Freestyle nunchaku refers to the use of the nunchaku weapon (used in martial arts and popularised by Bruce Lee and other martial artists) in a more visually stunning, rather than combative way. Nunchaku-do competitions are now held where marks are awarded based upon visual display rather than predefined kata.
There is a community of freestyle practitioners from around the world who, through collective experimentation and exploration, have compiled a comprehensive breakdown of freestyle and its parts.
Competitions
Freestyle is one of the disciplines of Nununchaku-Do (a sport based upon nunchaku combat freestyle and kata organized by the Nunchaku International Academy, North American Nunchaku Association, and the World Nunchaku Association) freestyle routines are judged on the following criteria.
- Pace and rhythm
- Consistency of speed
- Variation in techniques
- Control and movement
- Showmanship and entertainment
- The use of double nunchaku
- One risk element with one nunchaku
- One risk element with two nunchaku
- Uniqueness and creativeness in composition
- Visual aestheticity of the entire presentation
- Application of the entire competition field
- Budo spirit
- Dropping the nunchaku
- Time span of the freestyle
Underground tournaments and battles
The general interest in freestyle nunchaku has, concurrently with the increasing possibilities of sharing skills and techniques that online video sharing communities such provide, expanded to the point where a freestyle nunchaku movement autonomous from the World Nunchaku Organization has formed.
The Freestyle Nunchaku Forum holds tournaments that all members can participate in. These tournaments are held by participants submitting videos that adhere certain rules (which are relaxed, such as length of video and whether other weapons freestyle can be used). When all of the videos are in, members of the forum can vote on who they think is better. One tournament has categories based on skill level, while another is more traditional, where members are grouped and voters decide who is the better of the two in the groups. The annual "Chuck Off" also has varied categories such as: Singles, Doubles, Fire and Glow, and Director.
The forum also hosts what are called Ladder Battles. Here participants are ranked by number. Those wanting to move up the ranks can challenge any of the three people above them to a "battle". The two people involved submit videos of their freestyle that adhere to certain rules that are agreed upon. Then, forum members have a certain length of time to vote on who they think is the best.
References
- "- freestyle competitions Archived 2005-02-09 at the Wayback Machine" World Nunchaku association, Nov 2006
- "- Freestyle Rulebook 2003" world nunchaku association, 1 May 2003
External links
- freestyleforum.net Archived 2006-11-03 at the Wayback Machine - International freestyle nunchaku forum
- nunchakututorials.com - A complete free site with all the freestyle tricks and moves