Okay: in danger of immersing myself too much in Star wars discourse, I've decided to give my own take on Trakata.
The reason it is so rarely used is that it's not really that good.
Quite simple. It's incredibly risky. Think. What sound does a light saber make when it shuts off. Make it with you mouth and time it. That's more than a second. And I don't think that you can turn your blade back on in that time frame.
Additionally it is reactive. You need to figure out that your opponent is committing to a power strike or bind to take control of your blade, that won't hit you. Then retract your blade, and while they're off balance, push the advantage.
A lot of things need to go right for you to even have a reason to use it. And you have to surprise your
And what's the IU reason that Light Saber battles look choreographed? The force lets them see the future.
But everyone that has used it in the expanded universe has done so successfully. And I also think that this still makes sense.
Trakata is the equivalent of a dark souls Dodge roll in modern HEMA. It's a risky as fuck, difficult as fuck maneuver, which gives barely any benefit, that requires so much of the user that it never sees use. So when you do meet someone with the right physicality and combat experience to use it, does so to roll past your defence and snipe your ankles, you have no idea how to deal.
Trakata is similar. It's so stupid and easy to counter, that anyone that knows how to deal with it, never has to, so no-one does.
Take the scene of Cal Kestus using it on the inquisitor (just search on youtube cal kestus Trakata, there's a lot of shorts of this). He follows it with a force push, instead of re-igniting his Sabre. *And* the inquisitors back edge is primed to stab him, despite her over committing to a swing. If she wasn't completely baffled by his stupid ass move, she'd still have her force defence up, and he'd have to dodge one or two attacks without his own saber to even have a chance of survival.