Origins of Devilstick

The origins of Devilsticks

Hey everyone, so the discussion about the origins of our beloved prop pooped up once again on facebook which motivated me to write down my thoughts on this topic

As far as i know this is the first bulletproof proof for the existence of Devilstick and it´s from 1820.

The Samme Brothers claimed to be Indians but at that time performers usually claimed to be from some exotic countrys and learned their skills from there because exotic acts could be sold very well

It´s safe to assume that devilsticks has been around for a long time before. If it has been invented and cultivated in Asia we can assume that it travelled from there to europe around 1700 when travel and trading between Europe and Asia became more common.

Two other options are that they´ve been invented by the Maya or in ancient Greek.

The Greek theorie would fit with the rumours about the name coming from greek Dia-bolos, and Mayas been pretty bad ass  so why not.

While we can´t track down the origins i believe that there are questions people forget to ask.

How and in which context could Devilstick have been invented ?

If we look at early humans history i´d say the first two tools we found were stones and sticks.

Well basicly thats all they got in the stone age, and what better way to research and learn to manipulate tools then playing with them. Even if we look at modern kids with access to television and all, i bet it´s pretty save to say that every child has at one point in his life played with a stick.

And damn… there are many ways to play with a stick… fighting (hitting two sticks together), balancing, hitting a ball with a stick (baseball, tennis, snooker), passing a stick between one and another with hands and feet (or two small other sticks held in the hands), twirling motions, juggling 3 sticks clubstyle…

i believe all of this techniques are pretty instinctiv and if we combine them with the pendulum motion that can be observed a lot in our nature… we get the basic tictoc/idle

Another things that makes me believe in early flowersticks is that a flowerstick could be build pretty easy and there could been a strong motivation to do it.

1. sticks hurt, a stick wrapped in leather or fur doesnt
2. sticks are hard to manipulate, flowersticks arent
3. sticks look lame, a decorated stick doesnt

If we look at the origins in this way i believe that people just had to find the prop and techniques to play with it and the same way two jugglers can invented the same trick without knowing each other; it´s possible that ancient stick play has more than one origin (has been invented at several places and several times) or that the combination of different styles of stick play led to this toy.

The next question i rarely heard asked is… why china ?

because it´s said everywhere but so far i have found zero proof

here are some reasons why i believe it was not invented in china

• The first juggling pics were found in Egypt.
• There´s not even a proof i am aware of that the Diabolo was invented there, only the oldest proof is from China which doesnt mean it could´ve been invented somewhere else and then was cultivated there
• Im not aware of Devilsticks as part of traditional chinese circus (which is super traditional with acts being past over and over for centuries.
• There are very few DS Players in China.
• I was there for an two week exchange as a teenager… nobody i meet had seen DS  before.

so my last question for now.

if it was invented so early, why is there this huge gap where we know nothing about ? why is it so hard to find evidence.

My theory is that it has been a “childrens game” most of the time and well, there´s no need to write a book about some kids playing with sticks in the dirt and it´s not the nicest thing to paint either. Also i believe there was a time when other tois  (better produced, easyer to play, more fun, better to play in large groups etc) just displaced flowerstick until it was found by performers/circus people and was reinvented with large knowledge about object manipulation and a motivation to do crazy stick tricks that was not only playing games but amazing people and making money out of it

i guess that was about most of my thinking on this...

feel free to discuss, comment, come up with even crazyer ideas...

One Playlist to rule them all...

Well it´s quite obvious that despite my will to write awesome articles i mainly use my blog to post any Devilstick Video that i consider to be awesome in one or the other way.

