Forums > Other Toys > Meteor: a **** ton of information

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RovoGOLD Member
(the person actually known as Chris Bailey)
544 posts
Location: Austin, TX, USA


Posted:
Greetings to all the meteorites out there in HoP land. I've been trying to post a bunch of concepts pertaining to meteor lately. Here are some videos and a couple write ups that will hopefully help people on their path to building their meteor skills. Play more meteor!

Shortening your meteor while spinning:




A video on the opposite direction:




Point of View video demonstrating what your thumb and pinky are doing in various weaves:




Two videos each showing a quick trick involving negative space:






This final video shows a bunch of basic concepts I have been talking about for a while. Mastering the thumb pinky switch and your bf turns is extremely important!




EDITED_BY: Chris Bailey (1331390502)

Peace, Love, Circles


RovoGOLD Member
(the person actually known as Chris Bailey)
544 posts
Location: Austin, TX, USA


Posted:
This is a breakdown of various meteor weaves that I wrote a couple years ago.

Breakdown of Weaves w/ Single Meteor

Ever since I started playing with a meteor I was confounded by the fact that I could do a fwd thumb led 2 beat weave (figure of 8) just fine but whenever I went to do a rev thumb led 2 beat it never felt right. In fact it felt more like a 2 beat off set weave with poi. So in error I figured that that was just the way meteor worked instead of exploring further. The other day while practicing my fwd 3 beat weave, I decided to start messing around with doing all of the weaves known to me pinky led in both fwd and reverse to find new variations. After a bit of playing I started doing a pinky led 2 beat in reverse and "Voila!" a breakthrough was made. The equivalent in rev of the fwd thumb led 2 beat is a pinky led 2 beat. All along I never made the leap that when you switch direction you also need to change from either thumb to pinky led or vice versa. This new information/revelation was the key to allow me to map out all of the variations of weaves that are possible with a single meteor. It turned out that for either direction be it forward or reverse there is only one weave of equal degrees of twist for a given beat count (i.e. a 3 beat weave). Then on top of these basic equally twisted weaves, there are loads of offset weave variations to be explored as well. Here's a run through of these weave combinations starting with the equal weaves and moving on to offsets.
*Note: When I am counting the beats of these weaves I am counting from the top of the circles for one end of the meteor on both sides then adding the two sides together.

Equally Twisted Weaves

The Most Basic of Weaves Fwd 2 beat Thumb led Rev 2 beat Pinky led I determined that these two weaves are the simplest weave pattern possible with a meteor. If you do a fwd pinky led two beat or a rev thumb led two beat they end up being offset and therefore lack the symmetry of the two weaves written above. In fact each direction has two basic 2 beat offset weaves which become an equally twisted 4 beat weave when combined, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Since these offset 2 beats are not equal in degrees of twist from one side to the other the only true 2 beat weaves with a meteor are the pair mentioned above.

The 3 beat Weave

Fwd 3 beat pinky thumb switch Rev 3 beat thumb pinky switch For either direction the side of the hand listed first determines which hand is crossing over to the opposite side of the body. So by the name "fwd 3 beat pinky thumb switch" I am saying that while spinning fwd with your right hand your pinky side will be crossing over to the left side (opposite) side of the body and then you will switch so the thumb led side will lead back over to the right side. By adding this switch between thumb side and pinky side you add an extra beat making this a 3 beat weave.

The 4 beat Weave

Fwd 4 beat pinky led Rev 4 beat thumb led There is only one equal 4 beat weave for a given direction. This is also where my old confusion came from as I thought that the rev 4 beat thumb led was the simplest equally twisted version of a rev weave. As mentioned earlier combining the two basic 2 beat offset weaves for a given direction makes a 4 beat.

The 5 Beat Weave

Fwd 5 beat thumb pinky switch (starts with a 3 beat pinky thumb switch) Rev 5 beat pinky thumb switch (starts with a 3 beat thumb pinky switch) Now it is possible to do 5 beat weaves with a meteor by adding a wrist twist or wrist wrap onto either side of your 3 beat weave. To do a fwd 5 beat start with a fwd 3 beat pinky thumb switched weave and add an extra twist of the wrist or a wrist wrap forcing the thumb to now lead over to the opposite side of the body and the pinky to lead back. By adding a twist on either side you now have a 5 beat weave.

