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LED Gloving Tutorials
LED Gloving is an art form that allows for self-expression, creativity, and helps to connect the Glover with the music surrounding them. Anyone can be a Glover, and you practice your moves anywhere. Whether you are strapping on a set of gloves for the first time, or a seasoned vet, we’ve got tips to take your game to the next level. So grab your gloves and lets get started!
Table of Contents
- What is a Light Show?
- Techniques Used in Gloving
- Styles
- Components of a Light Show
- Tips
- History of Gloving
- Gloving Technology
- Why Use GloFX Gloves?
What is a Light Show?
Gloving is the art of incorporating lights and dexterity of the hand, in a combined motion, in order to convey a story to your audience. This is called a light show. A skilled LED glover is able to tell a story with a light show, especially when it’s being accompanied by music. LED Gloves can produce a mesmerizing performance that is more personal than many other flow arts. Below is an example of a light show.
Techniques Used in Gloving
Like any skill, the key to progressing from beginner to pro is learning the basics! Let’s take a look at move, progressing from beginner to advanced. Once you have these down you can find new ways to do these and make them your own.
Beginner Moves
The five beginner moves that you need to master in order to build a strong foundation for your gloving are finger rolls/waves, stacking, liquid, figure 8s and finger tuts.
Finger Rolls/Waves
A finger roll is a continuous motion of rhythmically opening and closing one’s hand, starting on one side of the hand and ending on the other. You can keep a finger roll going by bending the first finger that was extended back to the closed-hand position followed by the rest in the same rhythmic motion and then repeating this pattern of opening your hand and closing your hands. The finger wave is an upside down finger roll so it is done with your palms facing down.
Stacking
Stacking is done by laying one hand out in front of you with your palm facing down and then placing your other hand in the exact same position but on top of the other hand. Then you simply layer on top of the other and so forth; either staying in place or going up and down.
Liquid
Liquid is a term used to describe a style of dance movement characterized by fluid-like motions that don’t appear to have any shape or form. Glovers apply this to their movement as well and are heavily influenced by this style of dance. Liquid is done by making your hands flow in a wave like motion.
Figure 8s
Figure 8s is the motion of tracing the number 8 in front of you but having one hand follow the other in a fluid motion. This movement can be done reversed as well and that is just called the reverse figure 8.
Finger Tutting
Finger tutting is derived from the tutting concept that involves the geometrical boxes that occur and reoccur from the angles and orientations of one’s fingers. Finger tutters apply their knowledge of the grid to move their hands in such a way that each point they hit creates a different boxed shape.
Intermediate Moves
Once you have all the basic beginner moves down then you can proceed to this section which contains intermediate moves that you can use to add more flare to your shows. The five intermediate moves are whips, flails, dials, wave tutting and king tuts.
Whips
A whip is a finger roll that you whip out towards the viewer. The are only a few variations of the whip so where you place your whips makes it appear that you have more variations than there really are.
Flails
A flail is done by rotating your wrists or elbows while keeping your fingers extended in the open-hand position. At the most fundamental level, this creates a circle of light, but depending on how you move your arms while doing flails, you can create a variety of patterns using this simple motion of your wrists and elbow.
Dials
A dial is the stacking of one finger onto another one in a half circle motion. Dials are often combined with other techniques to show finger independence and dexterity.
Wave Tutting
Waving tutting is similar to finger tutting but by incorporating finger rolls in the mix as well. This allows you to not break the motion of the tut by using a finger as a transition to the mix finger tut.
King Tut
King tuts is tutting using your arms so you’re able to use all the space around you and create larger boxes. By using your arms you’re able to hit different angles around you and manipulate the grid.
Styles
Everyone has their own style when it comes to gloving and listed below are some of the specialty styles that glovers tend to lean towards.
Impacting
Impacting is a way to emphasize a fast motion of switching between lights to really engulf the viewer into the lights. This style incorporates multiple styles such as conjuring as well but its main distinction is that it is meant to fully focus on the light in front of you by creating a single point of focus.
