Saber Forum

This video shows some of the things I will be looking at in a new tutorial series I am planning on flips and contact. I notice after I took it that I did not do any of the arm or hand rolls. Ah well, no teaser trailer is perfect. When I get it done, the finished videos will go in the appropriate thread here
http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=18370.0 (http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=18370.0)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-qd7GXRq0E# (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-qd7GXRq0E#)

Excellent flourishing my friend. Looks very artistic and almost like a dance.

Thanks. One of these days, I swear I will put together a spin routine to Devo's Human rocket. As for the tutorials, they are going to focus on learning to let go of the saber and the things you can do once you are comfortable doing that. I know for me that was a big deal. I saw pictures of people doing saber tosses but every time I tried one, my brain told me this was few hundred dollars worth of electronics I was about to toss into the air and my hand fumbled to catch it before I should have. That actually lead to me dropping the saber. The only place I found tutorials was blurbs from NSCSC who wanted to sell me a DVD for $60, so I had to figure it out on my own. Now that I have figured out how it behaves when I am not holding it and where it pivots, I have not dropped a saber since mid November. Hopefully I can help some people past the learning curve.

An introduction to flip and contact flourishes with a lightsaber. Introduction covers finding the point of balance on a saber, tosses, and minimal grip. An acrylic sphere (with which I am not very skilled) makes a brief appearance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLcmqg32zIk# (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLcmqg32zIk#)

It's good to see you working with these contact techniques, as I haven't seen anyone else doing them anywhere and certainly not teaching them.

I really enjoyed your introduction to the technique.  The second video was pretty sweet.

I actually felt like, for a moment, that I was a Jedi or Dark Jedi learning how to flourish.

You were very calm, precise, and you knew what you wanted to say.

I look forward to future videos from you.  :)

Thank you for that. Like any good darksider though, I can't say my motives are unselfish. My hope is that others will benefit from these, build on them, learn how to do new moves I  have never seen before, and post videos to teach me how to do them. Now that you know my diabolical plan, you can find more videos from me, venturous, and various others in a thread I put together on non martial arts here http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=18370.0 (http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=18370.0) . When I have more videos, I will post them in both places, but that thread has the older ones as well.

A brief look at basic figure 8 flips and rolls with a hand switch. Cut a bit short at the end as a theater crowd was about to come run me over. This video very briefly shows a flip inversion. More on that in the next video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-ruLu152kI# (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-ruLu152kI#)

Next two videos. Part 2 of the tutorial deals with off-side flips and rolls, chains between off side and on side rolls and flips, and flip inversions. Part 2.5 contains a demo of the moves from parts 1 and 2 sped up, slowed down, and chained together.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeRNEG_WDhE# (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeRNEG_WDhE#)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwKdR0wmzhA# (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwKdR0wmzhA#)

You actually don't have to let go or toss the saber when switching in the reverse palm-down position that you begin speaking about at point 0:46 in your video. You can just as easily grab the saber with both hands on it by grabbing it more toward the pommel. Some people might not be comfortable tossing an expensive saber around, so being able to simply grab the saber without that toss in there gives people another option. I know the emphasis of this series is on contact moves and ariels, but I wanted to throw that in there since you cover the other switch in both ways as well.

True enough. I am using the flip which covers a rotation and a half. One could just as easily pass the blade for a half rotation. That is actually the same thing I was using to switch it back to a proper grip. I did not cover this mostly because it was in one of the Banditcar videos. He calls it a hand switch with an inversion. I will try to mention it in the next video and also make a recommendation about practicing with a stunt saber until one is more comfortable with catching the saber.

By the way, thanks for mentioning this. I was looking at where the next tutorial goes and things are starting to get dangerous. Best to take a step back and warn people lest they start breaking their sabers.

The last video in the series dealing with flips before we move on to rolls and palm spins. I think I managed to cover the concerns venturous mentioned. This video deals with half rotations, full rotations, 1.5 rotations, contact and areal versions of each, and how they integrate into a figure 8 spin pattern.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQvreBHuNjE#ws (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQvreBHuNjE#ws)

I really like that 1.5 rotational flourish you did in this one. The only thing I would suggest is to make a slow motion video of it sometime in the future in order for people to see more clearly what is happening. As you said, it's difficult doing it slowly because of the lack of moment, so a slow motion video of it might be beneficial.

Also, I randomly thought of a good nickname for you. I was thinking of the scene in Episode IV when Leia says to Han, "into the garbage shoot fly boy." I thought fly boy would be a good nickname because of your aerial prowess with a saber. Anyway, good videos and looking forward to the ones dealing with contact techniques.

And what good nicknames don't originally appear just after the words "into the garbage shoot"?  ;)
For the record, I prefer Grand Heresiarch of Inadvisable Saber Techniques.
The suggestion about the slow motion is a good idea. Perhaps after I finish with the series, I will post an addendum with a slow motion of each of the moves covered in it.

 After viewing part 3, I determined that the 1.5 rotation contact and flip needed explained. I also cover the upward Imelda version briefly. This video also discusses greater rotations and stalling on one side of a figure 8 through use of single flips.
http://youtu.be/pxQNKcMePRo (http://youtu.be/pxQNKcMePRo)