The Plainsman Online - Arts & Entertainment Auburn University

Get Lost in Halo Aura, a spectacular light show
by: Richard Whatley
A&E Staff

If you attended the University Program Council's Talent Show about three weeks ago, you may remember the final act that won third place. Russell Wright performed a dazzling and hypnotizing rare act called Halo Aura to music provided by Jason Willis. The Act had the audience in amazement and cheers. It is one of the most visually stimulating performances ever created. It is a light show using techniques and tools of martial arts. Halo Aura was created by Roy Williams who has copyrights to the act. Wright is one of the few to have written documentation of freedom to perform this act at will. Wright is a senior in radio, television and film at Auburn. He was born in Hawaii, and then moved to Jacksonville, FL in the third grade. He had been interested in martial arts as a young boy, and when he was 15 he started practicing martial arts. "That was sort of a tension release of having never been good at sports, and so I found my forte in martial arts", Wright says. He then met Williams, creator of Halo Aura and Lissajous~Do Ryu in Jacksonville. Williams became a Father figure to Wright because he was raised mainly by his mother. Williams allowed Wright the rare opportunity to train privately with him, while also keeping an eye on Wrights academics. "(Grand) Master Williams is an incredible Renaissance man, to say the least.
He is a bona fide genius, who has rewritten many concepts about the martial arts, and they have become a standard. (He is) also a great man in general; a philosopher, an artist, a physicist. He has a doctorate and is a very versatile man," Wright said. Williams has studied basic martial arts based on physics using Lissajous patterns, which are patterns made up of rings and ratios of movement. He applied this to the basic open hand martial arts and weaponry. The next step was Halo Aura. Halo Aura is a performing art combining ultraviolet light and martial arts moves, choreographed to music. Different martial arts weaponry colored in fluorescent hues gives off the different effects. It is performed in the dark, using black light. The weapons usually used are the well known "Roy Chux" nunchaku. They are handmade, designed and patented by Williams. They do not resemble the normal sticks that everyone is familiar with. They range from the usual two-stick assembly up to four sticks on one. To describe the performance is no easy task. "It's a moving meditation. You kind of have to step out of yourself to be in balance with these two tools." Wright said. "They are both in sync, but yet they are both going at different speeds or tempos," he said, "and the cool thing about it is that people tend to get lost in it while they are watching it. It's like a mental meditation. For those out there performing it, it is a moving meditation." When a performance is caught on film, a theophany can be seen. A theophany is a visual manifestation of a figure that the viewer sees, like making out shapes in clouds. About the photography art of Halo Aura, Wright said, "In the still shots you are actually able to see those theophanies that are captured in 3-4 seconds of what you would typically see in the performance." "Through those blurs and dimensions blending together you see the different theophanies, like dolphins or birds and even faces. It is really open to personal interpretation." Halo Aura is a growing art that has been unsuccessfully copied in the movies. You may remember the scene in "Batman Forever" where Robin fights a gang in an alley that is lit up with fluorescent light, and the gang has the same lighting on their bodies. The gang leader is actually trying to perform an obscure form of Halo Aura, but does not pull it off. Williams will be in an upcoming movie, made for television, called "Angel with a Kick", from an independent film company playing an Arc Angel, who will use Halo Aura at the final showdown of good and evil. Wright was considered for a demo team after less than a year of training. He worked with Williams on the show for four years before moving to Alexander City, where his family is originally from. Wright then got permission from Williams to do his first solo performance at Camp ASCCA. He has been performing solo shows ever since, as well as training a team of his own to perform Halo Aura.
He is a Fourth-Degree Blackbelt, which is a master rank, and he has been teaching martial arts in Alex City at his Dojo - United Arts for seven years. Wright said, "I would definitely like to be able to pass the art out to some groups that would appreciate it. One of those groups that I have seen that pretty much did was college type audiences. "I really want to be able to see people identify with something that is new and really visually and mentally stimulating. I would like to be able to do some shows while I am still here in Auburn. "Since I love Auburn so much, I would like to pass the art along and have the people appreciate it while I am in this community," Wright said.

If you would like to contact Wright about Halo Aura, you can call him at his place of business at 256.329.9199