Twirling is a form of

object manipulation Object manipulation is a form of dexterity play or performance in which one or more people physically interact with one or more objects. Many object manipulation skills are recognised circus skills. Other object manipulation skills are linked to ...

where an object is twirled by one or two hands, the fingers or by other parts of the body. Twirling practice manipulates the object in circular or near circular patterns. It can also be done indirectly by the use of another object or objects as in the case of devil stick manipulation where handsticks are used. Twirling is performed as a hobby, sport, exercise or performance.

Types

Twirling includes a wide variety of practices that use different equipment or props. All props are 'stick' or simulated stick shape and are rotated during the activity. The types of twirling are arranged alphabetically.

Baton twirling

Baton twirling has expanded beyond parades and is now more comparable to rhythmic gymnastics (see below). The sport is popular in many countries including the United States, Japan, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Canada. Many countries compete each year at the World Baton Twirling Championships. Routines for competitive sport baton twirling are designed for athletes of novice through elite stages of development, experience and ability. Individual competitive events utilize one-baton, two-baton, or three-baton to standardized music while group competitive events are performed with members twirling together with precision and unison. Also there are pair and group events which include Freestyle Pairs and Freestyle Team at the highest level. Groups utilize their own pre-recorded music.

Pen spinning

Pen spinning — using one's fingers to manipulate an ordinary inexpensive writing-pen — can be performed anywhere. Sometimes classified as a form of

contact juggling Contact manipulation is a form of object manipulation that focuses on the movement of objects such as balls in contact with the body. Although often used in conjunction with "toss juggling", it differs in that it involves the rolling of one or ...

, pen spinning may also include tossing and catching of the pen. Called ''"rōnin mawashi"'' in Japan, where it is popular among the per-collegiate community, pen twirling has its stars, as does any other performance or skill. Accomplished masters of the art form that are well known — at least among those who follow the sport — have developed a reputation for creation of certain signature 'moves'. David Weis is credited with creating numerous 'back' style moves, such as the ''"BackAround"''. Hideaki Kondoh is generally credited with giving the pen trick ''"Sonic"'' its name, because of the way the pen would blur in his fingers. Penspinning only recently saw a rapid increase in recognition due to the emergence of internet media websites such as YouTube. From 2006 onwards, the art of Penspinning has developed subcultures in many countries of the world including the Asiatic-regions and Europe (France, Germany and Poland).

Poi

Poi is a form of

juggling Juggling is a physical skill, performed by a juggler, involving the manipulation of objects for recreation, entertainment, art or sport. The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling. Juggling can be the manipulation of one object o ...

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

or performance art, accomplished using balls, or various other weights, on ropes or chains — held in each hand, and swung in various circular patterns, similar to club-twirling. It was originally practiced by the

Māori people Māori () are the Indigenous peoples of Oceania, indigenous Polynesians, Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand. Māori originated with settlers from East Polynesia, who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of Māori migration canoes, c ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

(the word ''poi'' means "ball").

Rhythmic gymnastics

Combining elements of ballet,

gymnastics Gymnastics is a group of sport that includes physical exercises requiring Balance (ability), balance, Strength training, strength, Flexibility (anatomy), flexibility, agility, Motor coordination, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movem ...

, theatrical dance, and apparatus manipulation, Rhythmic Gymnastics, once largely considered a sport for women and girls, is growing in popularity among men as well. The Japanese's version of Men's rhythmic gymnastics includes tumbling and is performed on a spring floor. Men compete in four types of apparatus: rope, stick, double rings and clubs. Groups do not use any apparatus. Japan hosted the first men's world championships in 2003. Rhythmic gymnastics as a sport began in the 1940s in the former Soviet Union. It was there that for the first time, the spirit of sports was combined with the sensuous art of classical ballet. (To Isadora Duncan, we credit the famous rebellion against the dogma of classical ballet and the shift toward the creation of a new discipline that would blend art and sport.) Recognized in 1961 as 'modern gymnastics', later 'rhythmic sportive gymnastics', rhythmic gymnastics experienced its first World Championships for individual gymnasts in 1963 in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

. Today, Rhythmic gymnastics as a sport continues on, and hobbyists have adopted rhythmic gymnastics props such as the women's

Ball A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but sometimes ovoid) with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used for s ...

