Forums > Beginner Staff Moves > Finger spinning both ways

Posted: 7th Sep 2003
where i am stuck at is grace: I prefer mine fingerspins with a fixed palm - ie the finger movements do not contort the palm, and provides the illusion of effortlessness. My current fingerspinning movement ima perfeckting is a continuous low buzzsaw in opposite directions, only with my thin doubles. The trouble comes with non-dominant (left) hand's reverse fingerspins. also being low it illuminates me much better at the risk of facial hair

Fingerspins are also the 'other' way of powering the momentum for continuous palming, and look so much more apparent when twirled with steady pace, not speed.

I've tried a baton and omg fingerspins go on forever with all that rubber weighting and thin thin shaft!! Also me fingers want to crack when i fingerspin wide (5cm diameter) superstaves.

The little required body movement in fingerspins make them ideal moves to repeat when you perform indoors, as alot of indoor venues don't mind repetition but DO mind feelin' too warm from the fire.

methinks it's a neato family of staff movements, but i don't think it would dominate any routine of mine any time soon!

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Posted: 7th Sep 2003

quote:

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Originally posted by dj scatterface:

Just wondering if anyone can spin contiously both ways with no troubles.

peace

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I can,I can

My advice to you is to practice finger spinning while lying down (on a bed, on the ground, or whatever).

And loads of practice.

And don't skip the middle and ring finger when you bring the baton back over the top of your hand.

Posted: 7th Sep 2003
Another good way to learn the other direction (maybe what Poiholic is referring to) is to learn with a helicopter first (horizontal finger spin)


That way, the centrifugal force is pretty even, rathet than up/down pressure when doing a vertical fingerspin.

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Posted: 7th Sep 2003
Practice with a pen whenever you have free time in class.

Posted: 8th Sep 2003
search the web for cane twirling....

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Posted: 12th Sep 2003
hey, I like fingerspins..
I do them in a sort of extended figure 8 movement,
so i would maybe start off twirling anti-clockwise with one staff in front of me (wall pane) between my litle and ring fingers, in my left hand (thumb pointing to heavens)..
my staff travels spinning 180° with each finger it accends , until it reaches the space between my thumb and pointer finger...
then this is where the figure 8 action comes in, just transfer the staff behind my shoulder (just like you would when doing the figure 8),
after this action the staff travels back down my fingers to where i started (between little and ring).
and then finnish the figure 8 by transfering back in front of you...
this is the principle behind my double staff, continuous movements.. you can spin to this way if they are spinning opposite directions.

note: this way of fingerspinning you have to change panes frequently, i might teach myself a continous one plane fingerspin one day..

there may be better ways to fingerspin , if anyone has any please share..
sorry if you cats dont understand this blabber..

[ 15. September 2003, 10:36: Message edited by: ToXiC_staff ]

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Posted: 19th Sep 2003

quote:

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Originally posted by dj scatterface:
I double twirl and i can continuosly spin the staff through my fingers in both hands (but only in one direction). From my view if the staff is in front of me, the way i can spin is, clockwise in my left hand and anticlockwis ein my right. It's not like i can not get any spins the other way, it's just that i can't get continious spins. Just wondering if anyone can spin contiously both ways with no troubles.

peace

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hey, i just figured out how to do this, and if you do it right, you can make it spin like 8 times in front of you. it looks really cool. can you do it all the way across in both directions?

Posted: 20th Sep 2003
You know, I never thought about doing backwards finger twirls before until I read this. Both my staffs spin the same way if they are beside me. If both hands are in front, they look like they are twirling into each other (the left hand always spinning the staff to the right, and the right hand always spinning the staff to the left). But if my arms are beside me (to my sides somwhere) they look like they are spinning the same way (both forward). But when done horizontally they both spin the same way (if you look up at your horizontal staff above your head it should be spinning clockwise).

Posted: 20th Sep 2003
...as not to confuse I'll finish the above...

While doing horizontal finger twirls, when above your head looking up, they spin clockwise, but when below in front of you, couterclockwise.

And no, I can't do finger twirls backwards. I just tried, what an awefully funny feeling... Don't want to try that again.

Posted: 2nd Jan 2004
I can I can I have done number only with finger spinn
there was twirl to farward and backwards and horizontal moves and
vertical moves and some trows.. and everything

(sorry for my spellingmistakes)

Posted: 2nd Jan 2004
Yea man, i love finger rollz. Personally i find it eaiser to spin from index toward little fingers, i guess its all pratice, but while on the subject... i really think a pinch (in the staff moves guide by Inferno) while doing finger rolls adds a whole new style, and feel not to mention you get more rotations, and it feels so dam good.

