Band Shoppe's Air Blade

[pinklishis866]

i have an airblade and we use them in our guard and they're pretty difficult, a lot harder to throw then rifle but i like them more because there's more hand holds and i think they look better with how smooth they are, they flow a lot more

[Gabriells895]

do you have to tape them??

[meghanalexandra16]

I just got one of these in color guard. I think it's sooooo cool! :) I have only messed with it a little, but it doesn't seem that much different than rifle to me. Haha but I haven't really tried much yet. :P

[livelovespin09]

They are alright depending on the music and what the choreographer is trying to pull out from the music but alot of circuits dont consider them a weapon which can really hurt a score of an ensemble...i put it this way, how many world class guards do you see spinning air blades. However they are great for a high school guard if wanting just to try something new, but if something new is what is desired learn a new style or technique. Great way to grow as a performer and or coach :)

[pinklishis866]

@livelovespin09 i think they count as a weapon and we used them over the summer in our band and it kind of helped our score. theyre pretty new

[MusicFreak6893]

so i've heard those r rly easy to spin compared to rifle. R they?

[DoYouLykeTacos]

@MusicFreak6893 They're easy. I think just a tad bit harder than rifle.

[WickedChaos911]

@MusicFreak6893

I have heard that airblade is the second most difficult thing to learn, second to the sabre.

However, I think they're easier then a rifle. Which is probably because I've never been taught rifle. I suggest trying out for yourself :]

[jlmenken123]

type gift in front of youtube.com just do it

[Moriahthehedgehog]

We have these and they're pretty easy once you get used to them. =)

[wishingonthemoon1]

I wish our guard could afford these...=(

[leddyb]

Until now, the only real innovation in rifles was when they stopped using real guns! This is a great way to start opening minds and see that there is way more to be done than what has always been!

Sortof like when I made my guard spin pvc pipe cubes, it was strange, but at least is was new!

[MusicFreak6893]

@leddyb my director was talking about doing that the other day cuz she saw it in cirque du sole. cool!

[MusicFreak6893]

@leddyb Our director went to cirque du solie and sid she saw ppl doing that and she's thinking about using it in a show. I think it's nifty. I bet it looked great!

[poochluvr]

I dom't get the point of air blades, they just look like retarded rifles.

[xcrazyxcoolx]

@poochluvr that's what i'm sayin. aha

[Chisaineko44]

i think the airblades look cooler then the rifles. did guard for 4 years before this came out. had to stop because of bad joints though.

[ShootAndSpin]

I also prefer regular rifles over the AirBlades, HOWEVER.....I will say this in their defense:

--They are great in windy conditions because the wind passes right through them.

--They're easier to catch in my opinion.

--They can have an amazing effect, but ONLY if you have someone who knows how to incorporate the curvature of the blade into the equipment work, otherwise you might as well just use regular rifles because they can look a bit awkward.

[GlitterCheerleader]

my guard team got blades last year, but we didn't start using them till this years...i love them, once you get past the pain and everything lol

[tinkletoe1993]

do u need the gloves?

[roxorgirl13]

We are doing airblades for winterguard, this year. :)

[thisizniqua]

i have a chrome one

[sodachris3000]

Total hi-five! I have a chrome one too!

[hails150]

my flag team used the air blades. We used those before rifles and found them easier to learn on. They are cool looking and fun to use i think they r super cool looking compared to rifles. If you use these with more dancing you have more to look at than a big white stick.

[cmarie159]

i'm just going to say it.

i don't like air blades.

i prefer rifles.

[TheMiraclePlay]

Mm, I agree. But airblades are not that bad.

[goldsporkmovies]

We just started using the airblades and they are awsome alot of fun to spin and look really cool it takes a little while to get used to tossing and catching them because they look different in the air compaired to a regular rifle, but overall i love them

[niuguardguy]

that was pretty good, there were some bad free hands from a few of the members...but I still liked the performance. Just get rid of the airblades and it would be that much better.

[trishaguinn]

Our colorguard this up and coming marching season will have a blade routine for one of the songs we will be peforming during half-time. I can't wait for the kids to get started using them.

[darthrebelpenguin]

Meh, I may not be in marching band color guard, but I feel this strays a bit too far from the orignal military color guards of flags/rifle/sabers. Just my .02, I don't judge those who choose to use these,

[scechal]

@darthrebelpenguin - In keeping with the growth of the marching band/guard idiom, the original military has been revised to include much more lyrical movement, in which case, a more lyrical "weapon" needed to be developed along with the the new shapes found in flags and uniforms. FYI --WGI does not recognize them as meeting the minimum equipment time requirements. As someone who has been teaching for 35 years, the whole marching scene has come a long way...because we are open to new ideas.

[darthrebelpenguin]

Fair enough, I suppose one has to keep an open mind for the activity to progress. :)

[bakes794]

nice! ya dood i luv the airblades! we had them last year and there was part where we put our wrists in the biggest whole and spun it around and stuff! they are awesome!

[EllenRussell54]

dude, this is so not fair. i just graduated from high school last year, and therefore colorguard as well (though i was captain, YES) and NOW there's this cool new thing? Come on, this is so not fair...

looks cool though...strangely hollow. i imagine it would be complicated to spin, otherwise...well, i would just like to see a plain rifle.

[sebacolorguard]

good i like it

[elisatolle111]

hmm weird weapons. I really prefer a 36 in rifle.

[mrskaulitz62493]

omg out band suks and is broke so we cant even afford rifles so yeahhhh no airblades for us

[soliloquyinblack]

Ahhh! i love these so much. my band is against my wanting to invest in them, but they are just sooooo great!!!

[GeekyGuardGirl]

these are actually a lot easier than i thought they would be... sure, it took a lot a getting used to, but now i'm finding it pretty easy. after all, i've almost got a double down perfectly!!! =) YAY!!!!!!

[wakullaguardgirl]

i saw those in the catalog, i thought they were pretty stupid but now that i see them being spun there actually kind of cool!

[AtomicJaz]

Haha. These girls look like clones. :)

Anyway, we got airblades this year, but we spin rifle as well.

Airblades are pretty cool, but I still prefer rifle.

[NoteablyYours]

They feel like a rifle, spin like a sabre. It's weird. A little bit heavier than I'd want but meh...It's easy to adjust once you get the feel of it.

[GeekyGuardGirl]

Omg!!!! I am soooo pumped!!! Our guard is getting air blades for our field show this year!! I'm dying to try it out. Our director said that if you can spin a rifle, the air blade is basically like the same thing. So, I can't wait!!!! YAY!!!!! :)

[Aliffer]

are they about the same weight as a rifle?

they look like they would be alot lighter and be harder to adjust to

[msyl1991]

kinda cool i guess. but its stupid to see weird equipment like this when guard is supposed to be flag, rifle and sabre

but cool i guess

[jmcclain0504]

who was your former instructor?

[Duckybubbles102]

are these challenging to spin? i would love to try one!

[untdanceboi]

the catches with the blades were very dirty...need to clean up and only hear one catch

[xladym]

i agree

[ParadiseLover5]

those things are so fun to spin!

I<3THEM!

[heatherdb]

they look so awkward....but when you see a group of ladies knowing how to use them, it's kind of cool. Great job.