One Handed Hand Stand Wrap
I just had to get on here and write a little something about this trick that Stephen Storey put up the other week. First I want to know if anyone has seen this move done before. feel free to chime in. I consider myself a Twirlin’ historian and I haven’t seen it.
So I think it is necessary for the few of us to acknowledge the new stuff. Especially because we often see new Twirlers building their foundation on everything that was done before (and there is nothing wrong with that BTW).
I’ve always found it a bit disturbing that so many of the brothers (and a few women) Twirlin’ claim moves or styles as there own because of some recent acclaim. My personal opinion is that moves used for transition or to start another move shouldn’t be claimed as someone’s own, unless we look back to the few who started Twirlin’ in the mid 1980s.
I remember counting the moves that I (and some of the people who came up around the same time) originated, like the “matrix” or the “one handed body wrap” or the “360 neck wrap” … but I honestly haven’t seen anything as unique as what Stephen Storey has done in the past decade or so outside of my own and some of the moves that Paco does. I can remember reading a book of tricks that Damien Findley had written out back in 2000 and thinking there is no way to master all of these, or watching Zorro’s moves from the late 1990s.
During the 2011 Kappa Conclave i was talking with a bunch of people while Twirlin, and I said that the only totally unique tricks that could be produced would require some type of martial arts or acrobatics, and Stephen definitely went there. So I just want to say Kudos to the new, and that its one of the few things that keeps us hitting it.
Twirlin' 
BigRandallJordan
The Young Gentlemen of Houston, Tx
FALL86
As a member of The Young Gents, we adopted the cane into our high school organization in 1987-88. I visited every Greek and Non-Greek stepshows from Sam Houston State, Texas Southern’s legendary Icebreakers, all the way to USL picking up moves to learn and share with my Gent Brothers. From Yogi to Dirty Red, we tried to immulate. It’s hard to believe so many are claiming fame for moves done for over 30 years.
Landing at Prairie View, Fall91, we
December 19, 2012 at 12:41 pm
fascinating stuff….feel free to email a much longer story to us…we want to know the history of the individual people Twirlin’
December 20, 2012 at 8:44 pm
Fall 91, ZB NUPES unfortunately were on suspension, so we all practiced either solo, along with the RhoMeos, and the Beta Chapter of Kappa Psi Omega. We continued to teach each other the basics. Honestly, everyone hid moves. Who doesn’t? How can you Wow the Crowd with the same ole moves /combos? Not likely.
Keep the Art of Twirling alive, a skill to be mastered.
BigRandallJordan
The Young Gentlemen of Houston,Tx
December 19, 2012 at 12:52 pm
what year was this?
December 20, 2012 at 8:44 pm
I am in possession of over 30 hours of twirlin’ footage. It kills me to hear what some people pass as “original” when I have video documentation of the pre-existence of the moves.
I teach workshops where I explain that creating “new” tricks is as easy as creating a “rule”. Since then, I’ve had a computer generate lists of tricks within set styles. Even though few of the individual tricks will be rare, having an exhaustive (and reviewed) list based on specific rules may be “new”.
Moreover, I think you may be overlooking moves like “one-handed body wrap under head balance” or “body . . . OK . . . well, just about all the multi-cane stuff that has been created in the past 5 years. I’ll release footage of that in a year or two, but there are entire sub-styles that have been fleshed out.
The problem is the severe lack of access to video footage. I am working to change that by creating a collaboration video that will serve, in part, as a VIDEO encyclopedia of tricks. Those tricks that people hide? That footage that is secret? The concepts are coming out in co-cane sooner or later.
Note: As far as originality in twirlin’ goes, I give a ton of credit to the guys that learned in isolation. Guys like Duane Riley (who has his own base twirl) are “original” and “different” because they were never taught “the right way”.
Another way to create something “new” is to simply imitate other art forms. That wrist wrap that Stephen Storey does IS hype . . . however, it is very similar to what is called an “Invert” in the skateboarding community. If I bust out the 5 – 10 “handplants” and “Inverts” that I know from my skateboarding days, can I get the same credit for inventing a “style”?
Honest question.
Other questions . . .
Is it imitation? Is it original?
Is our view that limited?
If you hear the tone of frustration . . . it’s there for the same reason you cite; People be thinking new stuff is “new” when it isn’t. Making a trick popular and creating it BEFORE anyone else are two completely different things.
June 13, 2013 at 3:41 am
Of course, I will benefit from the same concept in the future;
Rethinking what I wrote, I feel a bit hypocritical.
It is “enough” to think that one created a trick before others,
and even better if you introduce that trick to the World first.
Since cane freestyle / twirlin’ is still “new” we’re all focused on territory.
In the cane freestyle World, I get to own head balancing, body wraps,
juggling multiple canes, extended head spins, unicycling, and whatever
else I can “conquer” as “my ground”.
However, it’s not enough to simply create it. (From the 22 Immutable
Laws of Marketing) it’s also important to be known “first”. It’s possible
for someone else to say, get a national TV show and seem like they
created the fundamental idea behind “cane freestyle”. It’s possible
for someone else to reach the “market” first simply by being late but
LOUDER.
And so it is with twirlin’ . . .
It’s not enough to invent the trick at all. It’s not enough to be known
by 100 people that you created a particular trick. No, the “trick” is to
reach the World with the concept “first”.
Understanding this is why I straddle the fence on this issue. At some
point, I know that I will be claiming (or quietly taking credit) for creating
tricks and techniques that I didn’t create. I’ll get the credit . . . because
at some point, I will be very LOUD and it will seem like I’m “first”.
June 14, 2013 at 2:40 pm
James, Drew, I’ve been following you two for a while now and the one thing that you two can take credit for is your styles. Many people don’t realize that style/technique is a huge part of twirling. Has been since twirling first started. Drew, notice I said since twirling first started and not spinning. Lol Anyway, you can take what ever trick you want but if you’re really good, you will infuse your style into it. James, Drew I’ve seen you two compete and all of your videos, I can recognize your style of twirling even if I were looking at your silhouette. I’ve followed your online debates as well. Drew you tend to go far outside the box with your tricks and James does tricks that most will never grasp. I was in STL at national founders day and brother asked to see my Kane and I recognized his style berton a youtube video. The way he held his open hand while twirling with his other. He goes by Shokane. I think style is the thing we can event but the flip side of all this is… if you can recognize a style or technique… you can copy it. Then take credit for it. LOL hope to see you two in Houston. It will be an honor to have finally met you two.
June 18, 2013 at 2:28 pm
Excuse the typos. Damn android phone.
June 18, 2013 at 2:31 pm