6 , 7, and beyond Beat Weaves

Fwd 6 beat thumb led Rev 6 beat pinky led The 6 beat and the other higher beat weaves start getting into iffy territory for me. To do an equally twisted 6 beat you must do a wrist wrap on both sides of your body which makes me feel that maybe you are not truly weaving anymore. I know there is a semi wrist wrap in the 5 beat but it becomes much more pronounced in the 6 beat as one end of the meteor is wrapped fully around your wrist. Still this can come in handy and is easily broken down into multiple different offset weaves. The seven beat weave is made by adding a thumb pinky switch onto a 6 beat offset weave. You can also make higher beat weaves by adding more and more wrists wraps to a given side but remember the more you wrap up the more uneven the ends of the meteor become.

Offset Weaves

Now unlike the equal weaves all of the offset weaves have an unequal amount of twist when comparing one side of the body to the other. Pretty much if you take any of the equal weaves above and split them into smaller pieces you'll have an offset weave. 2 beat offsets The offset 2 beats are quite numerous. As mentioned in the beginning the four basic 2 beat offsets are: fwd 2 beat pinky led same side fwd 2 beat pinky led opp side rev 2 beat thumb led same side rev 2 beat thumb led opp side These are derived from the 2 equal 4 beat weaves. So by same side and opp side in the above descriptions I am referring to which segment of the corresponding 4 beat the 2 beat is derived from. For example the fwd 2 beat pinky led same side refers to the 2 beat that is made from the crossover from the same side of your body to the opposite side during a 4 beat. Also, if you break apart a fwd 3 beat weave you'll get a thumb led 2 beat and an offset same side pinky led 2 beat. To derive the other offset two beat from a 3 beat you need to do an offset three beat. There are other 2 beat offsets but instead of mentioning them all try breaking the equal weaves apart at various points to create your own offset two beats. (There are some really fun 2 beat offsets that can be made from the 5 beat weave.)

3 beat Offsets One way to derive the 3 beat offset weaves is to break apart the 5 beat weave while another is to add either a thumb pinky or a pinky thumb switch (depending on the direction and side of the body) to an offset 2 beat derived from a 5 beat. Say you have a fwd 5 beat weave being spun in your right hand. When you add a wrist twist onto the opposite (left) side of the body and cross back to the same side (right) immediately do a thumb switch instead of unwinding and cross back over to the left untwist and re-twist then cross back over. If you count the beats on either side of this you will have a 3 beat weave except it will be offset because there is more twist on the opposite side of the body. You can make another off set by doing the same thing except working with the twist starting on the same side of the body though this offset 3 beat is much harder. Other Offset Weaves and Why you should discover them There are many other offset weaves besides the ones I've mentioned. Even though you can have the same amount of beats by doing the easier equal weaves you still want to learn all the offset weaves as well. There are some interesting properties that arise when turning the offsets and mixing and matching pieces of offset and normal weaves which will help build your overall control of the meteor. Now I also feel that as isolations, flowers, hybrids, cateyes and other plays on driving styles are investigated deeper with meteor these transitions between offsets and regular weaves will lead to interesting possibilities for manipulation and in some cases will be the only way to execute certain combinations. Even by just turning different kinds of weaves you get some cool effects.

In-swings, Polyrhythm, one beats and more

As a side note it is possible to do polyrhythmic weaves with a meteor as well as incorporating in-swings (I know opp led ones work) into your flow. I have not played with these all too much but here's what I have worked with. To do polyrhythm in a weave try doing two swings of the thumb led side of the meteor on the opposite side of your body when doing a fwd 2 beat thumb led 2 beat. In the time it takes the pinky side to swing around you can have completed two rotations and then lead back to the same side of your body with the thumb side. This can be done in all sorts of weave configurations so please experiment and report back. With in-swings you'll either need to us a shorter meteor or you can do a meteor shortening combo to make your longer meteor more manageable. As of a few moments ago I found a few different in-swing combos and some very interesting possibilities. I didn't discuss one beats earlier on in this paper because you do not weave them but I feel that they are very important (though hard to master) to add to your flow. I am not sure at the moment but I think that throwing in a one beat can be similar to doing a same led in-swing and at the least can add some interesting variety to your weaves. In conclusion, I hope that this article will be useful to all the meteor people out there and will cause some new questions to be asked, boundaries to be pushed and open up new territory to be explored. Meteor play is such a fun skill to learn and though it takes some getting used to and is not as easily picked up as say poi or staff I do hope more people will begin to discover the joys of working with this wonderful prop.

