them go!

benjyBRONZE Member
member
29 posts
Location: kontich-antwerp-belgium


Posted:
english is not my mother language so i dont understan half of your lingo. but anyways....
when you begin learnign fingerspinning,use your thumb to gide the staff over the other fingers. and practice,practice,practice.
use small wooden stick to begin.
practice whit your pen or pencil
and (trick for everything) learn to do it with your left hand. youll see if you switch hands again you´¨ll be better with you right then before

Think for yourself Question authority



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