Conjuring
This style is considered the juggling equivalent for gloving. This style allows you to switch your lights on and off. By doing so you are bouncing the lights around from one location to the other. This allows you to wow your audience by making it seem as if the light is self activating and floating around.
Tutting
Tutting is a dance style that was transitioned into gloving by incorporating its boxy dance motions but adding some flare to it with some lights. It incorporates the body’s ability to create geometric positions and movements. There are different variations of tutting such as finger tutting, wave tutting, creature tuts and king tuts. Each one is unique in its own way and they can all be combined to create an amazing story.
Tech & Flow
Tech is considered how precise and difficult a movement is and flow is described as how seamless your transitions are. Both are needed because they go hand in hand like ying and yang, Everything in gloving is technical and everything technical should flow.
Components of a Light Show
There are 5 key components to a light show that you want to make sure you consider when performing a light show, whether you’re trading shows or competing.
Tips
Here are some helpful tips to help you with color sets to choose, placement of your lights or everyday stretching.
Color Theory
Color Theory is broken up into three major points that will allow you to choose color sets that best compliment your style.
- The Color Wheel: These are three categories of the colors on the color wheel. They are Primary Colors, Secondary Colors and Tertiary Colors (combination of primary and secondary colors).
- Color Harmony: This is the balance of colors and how well they work well with each other. Some basic formulas of color harmony are analogous colors, complementary colors, and based on nature. Analogous colors are any three colors which are side by side on the color wheels. Complementary colors are directly opposite of each other. Based on nature is just as the name suggests; they are schemes that are picked out from nature regardless of their technical formulas.
- Color Context: This is important when deciding what backdrop you want on your shows that really compliments your sets and makes the colors really pop. A certain color may pop more when under a certain background or it may be clouded by the background being too loud. It’s good to test out certain color sets in different backgrounds to see which one works with it best in order to get the most out of your light shows when recording.
Light Placement
Placing your lights is more dependent on the way you glove. A more technical glover would place them on top because it allows them to do certain moves easier. There are benefits to placing your lights on the bottom though. Two benefits would be if you’re conjuring or mode switching. If you place your lights inverted on the bottom of your thumbs, the light shines on your palm and creates a nice effect in your shows.
Stretching
Stretching is very important because it allows you to hit certain moves easier since your hands are now more flexible. There are many techniques you can look up for hand stretching so it’s important that you stretch as much as you practice. One thing is to do a few rolling motions in order to keep your hands warmed up before throwing a show.
History of Gloving
In the past few years, gloving has experienced a tremendous growth both in popularity and skill as flow art. Gloving has changed exponentially from something that was done at an event to enhance the experience of others to the art form it is today. The spike in glovers has given rise to the formation of gloving teams around the country so that glovers can congregate and share their passion and ideas with one another. Competitions, both online and in person, allow glovers to test their skill against others through exchanging light shows that are scored by judges.
Gloving Technology
Today’s gloving technology allows glovers to select the colors of their lights. This is a huge step up from the LED microlights that were used by previous generation glovers that did not feature this option. Microlights now also offer the ability to be programmed, allowing glovers to display a sequence of different colors. Changing batteries in modern microlights is also much easier and less time consuming. The birth of diffusers has also given glovers more customization on how they want the shapes of their trails to look like. Diffusers soften the intensity of a light while also giving the light a much bigger look in rave gloves. You may also change the color of the casing or the color of the diffuser in order to gain a different effect.
Why Use GloFX Gloves?
Like all GloFX products, our gloves are backed by a 100% satisfaction guarantee, and Lux Glove Sets are backed by a lifetime warranty. Gloving is much more than just a business to us, it is an art form and a way of life. Since 2009, our team has strived to produce the highest quality rave gear, and our gloves are absolutely no exception. In 2016 GloFX launched its Lux Gloves, in an attempt to make the most advanced and comfortable set of gloves for the most demanding and experienced glovers. GloFX is absolutely committed to furthering the art of gloving, and all other aspects of rave culture. LED gloving is growing faster than it ever has before.
