body movement

to be honest.. I'm probably not the best person to talk to about this... I'm not sure how coherent any of my ramblings would be right now, becase I'm really confused..

body movement has helped me learn a lot.. but not much has helped me learn about body movement...

I would recommend learning more about crossovers.. most people try to place their crossover straight out in front.. some even try to use most of the hemisphere from head to toe as crossover space.. but I think its more importatn to think of simply where your poi crossover.. because I can swing the poi with a crossover that is say 10:00 in its circle (the poi diameter) and still be only about 1:00 in a head-to-toe circle..

[code:1]
Me
O *<-- poi crossing at 1:00 in a head-to-toe sized circle..
+
|
/
Facing ->

|
* |
9--+--3
|
|
poi at 10:00 in its circle
[/code:1]

crossovers are important because the better placement of your crossover, the less twisting you have to do.. crossovers are an inflection point (?) so that's the max that you would be twisting that way.. for instance, once I reach the above croossover point.. my poi are no longer going clockwise as I look to my right but counterclockwise on my left.. now because the crossover is a maxim of sorts, there are lots of ways that we can meet that quota.. Some have more degree of leniency than others.. I'm sure you have lots of slack in your 5bt weave now, but when you first learned it, I bet you could barely make it reach.. since you've learned how to put more of the twist in your arms, you don't have to worry as much about whether or not you will still be able to make the crossover in time before the poi twisted up.. I'll come back to this in a bit..

I'd also recommend that they look into center of spin techniques.. mainly concentric spinning (whihc is part of most of what we do.) concentric spinning lets you look at poi like a spiralgraph (?)... Flowers are a good example.. but pretty much anything we twist is a flower compressed down into the diameter of the poi.. when you start looking at everything form the point of view of centers of spin, it becomes a little easier (eventually) to put movmenets into perspective.. because rather than reducing everything to one center of spin (ie. one poi diameter sized circle centered where the two wrists come together), you open yourself to exploring the ways in whihc you can bring different cneters together.. its basicaly like nesting motions..

using mutliple centers of spin we are able to create new centers that dont exist. ala isolations.. we are also able to change the shape of the path of the poi. antispin is more + shaped than o shaped.. we can even look at the body ina similar fashion by treating the waist like a wrist and the turning of the body like the turning of a shoulder socket..

one final thing I'd recommend is for them to try and understand the degree crossover.. I'll have some vid clips next month showingwhat is meant by these.. degree crossover is an incredibly efficient way to keep track of twist.. better than beats.. if you bring your forearms next to each other I can briefly go over it..

side by side is a 0 degree crossover.. because.. well... there is none.. reels, buzzsaws, and butterflies all fall in this category...

if you cross one over the other, you get a first degree crossover.. this happens in a ttn, and on either side of a 3bt weave..

twisting another 180 gives us a 2nd degree crossover.. and so forth..

using this method, its easier to keep track of what you are doing.. a 3bt weave has 3bts per side.. but a 3bt antispin weave has 5.. but they both only have a 1rst degree crossover because they are both only twisted 1 degree.. this helps let you know how much farther you can go, so that you can flow better.. you can focus on how much further or less you want to twist, and to hell with the beats.. taking a 4bt turn gives you a flower, taking a 1bt turn gives you a circle.. both twist the same, but are very different..

and now you combine what you know about those 3..
isolations give you the freedom to create new centers of spin, as well as new shapes that can be made.. one of the most important uses of this is the arc.. an isolation can make the poi arc around say an arm, rather than keeping the string in straight line between the hand and the poi... fr instance if I want to spin my right poi around my left forearm, I can either hop I have enough room to get my hand to do a circle around my left forearm so that I cna keep the string betwen my right hand and poi straight.. or I can cut down on the space I need by adding a little isolation and getting the poi string to arc thus allowing my hand to stay 180 degres behind the poi, without the forearm blocking them.. isolation based arc are the key to fitting the poi in places that they are really to long to fit through..

you can apply your knowledge of crossover points in two different ways.. first you can try to adjust the crossover point of the poi to match with the goal you intend for.. or in other cases you may find that you cna only crossover in certain places, and must then move your body (arm, leg, shoulder, whatever) out of the way for that crossover..

finally, the degree of twist, lets you know how your centers are coming together.. maybe you can turn your arms more but your legs are locked in place for balance.. or maybe youneed that extra waist twist to get over to the right side..

ex.. think about a 1rst degree crossover (3bt weave) with a crossover point down, versus a 2rd degree crossover (5bt weave) with a crossover point at the top.. (assuming the weave is going the same direction from the same side.. )

hopefully you cna pick from that rambling and find some information that's helpful to your project.. I wish I can be of more help.. but I'm kinda taxed mentally at the moment..