Butterfly Kick - Variants

Variants

There are many butterfly kick variants, as each student adopts slightly different maneuvers and style depending on his specific martial arts background. For example, a wushu-derived butterfly kick would be somewhat more graceful compared to a tae kwon do-derived kick, which would have a more dynamic, energetic look.

Butterfly Twist

Also known simply as a twist, this is a move that is very popular within the tricking community due to its floating and twisting motion, as well as its ability to easily link into other moves. It is used in various martial arts, including Wushu and Capoeira. It's wushu name is xuàn zi zhuàn tǐ, and its Capoeira name is "mariposa" which literally means "butterfly". A butterfly twist can be described as a butterfly kick where a 360° spin is added once one is in the air.

HK Spin

A derivative of the butterfly twist, which is essentially the same move, but the person delivering the move falls onto the ground horizontally. This is not usually performed as a trick, but is commonly used as a type of fall in fight choreography. HK spins are named so because they were popularized in Hong Kong martial arts films. 360° and 720° spins are the two most common, though 1080° spins have been done in the past but the fall was from an elevated surface to a lower surface.

Corkscrew

This trick is considered related to the butterfly twist due to the original takeoff used, however a less traditional variant which uses a J-Step/J-Turn (more common among trickster) has also been developed. The practitioner will take a few quick steps in an arc-shape and, when ready, throw a leg in the air. Along with thrusting the arms upward, this helps to lift the body off the ground. When sufficient height has been achieved, the individual will turn their body towards the "inside" of the kicking leg (similar to an inside crescent), executing approximately 540 degrees of rotation, to land on the non-kicking leg.

Illusion Twist

Begins almost identically to a normal twist, however the body begins to up right itself during mid-execution. This is because a crescent kick is thrown with the last leg to take off. The kick is thrown in a very fast whipping motion that brings the body upright and facing forward. Another distinguishing feature of this kick is that both feet generally land at the same time.

Hyper Twist

This move adds an additional 90-180 degrees of rotation to the twist. The defining characteristic of this move is the fact that the landing is done with the other leg. Because of the setup of the feet created by this landing, it is possible to immediately go into another butterfly, twist, or other variant.

Hyper Hook

Essentially a Hyper Twist with a hook kick thrown after the landing leg has swung over into position for a landing.

Twist to the splits

Like most tricks and their variants, these too can be landed in the splits.