Swinging Six Foot Sticks

While the sun will allow us, we’ll be going outside and learning a staff form this summer.  Why?  Because swinging around a six foot stick is super fun (though you wouldn’t know it from how bored I look in the video).

The form is called “The Northern Combined Shaolin Staff Form”.  The “combined” part means that several forms were put together into one to make for a good presentation form – something to show in tournaments.  I’ve used this form to compete several times, sometimes winning with it and sometimes throwing my staff (on accident, of course) across the room.

The video is done slowly so that students who are taking the class can review the moves and practice for next week.  And if you missed tonight’s class but want to join us, please do.  See if you can copy the video – it’ll make next week much easier.  For those students who were there and managed to get the moves, start thinking about how your arms work together to whip the stick around – the push/pull relationship they have in many of the moves… and practice!  Do the form at least twice before next week.