Glowsticking
Encyclopedia
Plastic
A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...
.
Glowsticking is an "umbrella term" describing two broad categories of glowsticking, with the most agreed upon separation being whether it is stringed or not stringed. More importantly, glowsticking has roots in the electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
and rave
Rave
Rave, rave dance, and rave party are parties that originated mostly from acid house parties, which featured fast-paced electronic music and light shows. At these parties people dance and socialize to dance music played by disc jockeys and occasionally live performers...
scenes, and has a cultural paradigm more in common with those scenes than those of other scenes. Some aspects include the culture of non-competitiveness, preferring sharing and performing in accordance with your observer, without any kind of negative statement implied. Because of this glowsticking competitions are frowned upon by most practitioners of glowsticking. Although glowsticking as a field can largely be practiced anywhere, the roots it has with raving has led to the adoption of most of the ideals of the rave scene. In recent days complete glow stick costumes have been created that attach to ones body, the two most popular being from Crayola and Glowstickables.
Forms of glowsticking
Both of these terms, freehand and glowstringing describe the technical skills that relates to both. It is only when the practitioner intends to danceDance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
that it becomes glowsticking. Otherwise, they may be a juggler who is simply choosing to juggle glowsticks (in the case of freehand), or a poist who is doing poi with glowsticks. That is not to say that a juggler or a poist cannot dance if they so choose with glowsticks—just that glowsticking implies dancing.
Glowstringing
Glowstringing is defined by a few factors: the use of glowsticks on a string, the swinging motion, and an equally large growing category of moves and concepts that share many of the same aspects as many other stringing related fields, such as poi, yo-yoYo-yo
The yo-yo in its simplest form is an object consisting of an axle connected to two disks, and a length of twine looped around the axle, similar to a slender spool...
ing, and martial arts
Martial arts
Martial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development....
forms common with swords
Swords
A sword is a cutting/thrusting weapon made of metal. Sword or swords may also refer to:* Swords, County Dublin, Ireland* Suit of swords, a suit in Latin-suited playing cards and Tarot decks* SWORDS, a ground-based military robot...
, flail
Flail
A flail is an agricultural implement for threshing.Several tools operate similarly to the agricultural implement and are also called flails:...
s, and rope dart
Rope dart
The rope dart or rope javelin , also known as Jōhyō in Japanese,is one of the flexible weapons in Chinese martial arts. Other weapons in this family include the meteor hammer, flying claws, and chain whip...
s, is typically done with glowstick or glowstick-like instruments tied with a durable string at the end of it. In some case, handles may be used, because of moves which favor the fact that the glowstick handle can be grabbed and switched with the swinging part. In some cases, because of the existence of handles which glow both ways, moves which "throw" can be accomplished as it can be grabbed on either side.
Freehand
Freehand glowsticking is glowsticking typically practiced without strings attached to the glowsticks. Freehand is defined by the steadily growing body of concepts and moves. Some of these concepts include tracing, taps, tossing, stalls and threading, as well as interdisciplinary dance skills borrowed from common funk style categories. Freehand glowsticking typically borrows from many other dance styles such as liquid dancingLiquid dancing
Liquid and digits is a type of gestural, interpretive, rave and urban street dance that sometimes involve aspects of pantomime. The term invokes the word liquid to describe the fluid-like motion of the dancer's body and appendages and digits to refer to illusions constructed with the dancer's...
as well as having its own unique set of moves.
Tracing is the act of dragging the glowsticks over the contours of one's body. An example of a common trace is the stomach trace, which includes dragging the glow sticks over one's stomach to create a circular pattern. Another example of a basic movement frequently used in freehand glowsticking is the figure eight—quite possibly the most well known, albeit not the most common move in the intermediate and more advanced levels.
Lightshows
In the context of this article, a lightshow is a performancePerformance
A performance, in performing arts, generally comprises an event in which a performer or group of performers behave in a particular way for another group of people, the audience. Choral music and ballet are examples. Usually the performers participate in rehearsals beforehand. Afterwards audience...
given with glowsticks to a small audience of one or several people which are physically close to the performer. Lightshow is a term that can be used loosely to refer to performances given with LED lights (light-emitting diodes), assorted light
Light
Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that is visible to the human eye, and is responsible for the sense of sight. Visible light has wavelength in a range from about 380 nanometres to about 740 nm, with a frequency range of about 405 THz to 790 THz...
toy
Toy
A toy is any object that can be used for play. Toys are associated commonly with children and pets. Playing with toys is often thought to be an enjoyable means of training the young for life in human society. Different materials are used to make toys enjoyable and cuddly to both young and old...
s, lasers, and a variety of other "light up" items.