Peace, Love, Circles


RovoGOLD Member
(the person actually known as Chris Bailey)
544 posts
Location: Austin, TX, USA


Posted:
Here's some info on the Opp direction tho after some discussion a couple pieces need to be updated.

Wow, I just had a moment. This is what I believe the root understanding of bf's with a meteor to be. Last Fire Drums someone (I think maybe it was Silence) had used helices to describe the two basic directions of a bf. I didn't fully grasp what was meant but now I see. So here we go!


Opp Direction and the Helix

There are two basic butterflies and the difference is in their direction. A bf can either be a left handed helix or a right handed helix. Here's a definition:

A helix (pl: helixes or helices) is a type of smooth space curve, i.e. a curve in three-dimensional space. It has the property that the tangent line at any point makes a constant angle with a fixed line called the axis. Helices can be either right-handed or left-handed. With the line of sight along the helix's axis, if a clockwise screwing motion moves the helix away from the observer, then it is called a right-handed helix; if towards the observer then it is a left-handed helix. That is all well and good but you are probably thinking so what does this have to do with meteor? Well just about everything I think...

The root butterfly

How can you tell the difference between a left-handed and right-handed bf with meteor. The test is easy. Do your normal bf and let the bf flatten out in floor plane so that it is spinning same direction. If it's spinning counterclockwise it is a left handed helix and right handed if clockwise. My butterfly is of the left handed variety. Now this is not really important when it comes to turning with the bf. You can do in all directions without ever spinning in the other helix. The other helix feels very awkward to play with and it is extremely difficult to switch between the two while spinning. To do this you have to do a thumb pinky switch in opposite directionin. The other helix is awkward in the same way as a 2 beat pinky led in rev is awkward if you always did the 4 beat. You have to break comfort zones and barriers to play in the other direction.The main thing direction in bf affects are your throws. I spin in a left handed helix so my throws spin horizontally in the counter clockwise direction. Likewise when I drop the butterfly down into the floor plane it also spins counterclockwise.

Getting into the other helix

The simplest way to try the other direction of bf is to do a corkscrew in the opposite direction of your bf throws or drop down and then pull the meteor up into bf. The other way to get into it is when starting your bf is to have the head that isn't already spinning enter the opposite of the way it normally does. This means either in front of the spinning head or behind. Below I will explain how to do it while spinning but this is much more difficult.Why this is improtantI think there has to be some bad ass concepts and patterns that can only be achieved by switching between which direction the bf is going. Now that I have a greater understanding of how this all works I can start delving deeper.

The Actual AHAH!

You have your root bf in your comfort direction. This has no twist in it at all. The breakthrough I had involves adding a degree of twist. In the sleepy rovo video i added I only added a degree of twist and took it away in one direction of twist. You can also add a degree of twist in the other direction by doing the opposite kind of crossover. The cross over can either happen on a downswing or upswing which i pointed out in the video. this feels like you are pushing the meteor downward or lifting it up and over. Depending on whichever crossover you do on which side determines what kind of twist you add. To untwist while turning in the same direction you have to do the opposite crossover. i.e. If you swung over top you need to do a downswing to untwist. To untwist by turning back the way you came do the same type of crossover back.

Switching from one helix to the other in flow

Now here is the big concept to glean from this. If you crossover say with a downswing and cross back with an upswing you reach the point where it is easiest to switch between the two helices! Another way to achieve this is by slowing one head while doing your root bf and forcing the other to swing in front if it was behind or vice versa. By mastering this switch you will open even more freedom of movement with meteor. Once you can do and move between all of the same direction and opp directions turns weaves and corkscrews with emteor you will have a fully completed foundation from which to work with for even deeper delving into the mysteries of this prop!

Whew! I hope that makes sense. Now please please please let's discuss and play! : )

Peace, Love, Circles


willworkforfoodjnrSILVER Member
Hunting robot foxes
1,046 posts
Location: Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England (UK)


Posted:
Some awesome info in here smile I'm hoping to make a new meteor soon

Working hard to be a wandering hippie layabout. Ten years down, five to go!



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