Contact work in progress

[Darth Cephalus]

I was trying to learn complex contact moves and frustrating myself, so I decided to go back to basics and start from step one. Here is a basic halo roll done with contact staff, contact flame saber, and LED saber staff. For the later, I turned it into a repeating circle in both directions at the end. Basically, I am extending and lowering an overhead hand switch by rolling it over my shoulders instead of just passing it from one hand to the other.I am still releasing the staff a bit late. I will have to work on that and extend the shoulder contact.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0OUAGUwtOE" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0OUAGUwtOE</a>

[Darth Cephalus]

Day one attempts at a staff roll over the shoulder then around the neck. Still finding the balance point at the back of my neck, but getting there.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WB5aXtEWxM" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WB5aXtEWxM</a>

And now with a saber. First day attempts at a halo 180 roll and various other things. Also testing out my new saberstaff. I left in some of the misses. Music is Gravity's Rainbow by The Klaxons.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N9DiTFZjSM" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N9DiTFZjSM</a>

[Darth Cephalus]

This is a walkthrough of the moves I am working on with contact lightsaber. The end goal is to do these without the hand contact with the saber rolling along my shoulders. This video shows three different moves in hand contact form. Featured here is my extra long saberstaff as well.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHOT-ked1Ko" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHOT-ked1Ko</a>

[Darth Cephalus]

It took about 4 days but I did get these moves hands free. Unfortunately, I have not gotten them down with the saber yet and my sister in law reclaimed her staff before I could get a video. I will post a video when either the staff comes back or I get them to happen with the saber: whichever comes first.

[Darth Cephalus]

This video was taken after about 4 days of practicing this move. The goal here was to roll it over my shoulders, around my neck, and back over my shoulders, while turning 360 degree, without gripping the sword. In this video, I am using a balanced flame saber, though this move is a bit easier with a staff. I will see if I can get one with my saber-staff over the weekend.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvtewEwj7X8" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvtewEwj7X8</a>

[Darth Cephalus]

A couple things I started working on today. The first is a simple contact move that starts like an angel roll but is allowed to fall off the arm to be caught by the off hand. This is being shown with a contact fire saber. Eventually, this move will be able to be done in dual wield where the off hand pops the saber to the main hand while the other saber is rolling back over the wrist. I am not that good at it yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6dYma-MpLE

The next is a full angel roll. This move is an intermediate contact move seen here with contact flame saber. It is a roll along outstretched arms from one hand to the other.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g8Z3_fkEIk

The next is a prayer roll. I think you will see why. This is a basic contact hand switch where the saber rolls to the outside of a hand, the hands come together, the saber continues to the outside of the other hand, and then wraps around into a grip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m1r0obeqzg

The final is called a halo 360. This is a move consisting of a halo roll followed by a neck wrap, followed by a second halo while the body spins 360 degrees.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrB_j5hgn64

A few more to come Sorry these will not seem to embed. Youtube says they are updating or some such thing so I have to do them as links

[DARTH CH3M15T]

Need to catch up on practice. I could learn some of these as i now have saber staff attachment. I've just been practicing the basics with it really as its all new to me and controlling it is like a totally different animal.  Other than that i've been working on horizontal moves single and duel blades and some funky behind the back throws thanks to my pal who flares for a living. Also been tightening up switching grips to reverse and back using aerials or half palm spins.  Watch this space.  i think my craziest will be the above the head horizonal cloud spin. When i've build up some epic speed I can throw and aerial as its spinning. But when you is it spinning and dropping towards your head its crazy.

[Darth Cephalus]

Welcome back CH3M15T. Glad to see hibernation season is over. Can't wait to see the moves that have been stewing.

[Darth Cephalus]

Hello all. It has been a while since my last video. It is harder to get time when you have a 7 month old. So after customizing my saberstaff, I was looking for moves that would make use of the longer hilt and specific balance of a staff like this. These are a few of what I have come up with. The first is a continuous spin for one hand attained by adding a full roll over the back of the hand to a half palm spin to reset. The second is a double continuous spin that is a roll over the back of both hands with a grip on either side and a half spin to reset. The third is a one handed shoulder wrap around the neck and back into the same hand. The final is a double shoulder wrap, shown with and without intermediate grips, where the body turns 36 degrees. Demos set to "Fun Zone" from UHF. Enjoy.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HisRAsSnGRg" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">www.youtube.com/watch?v=HisRAsSnGRg</a>

[Darth Cephalus]

Figured, I would post this here. I was playing with my contact sword today, and I learned to do a contact move called a fishtail. A few days of trying, and it just clicked. So my immediate thought was, "if I can do this with a contact staff, can I do it with a lightsaber?" The answer...yes, but not very gracefully yet. The lightsaber lacks the grip, the weight, and the extended sweet-spot of a contact tool. Makes it hard to control. I will have to try it with a staff and work on it more. In this video you see me start out with a half fish and move into a full single. With a contact tool, I can keep this going. With a saber as yet, I have to bail after one full rotation.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TOr4bN_Zlc&amp;feature=youtu.be" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TOr4bN_Zlc&amp;feature=youtu.be</a>

[Darth Cephalus]

Just a quick video of my progress with a fishtail spin with a lightsaber and with a contact sword. Still difficult to get more than one rotation with a lightsaber because of the small center mass.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQ-W-dpMeX8" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQ-W-dpMeX8</a>

[Enso Marr]

Funnily enough I just noticed this series. Good work here. Could really get a sense of your halo and neck wraps improving over time.

Am also rather amazed that you started with the forward fishtail. Most people find the reverse fishtail much easier to learn first.

I should really get back to work on mine. Need to get two more basic pieces out before I can get to a half Steve. Been distracted trying to learn a devil roll.