I decided to put all of them in one playlist (and i added some more that i had in an older playlist or liked over the years.

so here it is 71 videos (at the moment) and over 4 hours playtime...

have fun and a happy new year

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHmPixc2mNAtwbCahr2l8QQ1fDrc-jREC

Devil's Triangle and other devil stick tricks

 i was looking for another oldschool circus act but instead remembered of this gem

A had a chance to play a similar build few times and it was super hard, super weird, a lot of fun and lots and lots of possibilitys. I´m pretty sure there are more interesing shapes out there but i´m to lazy to make them so if anybodys in the mood i´d love to see:  S-shape, + as well as + shaped handsticks, circles, squares, a pentagram and 4 small (halfdevilsticks) combined in a center so that all non center endings are as far away from each other as possible

More Robot Sticking

I was pretty excited yesterday when i found out there´s are Devilstick Robots out there so i was writting an email to the puplishers of the "real time learning with locally weighted statistical learning" and got an answer from Stefan Schaal with a link featuring videos of the robot learning to hold a balance on his eight try and mastering the idle in about 50 trys.

here is the link

http://www-clmc.usc.edu/Resources/ResourcesMoviesRobotLearningOfMotorControl


as you can see, it´s totally awesome... thank you Mr Schaal

Devilsticks in Science

Well jugglers been researching Devilsticks for quite some time but it
turns out that there are actually scientists researching Devilsticks
too.

i guess you´ve seen some of the juggling robots
that have been developed and it looks like someone in Tokio is working
on Devilsticks too. It seems to be a pretty early stage and the motion
shown in the videos is far away from an robot doing a real Devilstick
Propeller but still im excited


http://www.sc.ctrl.titech.ac.jp/SCHP/research/index.php?lang=e&page=DevilStick


then theres this paper called: "real time learning with locally weighted statistical learning" featuring a robot who, if i understand everything right" was able to learn a idle/tictoc and maintain it for several hundred tics.

http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/svijayak/publications/schaal-ICRA2000.pdf

here is a longer article which features a picture of the Robot

http://wwwiaim.ira.uka.de/users/rogalla/WebOrdnerMaterial/JugleLearning.pdf


the other thing i found is a puplication called "Feedback control of enduring rotary motion of devil stick" it´s super sciency and focussing on the propeller instead of the idle/tictoc

you can find and read the whole thing here

http://www.researchgate.net/publicatio/4057544_Feedback_control_of_enduring_rotary_motion_of_devil_stick


researching a bit more i remembered two videos featuring science and devilsticks

first we have a Devilstick Drop Test, which basicly tells you when you´ve
dropped which i believe to be pretty useless but hey... science

then we have a professor doing an awesome job using a flowerstick to explain the center of gravity to his students

 

How to practise Devilsticks

This article was one of the things i had in mind when i started this blog, i started it several times and then stopped because it didn't feel right to tell people what to do.

Now today Selina messaged me and told me that im lazy and that i maybe should write some more instead of posting Videos all the time. So lets get it started.

Disclaimer: All these Tips are mainly based on my personal experience.. I can't grand they will work for you but i believe they will. I suggest to try them out but don't try to force something that feels wrong because someone (me) told you.

Warming Up:

Unless you just woke up half an hour ago, ( in which case i suggest a two cup of coffee warm up routine)  or have serious muscle soreness (in which case i suggest light stretching mainly of wrists, forearms, back, shoulders and neck) i don't recommend any warm up routine.

Just pick up the sticks and start playing any trick that feels comfortable for 5 to 10 Minutes.

Try to walk around and use tricks that involve steady but slow movements while doing that.

Structure:

Especially when it comes to Toss Juggling there are people who use really strict structured practise schedule. There are points that speak for that especially when you want to improve few but difficult patterns and tricks. A well planned schedule will force you to do a lot of preparatory work, practising all single aspects of a trick on their own before putting them together und than slowly progress from that.

Also it can work well in forcing yourself to practise tricks you don't like to practise. But strictly structured programs never worked for me because i never had enough fun to enjoy my practise with them

So this is a Schedule i was using for quite some time and i made huge progress with (which means my 2 Devilstick and my 5 ball basics have been achieved with that schedule)

Song 1: 2 Devilstick Tricks

Song 2: Ball Juggling

Song 3: 1 Devilstick Tricks

repeat at least for one whole album

I made a lot of progress with that. One reason for that probably is that i forced myself to spend 20 min nearly everyday on my 3 main projects. If you want some science you need to check out this article on musical training that was recently discussed in severall juggling groups

www.bulletproofmusician.com/why-the-progress-in-the-practice-room-seems-to-disappear-overnight/

Lately i moved a way from that system to a more free practise, the reason for that is propably that i started to practise rings and clubs as well as some multiprop stuff to.

