Forums > Beginner Staff Moves > history of staff

Posted: 24th Aug 2003
hey charm..... If you look for the staff topic about robert heart... he has some pretty big boasts about being the best, the first, the biggest stick, etc.... all crap.. ego maniac... he is a good twirler though i wont sell him too short... To begin I'd have to say the first staff twirler was most likely a caveman starved for attention who grabbed a lit stick out of the fire and waved it in everyone's faces for a while. Of course it's hard to pin point the origins of the fire staff and it's reletivity to street performing.. there are some great sites out there strictly devoted to the history of the staff.. simply do a search for "bo staff history" but you probably already know that seeing as your into kung fu... (me too... bagua zhang) My guess would be that the first guy hurtin for money who had some skills set up a blanket and a basket in front of himself on a busy street and set to it... As for mr. heart's claims at being the best I feel I have to add a note about a good friend of mine who would shut him down inside of 3 warm up moves... His name is Darragh. he is from Ireland. ex martial artist as well... Self taught fire twirler who took up performing in australia for lack of any better ideas. I tell you this not to attract popularity to my talented friend, on the contrary... he is overly humble about his skills. I'm saying this because I think you should add in your article that more often than not, the best are the ones who are the quietest. you just have to get out there and keep your eyes open and if you lucky enough you might just have you night made by some serious talent....
Another thing too... why is there so few people who go for the bigger staves... I use a six foot beast and all the twirlers I meet love it and think it's really cool... why hasnt this caught on more? (Dont get me wrong, I kinda like that it hasnt, makes me more special!!! lol...
Oh, and if anyone doubts my rant about my friend, picture this... four 6 ft staves two in each hand (cross style) twirling faster than you'll ever hope to get with moves most of us didnt know could be done, throw in a few shaolin style kicks and some 20 ft throws and you've got the big D..........

One Love, Dont forget.

Posted: 24th Aug 2003
6 foot staves are a pain in the butt to transport..In my opinion...

I love big double staves too, though being of short stature, they don't tend to be much longer than 1.5 meters.

The few times I've played with a longer staff, I've really enjoyed it, but worried about carrying it home on the unicycle or fitting it (all dirty and sooty) into the car.

DJ Charm...perhaps the easiest start for staff/street theatre would be cane twirling and gymnastics about the beginning of the this century onwards.

It was usually broadway or theatre orientated but a lot of crossover happened between those disciplines and street theatre, especially in europe and britain.

you might also want to check out the LOOOOOONG history of Trident, a 'fancy' form of martial arts often used in chinese circus areas. It involves a long heavy poll with thre prongs on the end and has some very cool 'showy' contact moves...

Fnally, Polynesian fire knives have to be looked into as well, tons of info on them after a bit of looking.

Hope that helps...

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