Kip-ups (no hands)
The Kip-up is an acrobatic move where from a tumbling roll the body is energetically flipped forward to a standing position.


In the above example, the kip-up is preceded by a wrapping neck swap, and no hands are used in the kip-up itself.

The prerequisite for this movement is a confident forwards tumble, and..erm... strong ..ah.. glutes.

First start this movement in a tumbling position. Your body must provide two forces: a subtle forward momentum and a fierce flipping movement (torque).

The tumble provides the small forwards momentum and coils your body for the flipping action. The three leftmost figures above demonstrate a tumbling movement. A standing position melts downward as the body bends at the hips. before you tumble onto your shoulders, be very mindful to both tuck your staves somewhere out of the way and to also tuck that head in!

Warning: a soft forwards momentum is all that is needed for tumbling. A fierce Japanese martial-arts styled forward tumble roll may result in a badly injured lower back. I can attest that recovering from such an injury requires very painful and akward stretches! Also, tucking your head too late will cause significant contact with the ground. This is totally bad, as in Justin Timberlake bad. Never support your bodyweight on your neck! remember... Justin Timberlake! that is why you can never really tuck your head too early!

The flipping action of the Kip-up is provided by a fierce whipping action described by the two middle figures in the above illustration. The centre-left figure is the point in the tumble where the kip-up begins, when the weight of the body is balanced upon the shoulders. Co-ordination is the key: your booty muscles (tee hee hee!) need to strongly whip your legs forwards at the same time as the torso is jerked from the hunched posture of the middle left figure to arched belly posture of the middle right figure. Only by performing both motions at the same time will you provide enough force to propel the whole body.

Momentarily airborne, your body should land naturally on your feet if the kip-up was executed with enough force.

Kip Up Hints
If you are encountering difficulty in generating enough force for the flipping action of the kip-up, it helps to train with no sticks, utilising one or both hands planted on the ground beside the head to provide some of the force needed in the position depicted by the middle left figure above.

If tumbling for the first time, please practice on a soft surface, such as sand or soft mats, as a hard surface will hurt your back when you are learning correct posture.

Kip Up Variations
A sweet variation is to tumble for several rolls before finishing with a kip-up. Finishing cleanly provides a very Tasmanian Devil effect!

Yes, the normal 'hands on' and one handed kip ups are quite valid variations of this move, but keep in mind that when firetwirling, you must always be in control of the firetoy!

The staves need not necessarily always be tucked inside the torque axis of the kip-up. Since the arms are not used in a no-hard kip up, they can be flailed about in any position you are comfortable with, eg outsteched sideways (though it is harder to keep the firesticks in the centre as gracefully) or even through the legs as a behind-the-legs butterfly - executed from the position depicted by the second from the left figure above.