Now i start with spreading all my juggling props wide around me (i feel like i work more creative in a chaotic environment, i once had some science to back that up but i cant find it anymore)

Then i pick up whatever i like and start practising anything i like.

The only “rules” i follow are

- never practise a single trick or a group of related trick for more than 5 minutes at once

- try to practise as much tricks as possible every practise session

- if a trick feels bad one day, try it a few times if its not going to go better, try again next week

- practise tricks that have a high priority for you at least twice each session. separate these sessions by at least 5 minutes of doing a completely different trick or even prop.

- have fun, if you aren't having fun you're not training efficiently.

- use more time one tricks you can do solidly than on tricks you can't do yet

Intensity:

There is one thing people often forget when they talk about training.

Obviously it is important how much time you spend training and we all know the more time you spend training the better you get.

But training does not equal training. If one is not focussed, thinking about other things, making breaks every other minute his training won't be as effective as the training of someone who is training like a mad man, running after every drop to recover as fast as possible and get another repetition out of his worthy time.

So here are some tips on how to train sticks more intensely

- always practise like someone is watching you (i know its a little bit paranoid but it psychs you up and is a good performance training too

- pick up all your drops as fast as possible with a certain amount of style (kick ups, immediately starting with a trick etc)

- listen to music

- drink coffee  (i used to have scientific proof for that too)

- start with exhausting movements/tricks immediately after the warm up, once you start melting in sweat it's easier to keep up a high energy

Drops:

All i can say about drops is: try not to.

One of my first teachers told me that everytime i dropped i was doing another repetition of the wrong movement. If you try a trick for 10 times and you fail 9 of them then there is propably a easier exercise that will allow for faster progress without fucking up the pattern.

Wrist Pain:
 
I am not sure if this is practise related but if you have any wrist problems stop for at least a week. If they are really terrible take a bandage and but it around the hurting wrist. I dont know if its the pressure or the stabilisation effect but it works for me.

If its not better after a week are starts hurting after a week go and see a doctor.

Seriously enough awesome players have stopped Sticking due to wrist problems don't be one of them.

Strenght Training:

Strength Training is a great way to prevent yourself from injuries and i felt like it was slightly improving my sticking too.

There are several possible ways to do it.

Bodyweight Training:

I never did this before i started Circus School. The big plus is its free all you need is motivation and maybe a chin up bar. Make sure to do something for abs lower back and legs to and not only push ups and chin ups then im sure youll be able to profit from it

Barbell Training/ Fitness Studios

This is what i used to do from 16-18 and i believe it was key to me never suffering serious injurys. I started with doing the machine circle my studio suggests. later i moved to free weights. In the end my Trainingsprogramm would look like that

Session A

Squat 3 (sets) x 5 (repetitions)

Bench Press 3x5

Cable Row 3x5

Session B

Deadlift 3x5

Overhead Press 5x3

If you really want to go into this Bodybuilding/Weight Lifting Stuff yust make sure to read stuff in the internet. theres way more quality articles on strength training then on devilsticking in the internet so i am sure you will find something

Acrobatics:

It works and its Circus Style i only practise it for 3 weeks now and i'm not that good, but i might write something about that later

Cool Down:

Often i don't do any cool down except for smoking a cigarette (which i'm not recommending but hey thats how it is) If a muscle group or more feels sore or tighend up i use to stretch it a few hours later.

Also Stretching is a thing you should do. If you just want to be a good stickers all you have to do is wrist, forearm, back, shoulders and neck. If you want to move around a lot and have a healthy balanced body stretch every muscle from every angle. This topic is to complex for me to give you advice here so google it up or even better find someone who knows about it (dancers, acrobats, physiotherapists, yoga instructors and other hippies) and learn from him

There are definitly more things to say about the topic but they dont spring to my mind now so this is the end of the article. I hope you enjoyed it, feel free to aks further questions or comment.