While the term "lightshow" is not listed in the dictionary
Dictionary
A dictionary is a collection of words in one or more specific languages, often listed alphabetically, with usage information, definitions, etymologies, phonetics, pronunciations, and other information; or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a lexicon...
, it is generally accepted that it is one word and not the two separate words "light" and "show".
History and culture
Although glowsticking has roots in the 1980s underground raveRave
Rave, rave dance, and rave party are parties that originated mostly from acid house parties, which featured fast-paced electronic music and light shows. At these parties people dance and socialize to dance music played by disc jockeys and occasionally live performers...
scene, it has since become a separate cultural phenomenon that can be found throughout the general electronic dance music
Electronic dance music
Electronic dance music is electronic music produced primarily for the purposes of use within a nightclub setting, or in an environment that is centered upon dance-based entertainment...
world, and is becoming popular in the twirling
Twirling
Twirling is any of several art forms, hobbies, or sport and recreational activities accomplished by spinning or rotating the twirled object either for exercise, or in a rhythmic, or otherwise artful manner. Though the origin of twirling is impossible to ascertain, twirling enjoyed a steady growth...
and dexterity play communities.
There has been some who have claimed glowstringing is poi with glowsticks. This confusion is understandable, as the field of glowstringing is smaller and newer than the field of poi. Poi as a cultural art form is a hundreds of years old discipline coming from New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
.
Glowstringing originally came from Poists who practiced the art at rave
Rave
Rave, rave dance, and rave party are parties that originated mostly from acid house parties, which featured fast-paced electronic music and light shows. At these parties people dance and socialize to dance music played by disc jockeys and occasionally live performers...
s, where glowsticks were probably advantageous compared to non-glowing objects. Many glowstringers can probably trace their roots to poi and many will often practice more poi at times than "pure" glowstringing.
Glowsticks were preferred by many in the rave scene in a way much similar to freehand's development, and were preferred in the rave scene to emit light for a numerous reasons, including its relative cheapness, their harmlessness and durability and their disposable nature, but has largely cemented glowsticks as an icon of the rave scene, sometimes negatively, which is why there was and is still such a large prevalence of glowstick use by freehanders and glowstringers alike.
The nature of the glowstick, allowing for concepts which would otherwise be impossible with other objects, has thus significantly influenced the development of both freehand and glowstringing. In freehand, the obvious shape of the glowstick is used in numerous ways to accent, or to catch, or to even create patterns of light or to accentuate body movement. In terms of glowstringing, glowsticks have significantly impacted former pure poists in order to take advantage of the glowstick. This makes it possible for certain moves which would otherwise not make sense for poi done without glowsticks, and in many cases, these moves go directly against the poi aesthetic. For example, linked catches and glowstick manipulations borrow far more from a yo-yo
Yo-yo
The yo-yo in its simplest form is an object consisting of an axle connected to two disks, and a length of twine looped around the axle, similar to a slender spool...
string manipulation concept than poi. The idea of tracing and such would not even be pleasing without the glow of the glowstick, and wrapping would not look as good or would be as easy to do or even practical without the use of a glowstick or related instrument.
Over time, glowstringing, because of the cultural differences that resulted from many different reasons, has become its own category. In all, glowstringing belongs in the same category of swinging objects and object manipulation such as Poi, martial arts, yo-yo
Yo-yo
The yo-yo in its simplest form is an object consisting of an axle connected to two disks, and a length of twine looped around the axle, similar to a slender spool...
ing, staffing
Fire staff
A fire staff is a staff, constructed out of wood or welded metal and Kevlar wicking. They are used for fire dancing and performance.Typically speaking, one fire staff is held, in one or more hands and swung around the body, creating patterns of fire. Multiple staves are also possible....
, etc.
The glowstick dance culture community advocates the notion that anyone is able to glowstick. They hold a strong view against any type of "battling" that many people think about when associated with the rave scene. Most of the culture that practitioners put forth is geared towards people that want to just have fun and share a common hobby. Although members will openly admit that they have been apart of such acts, no real punishment is set forth other than the topic being shunned upon. Members are asked to not mention such acts, or to just leave the past behind. Much of the glowsticking community all have one goal of improving upon the invented, and finding new goals to strive for and achieve.
Criticism
Some rave promoters have banned glowsticks from events, especially those taking place in confined spaces, due to the space required to glow stick and the potential danger of striking other rave goers. In 2001, the DEADrug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States...
tried but failed to ban glowsticks and other items from dance parties, miscalling them "drug paraphernalia."