Clubs Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Club (magazine), ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands a ...

, Hoop,

Ribbon A ribbon or riband is a thin band of material, typically cloth but also plastic or sometimes metal, used primarily as decorative binding and tying. Cloth ribbons are made of natural materials such as silk, cotton, and jute and of synthetic mate ...

, and

Rope A rope is a group of yarns, Plying, plies, fibres, or strands that are plying, twisted or braided together into a larger and stronger form. Ropes have high tensile strength and can be used for dragging and lifting. Rope is thicker and stronger ...

, plus the stick and rings of men's gymnastics, as exercise and recreational gear. These props have found their way into the modern '

and

dexterity play A skill toy is an object or theatrical prop used for dexterity play or an object manipulation performance. A skill toy can be any static or inanimate object with which a person dances, manipulates, spins, tosses, or simply plays. Most skill toy ...

community' where they are used to perform tricks and maneuvers for fun fitness, and flexibility.

Sticks and staves

Devil sticks

"Twirling", "sticking," and "stick juggling" are all common terms for using the twirling prop known as devil sticks, flower sticks, or various other names. A set of devil sticks is made up of one baton and two control sticks. In use the central stick, the baton, is pushed, lifted and caressed by the two control sticks causing the stick to flip, wobble, spin, and fly through various maneuvers or tricks. Juggling sticks similar to the modern variants have continuously evolved as they were passed down through the centuries. Apparently originating in Africa earlier than 3000 BCE, "devil sticks" may have followed the

Silk Road The Silk Road was a network of Asian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over , it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the ...

, from

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, and have been used in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

since the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

Morris dancing

In some forms of

Morris dancing Morris dancing is a form of English folk dance. It is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers in costume, usually wearing bell pads on their shins, their shoes or both. A band or single musi ...

, a stick is twirled in one hand during a dance. For example, in stick dances from

Brackley Brackley is a market town and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire unitary authority area of Northamptonshire, England. It is on the borders with Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, east-southeast of Banbury, north-northeast of Oxford, and ...

in the Cotswold tradition, each dancer twirls one or two sticks throughout the dance., p. 98

Staff twirling

Staff twirling is the art or sport of skillfully manipulating a staff, such as a

quarterstaff A quarterstaff (plural quarterstaffs or quarterstaves), also short staff or simply staff is a traditional European polearm, which was especially prominent in England during the Early Modern period. The term is generally accepted to refer to a s ...

, bo, or other long length of wood, metal, or plastic as recreation, sport, or as a performance. In the martial art of ''bojutsu'', a bo is used as a weapon, increasing the force delivered in a strike, through leverage. Bojitsu ''kata''—detailed patterns of movements practiced to perfect one's form—are also used in many traditional Japanese arts, such as

kabuki is a classical form of Theatre of Japan, Japanese theatre, mixing dramatic performance with Japanese traditional dance, traditional dance. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily stylised performances, its glamorous, highly decorated costumes ...

. Some of these kata, are very flowing and pleasant to experience, both as the one executing the movement, and as a spectator. Staff twirling has enjoyed recent growth in the

and

fire dancing Fire performance is a group of performance arts or skills that involve the manipulation of fire. Fire performance typically involves equipment or other objects made with one or more wicks which are designed to sustain a large enough fla ...

communities, in part due to the influence of martial arts, and in part due to increasing popularity of adult play as recreation.

Mathematical significance

The figure-eight twirl can be used as a demonstration that a double rotation is a loop in rotation space that can be shrunk to a point.

References

{{Object manipulation Physical activity and dexterity toys Play (activity) Syllabus-free dance Circus skills