A Sinawali Exercise.

[arnisador]

We did an interesting variation on some basic sinawalis a few nights back. I think it was drawn from Doce Pares so it may be familiar to some of you already. But it was new to me!

Three people stand in a line: Players A, B, and C. Players A and B face one another and do Heaven Six or Heaven-and-Earth or a similar sinawali. Player B may only pivot on his or her spot. Player C does whatever twirling of the sticks he or she likes, but moves in a circle centered on Player B, with variable speed and direction. Player A--the person who is truly being trained in this exercise--must continually adjust his or her position in order to insure that the three players remain in a line, while continuing to do the sinawali.

At first I thought this was going to be quite boring, and indeed I was Player C the first time and I was bored. (Someone will surely admonish me for saying this, but what can I say...it was boring to just twirl the sticks and move around on the circle's edge.) But as Player A, it adds something beyond the usual practice of doing the sinawali while you and your partner both move about. It brought in a feeling of having to deal with multiple opponents, and one must keep track of both Player B's sticks and Player C's position at the same time. The two players will likely have different rhythms, and of course each has two sticks flailing about that can draw Player A's attention. (Player C should never get near to Player A, though, if Player A is doing the drill properly.) I did not find it difficult, but I did find it a surprisingly good drill. I could see it being a fun one for kids, but I think it has value beyond that!

[sames]

Nice. I hadn't pondered variations involving more than 2 people... now the mind whirls... *evil laugh*

[arnisador]

I had seen people going back-and-forth between two partners before--basically, do a round of the sinawali, turn ninety degrees, do it against another partner, turn back, repeat. But I hadn't seen something like this before!

P.S. I split this off into its own thread. -Arnisador, FMATalk Admin

[arnisador]

We did another interesting sinawali last night. Both players chamber on their right sides, making sure that the left-hand stick is deeply chambered and parallel to the floor. Both step forward with their right foot and strike their right punyos (high), pulling through. They then do what looks a lot like a right-handed Karate downward block, striking their forearms to simulate a low punyo strike. If you do this you'll notice that the other person's still-chambered left stick is sticking out behind him or her invitingly. Do a right hirada (redondo) strike to the end of the other person's stick. Then step back with your right foot while doing a high right back-handed strike, pulling through. You're essentially back to the initial position, so now, simultaneously, do a low right forehand and a high left backhand strike. Pull through on both these strikes to end up chambered on the left side. Then, repeat, exchanging left and right in the above.

It was the first time we have done that and I may not have it exactly right--in particular, on the double strike I may have what's low and what's high mixed up--but it's the right general idea. Having to go back and forth rapidly between punyo-range techniques and regular (for lack of a better word) strikes, and mixing together punyo strikes, regular strikes, and hiradas, made for an interesting exercise. The range keeps changing and that's what makes it interesting, but the striking style is changing too. Watch out for accidents when doing the hirada! You're striking fairly close to your partner's body.