switching animation

hey yall so i have a sprite running and a separate animation that swings the sprite's sword. I want to make it so when you press space the character plays the animation for the sword swing but at the same time the sprtite is running/standing still. any help?
 
so you mean i
1) go to my editor then amputate the guy's legs off for all running frames
2) do the sword swish animation on his body
3) put legs on
 
Top