Posted: 5th Jan 2004
bothways, no worries, backwards (i.e. pinky to index) is weird. but perfectly perfectable.

T

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

Posted: 26th Jan 2004
heh, all i do in class now is finger spin with pencils, both ways, personally, i have it cross my ring and middle fingers on the palm side of my hand, and it goes between every finger on the back side (this is only true in reverse spins, the opposite is true in forward)

i also generally leave my thumb out of finger spins as it tends to be the slow spot in the rotation

heh, analytical chem is boring...

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Posted: 28th Jan 2004
I started spinning staff about.... a week ago ish. I can finger spin both ways, just really really slowly at the moment

*now prefers staff to poi*

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Posted: 28th Jan 2004
ima fugly fingerspinner with any staff wider than 17mm guage; it's just all slow n inconsistent after the first revolutions.

YAY for people that prefer staff and llamas!!

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Posted: 29th Jan 2004
llama's rule! just coz they're llamas, what more does anyone need?!

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Posted: 5th Feb 2004
why TWO llamas of course!
and thread hijacks rank a close second!!

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Posted: 5th Feb 2004
Umm Bender, I know u have fantastic finger spins but I don’t know about this [quote “…..with any staff wider than 17mm gauge; it's just all slow n inconsistent after the first revolutions.” end-quote] I think for a thicker staff you may need to build up finger strength, but I’m sure it can be quite fast due to the momentum, and also consistent.

Now, where can I buy 12 gauge llamas?

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Posted: 31st Mar 2004
Hmmm this one I might have to come back too (haven't practiced in a bit since I've been without a staff) so I can't really think of a good way to say it. I'll try to practice tomorrow or Friday on it. Might come as a shock but due to the small area I live in there is no contact staffing so inovations for fingertwirling and the like come up a bit

On a vague suggestion for just working on fingertwirling and getting strength up to do it (mind you, I use a 5 ft metal staff). Ok I'm left handed so I'll describe in this way. . . hold the staff between the index finger and thumb of your left hand. Cross your left hand to your right side and spin it so the staff is going in an anti-clockwise motion. Then with right palm up have the staff go between your right hand thumb and index finger, then roll it between your fingers. When it gets down to between either your pinkie and your ring finger, or your ring finger and your middle finger, make a quick cross over in beat with the staff, so that your right arm is on the left side of your body. The staff should then roll back between your fingers, accept with your left hand and let it roll through your fingers again. Repeat.

Basically you end up having the staff roll between your fingers of each hand, on each side of your body. You'll notice that doing it this way causes the staff to rotate clockwise when spinning on the left side of your body, and counter-clockwise on the rightside. Also that palm up-right hand, and palm-down left hand are used for counter-clockwise motions, and the opposite for clockwise.

If you switch the direction of the staff it either requires you to pass it behind the back or very deft hand/wrist movement to bring it around in front of you. (I think lol)

That'll get your strength up for finger twirling. Then work on the usuals, behind the back fingertwirling passes, keep it spinning behind your back with just your fingers. Infront, helicopters, tosses (always fun) with just the fingers. If you can do it holding onto the staff, you should be able to use your fingers to do it, and probably throw in quite a few more spins as well.

Now as to continuous spinning with just one hand. . .again since I'm left handed Going with the spin counter-clockwise infront of you I suggest just trying this: Hold your staff horizontal between your index and your middle finger, push down with your middle finger and get it spinning. You spin it over your middle finger, get the staff under your ring finger, push it down and guide it so it goes back between your middle and index finger. If it doesn't have enough momentum to go around again, catch it with your and use your thumb to increase the momentum (carefully though, or else it looks uneven as noted before). You'll either have to use your pinkie or your thumb to adjust for slip--where you don't evenly spin the staff so you start going towards one end or the other. Now to go clockwise just reverse the movement you had, but use your pinkie to push it instead of the thumb--to make that look smooth and consistant you'll need to slightly drop your hand as it reaches your pinkie, much like a contact staffer uses their body movent to continue the spin of the staff, in this case you have to use your hand movement slightly to keep the staff going.

With your left hand going clockwise is the hardest probably, and the most unnatural thing but it works for keeping it going. I suggest doing a *lot* of normal finger spinning both ways before you try to do it continuously. It's tough or your poor fingers

Hey Bender Just practice with what my mentor used (and what I learned on. ) A 6 foot long, 2 inch wide steel pipe At a solid 20lbs if you can learn to finger spin (or spin it period) a normal staff is easy! :P Just don't hit yourself with it And think of the upper body strength!