Should You Use Swaps in a Shred?

by Crazy Ivan


In the past, I've referred to Swap Moves as the "holding patterns" of Myachi.  Every skill toy has the equivalent of this.  In juggling you have moves like the Cascade and Columns.  In devil sticks you have the tic-toc and the infinity.  In poi you have butterflies and trubines.  In contact juggling you have palm crosses and waves.  In Myachi you have Cold Fusion, Heartbeat and Fu. These moves are all impressive and fun, but the main thing they have in common is that they fall in between the other tricks.

When I say "holding pattern", what I mean is that these are tricks that you can slip into when you finish a big trick or combo before going into your next trick or combo.  They slow down the action so your audience can catch up and they allow you to reset to whatever part of the body or particular hold you're going to need to start the next move.  They're also employed as temporary patterns in the middle of improvised freestyle; a trick to do while you're thinking to yourself "what tricks haven't I done yet?"

As useful as it is to have tricks like this at your disposal, it generally leads to Swaps being considered the low point of any shred.  They're the calm before the storm; the silence before the next movement; the drum roll before the reveal.  Too often a routine turns into "Trick... fusion, fusion fusion... trick... fusion, fusion, fusion... combo... fusion, fusion, fusion... trick... fu, fu, fu..."

This has led many freestylers to try to leave out the swaps altogether.  Among veteran players, a freestyler might seek to go as long as possible in an improvised shred without resorting to a swap move.  It gives the shred the feel of a single continuous combo rather than a series of combos interrupted by a few holding patterns.  It provides a bit of continuity that the holding pattern would take away.

And thus many shreds you see from accomplished players will have a bit of Fu at the beginning and maybe a Heartbeat in there somewhere, but other than that, you can scarcely find a swap move.  Even worse, you won't see one until the middle of the shred and then you'll spend 20 seconds watching a really fast Cold Fusion before moving on to a bunch of other swapless combos.

But like any type of trick in the game, Swaps are best if they're littered throughout a combo.  This doesn't mean that you have to have a peaks-and-troughs routine filled with regular low points, though because Swaps don't have to be holding patterns.  They're really useful as such, but that doesn't mean that's the only way they can be used.  Adding two quick Fu swaps to a routine might not add much to it, but it also won't take much away.  It's only when you do 12 or 14 of them in a row that it starts feeling like a break in the action.

Of course, if you're doing a tough enough Swap move to begin with, people might appreciate a solid 20 seconds of it.  The Subter-Fusion has caused something of a resurgence in the use of Swaps in shreds simply by being a really cool, really hard, really impressive trick.  The more complex the swap pattern, the longer you can get away with doing it before it starts to slow down your shred.

The other important thing is not to reuse the same Swap over and over.  You can (and should) use some Fu and Fusion in your shred, but that doesn't mean you have to use the same moves over and over again.  There are plenty of Fusion moves to fill in the gaps in even the longest shreds.  When you start mixing in Fu, Turbines and Heartbeat variations, the possibilities open wide.

The key is that if you make a concerted effort to add some good Swaps to your repertoire, you can get all the advantages of the holding pattern tricks without any of the disadvantages.  After all, nobody can complain about the Swap move slowing down your routine if it's the coolest trick you throw down.