What is a Contact Staff?

Momo Bonobo

fire performer holding two fire staffs

Contact staff is one of the most widely used props in the flow arts community. In addition to being spun like regular staffs, these kinds of staffs can also be rolled or balanced on the body. “Contact” refers to any techniques or tricks to flowing with a staff without using your hand to hold onto it.

The history of contact staff is a bit murky. Some people believe that it originated in China with the fei-cha, where it was used as a martial arts weapon. In this way, contact staff and dragon staff have a shared history (see What is a Dragon Staff). Other communities it pulled inspiration from were bo staff spinners and baton twirlers. Whatever its origins, contact staff became popular in the flow arts community around the 1990s. It also became popular as a fire prop, and it is now one of the most popular fire props in the world.

Contact staffs consist of a rod with weights attached to the ends. This weight distribution makes the staff’s center point feel heavier, increasing control during contact moves. While many materials can be used, aluminum (6061, 7075) and carbon fiber are most common. Unlike most regular staffs, contact staffs require perfectly straight tubes for smooth rolling. This is why strong grades of aluminum and carbon fiber are ideal, as they are readily available in straight forms and are highly resistant (aluminum) or virtually impossible (carbon fiber) to bend. Weighting is typically achieved through a combination of tube plugs (wood/metal), kevlar wicking, LEDs, or other attachments like rubber balls.

Standard Fire Contact Staff

There are many different styles of contact staff flow ranging from technical flow (tech spinning) or a more fluid dance style. Some people focus on contact-only flow, while others focus on blending traditional staff spinning with contact flow in order to allow for a wider range of movements. There are many different techniques that can be done with contact staff, such as rolls, wraps, and pinches. Additionally, most moves that can be done with a dragon staff can be done on a contact staff, although more difficult.

Rolls refer to different methods of the staff rolling from one part of the body to another (such as the entrance and exit of a Steve). Wraps are when the staff gets wrapped around a body part and makes a full rotation, such as when being held in the hand, wrapped around the wrist, to go back to being held in the hand (which is called a wrist wrap). A pinch, sometimes called traps, is when the staff is held between two body parts. An example is pinching the staff between both wrists before doing a weave (called a contact weave). Many tricks are a combination of 2 or 3 of those techniques.

Key Points

  • Similar to dragon staffs, it’s believed to have originated in China with the fei-cha and is also inspired by bo staff spinning and baton twirling.
  • Contact staff became widely popular in the flow arts community in the 1990s.
  • The basic mechanics are a rod with weights attached to the end.
  • Straight tubes are extremely important for this prop to flow correctly.
  • Modern contact staffs are generally made of strong grades of aluminum or carbon fiber.
  • Some major styles of contact staff flow are tech-spinning and dance style.
  • Common techniques include rolls, wraps, and pinches.

Hopefully this gave you some insight into what a contact staff is. If you don’t have one already, check out what we have in stock here!