Hello everyone, and welcome back.  Please excuse the amount of pictures in this hub, I find them necessary to illustrate the techniques.  I’m going to start off talking about glove set up.  This is important because your glove setup can determine which techniques you can or cannot modify.  Many people think it is a good idea to keep similar colors on your fingers, and a different color on your thumb, for impact moves.

Impact move – You must have a different color on your thumb that stands out.  Impact moves are usually used when the music ‘drops’ (after the music builds up, at the very beginning of the high energy portion of the song).  There are really 2 ways to perform an impact move.

1-      Hide your thumb, and at the drop move your thumb close to the showee’s eyes, so the new color is suddenly visible.

2-      Tuck all of your fingers into your palm, hiding all of your lights EXCEPT your thumb (I like to keep my index finger showing).  At the drop, show the rest of your fingers.

I prefer to have 2 colors that stand out on my thumb and index fingers, and I use my middle, ring and pinkie fingers for the impact move.  I perform moves with my thumb and index finger, and upon impact let the rest show.

To put the lights in the gloves simply take the lights, and place them above your fingers (with the switch facing away).  Some people put the lights on the bottom, I used to - but I think above the finger allows for more flexibility.

I introduced you to the finger roll in the last tutorial, but didn't show any graphics or specifics. Below you will find a graphic illustration of the finger roll. You can also rotate your hands and move your wrists while performing the finger roll to create different effects.

Your should be able to perform this forward and backwards, along with both ways.

Trick:

1= Lay your hand out flat in front of you with your palms up and your pinkies touching.

2= Lift up your index finger on one hand like you are making a fist

3= When your index finger has gotten half way to your palm, begin lifting up your middle finger

4= Repeat with your ring finger, pinkie, then pinkie to first finger on your other hand

5= Once you have two fists (excluding the thumb), reverse the effect. MAKE SURE YOU DON'T DO THIS TOO QUICKLY. Many people just unfold their fingers all at once. This ruins the effect.

Many people do the figure 8 by tracing an 8 with one hand, and following with the other.  They do not move their elbows, or wrists.  This makes the figure 8 look offset and not very smooth.  I'm giving this technique as the second technique because being able to finger roll helps greatly with the figure 8.  The figure 8 technique that involves bending your elbows and rotating your wrists will also help you modify the finger roll technique by rotating your wrists.

It helps some people to interlock their thumbs when first learning this technique.  This helps you keep your hands connected.  REMEMBER:  MOVE YOUR ELBOWS!  If you don't move your elbows you will not be able to perform the figure 8.

1= Start with both hands in front of you, palms facing forwards, fingertips facing up.  Your fingers are now creating the top arc of the figure 8.

2= Rotate your right hand down to the x portion of the figure 8, following with your left hand.

3= Rotate your right hand a bit, to make the left side of the lower loop of the 8.  Your left hand should now be where your right hand just was.  In order to bend your left hand to that angle you will need to lift your elbow.

4= Rotate your right hand to the bottom of the 8, and follow with your left.

5= Rotate your right hand to make the other side of the x in the figure 8.  Your right elbow will have to lift to get the right angle.  Follow your right hand with your left.

6= Rotate your hands into the original position

The slam is when you have both of your hands flat, one right in front of you, one above the other hand. You slam the top hand into the bottom hand, and stop it in place, while moving the bottom hand. This creates the effect that your stationary lights never moved, and the top lights passed right through the middle lights.

To make sure your stacking doesn't look slow try to alternate palm directions.  If your hand is leaving the 'stack' (downwards) face down, rotate your wrist toward you (straight back) and bring your hand back over with your palm up.  If your hand is leaving the 'stack' face up, rotate your wrist wide (to one side) and hit the stack with your palm facing down.

The split is when you split your lights (hands) in opposite directions, and bring them back together.

1= Bunch your fingers, and put your hands together, fingertip to fingertip.

2= Split your hands in opposite directions

3= Bring your hands together and split your fingers up

4= Return to position 1

I call this technique the warp, because I don't know the actual name for it. This technique involves parts of the finger roll and the figure 8. You basically rotate your wrists and use a finger roll at the same time to create a warping effect.  Hooking your thumbs can also help you to learn this move.

1= Put your hands like you're at the top of a figure 8, except split your fingers up to each side (so your fingers are to the left and right, not the middle).

2= As you roll your hand, tuck your fingers in, until all your lights come to a point.

3= Reverse back to the top of the figure 8, and roll your fingers the other way.

This technique involved tracing the outline of something. This technique can be performed in a number of ways. Try tracing your arms, head, torso, or even the body parts of the showee. There is no set way to perform this trick.  Remember to keep your lights facing forward!

The solid roll is a very cool technique.  Basically you put one hand in front of the other right in front of you, and you circle your hands around each other directly in front of you.

Now that you know some specific techniques you can begin practicing. Here are some suggestions for practicing.

- Practice In Front of a Mirror (it will let you see how your moves look) or record yourself using a camera

- If you're in a downtime at work, practice a finger roll (or some other trick that won't make your customers/coworkers look at you like your crazy)

- Practice flowing different moves together. The ability to smoothly transition between tricks defines whether or not your light show in general is smooth. This is an EXTREMELY important skill.

- Practice on your girlfriend/friends and ask for feedback. This will help you fine tune your light shows, figure out what you are doing well (or terribly), and come up with your own techniques

- Try to learn some digits dancing. Digits is finger dancing, and it will help improve your light shows incredibly, by increasing your finger dexterity.

Stay tuned for part 4 - Coming Soon!