The Windmill
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Another great move, and one that's really useful for joining between the chase and the one-hand corkscrew. It will feel a little strange to start with because, as you can see, both chains are twirled in front of you and in the same directions. The idea is to alternate the chains from front to back, but whilst twirling split time - watch carefully the hand movements above. In theory, it's just a figure-of-8 performed from front to back (instead of side to side) but appears much different whilst retaining that great rhythm of the figure-8 and the chase.
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How to Make the Moves...
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The Windmill
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Starting position:
Twirling in front, in mixed directions and in time (although you change pretty damn quick to split time).
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There are 4 key positions for performing the windmill. These are shown below. Remember that it's basically a figure-of-8 turned sideways - you'll know when you've got it as it feels very 'fluid', especially when compared to the alternate butterfly (which can be visually a little similar).
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Diagram 1.
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Begin by twirling the chains in the starting position, as shown above. Now, what you're going to do is move from twirling in time to twirling split time, but you'll quickly notice that if you hold this position for too long the chains will tangle. So, you'll have half a turn difference between your chains. From the position shown at left, the right-hand chain will spin away from you, down and in front. The left-hand chain will spin away from you, up and in front.
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Diagram 2.
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With the left-hand chain at the top of it's circle, be ready to move it down and behind your back with a cross-over. The right-hand chain will continue it's circle up in front of you.
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Diagram 3.
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Your left hand folds back on itself as the left-hand chain spins down and performs a circle behind your back. The right-hand chain reaches the top of it's circle in front of you, so you're going to have to be ready to move the it behind, down and away from you with a cross-over too. Each chain turns behind you for one circle only, before returning to the front.
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Diagram 4.
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The left-hand chain reaches the top of it's rear circle, so be ready to bring it over your shoulder to twirl a circle in front of you. The right hand folds back on itself as the right-hand chain spins away and down, and performs a circle behind your back.
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Diagram 5.
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The left-hand chain spins down in front of you, and the right-hand chain spins up behind you, about to make a circle in front of you. You are now back at your starting point - to continue, go back to diagram 2.
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Variations:
Different Directions
In a similar manner to the way the chase can be performed with the chains going either forwards or backwards, the windmill can be performed with the chains twirled in two directions - to the left or to the right.
Circular windmill
This works along the same lines as the circular chase, allowing you to turn in circles by changing the direction that you are twirling the windmill.
One of the easiest ways to pick up turning with the windmill is by simply twirling at your sides and then moving into a basic turn, as if you were changing from twirling your chains forwards to backwards. If only one hand changes direction, you'll find yourself in a position to start the windmill. By using this ability to move in and out of the windmill with simple in-time turns, you'll find that you can quickly learn the circular windmill.
Extra Turns Using Different Beats
As with the chase and the corkscrew, the windmill can be performed in several different beats. This is pretty tricky to describe, but the basics are that you can perform
- a 1:1 beat, where each hand performs one circle in front and one behind;
- a 2:1 beat, where one hand performs two circles in front and the other one only, which is then reversed as the hands move behind your back;
- a 2:2 beat, where your arms twist around themselves to allow the chains to perform two circles each in front of you and then untwist behind your back by performing another two circles each.
Giant Windmill
As with the butterfly, you can straighten your arms out and twirl a couple of giant circles when your arms are in front of you.
Corkscrew-based Windmill
By leaning forward, you can twirl big, slow circles parallel to the ground, as if you were doing the corkscrew. This is a slightly different (and some find easier) way to start the windmill, as the windmill is simply a vertical form of the corkscrew.
Windmill to One-Hand Corkscrew
The windmill provides a nice way to move smoothly into the one-hand corkscrew.
To move into a left handed one-hand corkscrew, you'll need both chains twirling clockwise - as shown above (from twirlers point of view).
To move into a right handed one-hand corkscrew, you'll need to twirl both chains anti-clockwise.
In-time Windmill
Try practising an in time windmill and then varying between split time and in time.
Fountain
This is a chase/windmill/chase/windmill combination which looks amazing.
The Windmill
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