My Channel

As this is my blog i guess it makes sense to try to promote myself a tiny little bit :)

So i´ll start off with my Youtube Channel

http://www.youtube.com/user/irrelevantius

I have about 40 Videos there most of them containing Devilstick Tricks

The first Video was postet 7 years ago (and it´s terrible) but you can decide that on your own. I´ve been practising for about 5 years then and filmed and edited it with a good friend.

the videos got better after a while (and so did I). At least i stopped wearing stupid hats and grow a beard. The editing can still  be better but hey i´m a devilsticker, so í´ll try to spend more of my time practising than sitting in front of a PC

 Another thing i used to use this Channel for are the Devilstick Challenges with Nikki.
Everyweek we would film a trick and the goal for the other was to manage to do this trick the next week.
 You can find the videos here:

Devilstick Challenges

we stopped at the moment but i´ll guess we´ll pick it up again sometime

I´d like to make some tutorials, too. But my Laptop does not support Video Editing so that has to wait until i have the money for a better PC.

Oh by the way: If you want to support me the you can simply book my act (preferably in and around Berlin)
I guess the Video above want convince you so i´ll post a more recent video here (if you like i can also send you a video from the whole act, but i don´t like to see that on the internet becouse i´m trying to sell it, and no ones buying things that are in the internet for free)

Article on Devilstick "Boom" from 1996

Even High-tech Toy Industry Gives Devil Sticks Their Due

I found an article from March 1996 puplished in the Chicago Tribune about the increasing sales of devilsticks in the US.
Here are two of my favourite quotes but i recommend reading the whole article:

"Devil sticks ranked among the top 10 selling toys in speciality retail shops in late 1995, according to a survey published in the trade publication Playthings."

"In 1995, devil sticks became the No. 1 selling toy in Toys R Us of Canada and was picked up by a New York toy company called Happiness Express, which declined to release sales figures."

I hope that the "Devilstick Boom" continues, at least there´s no doubt that the amount of Devilstick-Vendors is still growing  and i feel like devilsticks become more common in the juggling community

Devilstick Homepage Collection

Here´s a collection of all Devilstick homepages i am aware of, i hope the list is incomplede because it´s not that much and if you have a site to add just drop a comment and i´ll fix that

https://www.facebook.com/groups/303957917748/

  that´s the only facebook group i know, it has about 150 members at the moment and is propably the number one place for questions and the hunt for new videos

www.devilstick.org

it´s pretty old but there are a lot of tricks described and also some other interesting content

http://www.devilstick.de/english/home.htm

is a old german site with a lot of animations and some other content

www.bravojuggling.com/en/

this is one of the most active site at the moment, they have a great interview series with a lot of "famous" stickers and a lot of interesting own content

http://www.stixguru.com/new/Tricks.htm

lot of trick tutorial videos

http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/DevilStickForum/info

is the devilstick yahoo group, i don´t know if anyone is still active there have been a lot of people posting there in the past. if you want to know something it´s likely it has been discussed there before, unfortunetly its not always easy to find

http://www.sethoscope.net/devil-stick/

seth has tried out quite a few things with alternativ devilstick builds (including a triangle), you can also read about his trys to find a notation system for devilsticks. the sides quite old but theres still interesting stuff to find there

Welcome to my Devilstick-Blog

Hello and welcome to my Devilstick Blog :)

I´m sticking around for 12 years now and i´m quite confident that i´ve read and watched almost everything there is on devilsticks on the internet.
Sadly most of the Homepages seem to be quite old and havent been updated in years and some of my favourite videos are harder to find becouse there are so many stick videos beeing uploaded each day that filtering through got way harder in the last years.

So what i´ll try to do with my blog are these two things

1. Post an awesome Devilstick Video everyday
2. Write an article on any Devilstick related topic at least once a week.
3. Collect as much content on Devilsticks at one place as i can

I hope this will be interesting for people who are new to devilsticks as well as for sticknerds like me.
If there´s anything you´d like to read about, a video you want to see on my blog or anything else just leave a comment or write me a message.

Nevermind i´m looking towards a fun time running this blog and i hope your as excited as i am