Poi

To quote Wikipedia:

"Poi refers to both a style of performance art and the equipment used for engaging in poi performance. As a performance art, poi involves swinging tethered weights through a variety of rhythmical and geometric patterns. Poi artists may also sing or dance while swinging their poi. Poi can be made from various materials with different handles, weights, and effects (such as fire).

Poi originated with the Māori people of New Zealand, where it is still practiced today. Poi has also gained a following in many other countries. The expansion of poi culture has led to a significant evolution of the styles practiced, the tools used, and the definition of the word "poi.""

You can read the rest of the Wiki's page on Poi here.

Technically, I've been spinning since 18th August 2011, but my practise times were very split. I'd only do half-an-hour to an hour at most, every week or so. At the time, it was mainly due to space, illness, work, etc.

Even now, I still don't practise as much as I'd like to, but I've definitely kicked it up a gear since 8th October 2011, when Zy bought me some spiral poi as a late birthday present, and taught me the 3 beat weave that afternoon.

I'm now determined to learn as many tricks as I can, and widen my range of poi toys too.

I also have an interest in the staff, nunchaku, and hoops. But I've not tried anything with them yet.

At the moment, I have my own home-made sock poi, and the uv white spiral poit Zy got me.

And the tricks I can do right now are:

Spinning Together
Spinning Apart
Butterfly
Butterfly (Reverse)
Single Weave
Single Weave (Reverse)
3 Beat Weave
3 Beat Weave (Reverse)
Threading
Flowers
Flowers (Reverse)
5 Beat Weave
Butterfly Over The Head
Butterfly Behind The Head
Skipping Rope

I'm currently working on 3 Beat Weave 180, but I'm having alot of trouble with it. Especially when I consider that all previous moves have taken an hour at most to learn, and a little time on top of that (for some) to tidy-up.

The next few moves I'm keen on learning are the Cork Screw, Chasing Sun, Windmill, Fountain, Angel Wings, Low Reel, and also the Stalls and Turns.

I've just got a set of Glow poi (Rainbow) for my birthday. I haven't used them before. You have any tips for a novice?

OokamiSephona wrote:I've just got a set of Glow poi (Rainbow) for my birthday. I haven't used them before. You have any tips for a novice?

Look for some videos on YouTube. That's how I've been learning when Zy isn't around (which is most of the time as we live quite far away from eachother).

Also, don't feel like you have to learn everything, and especially everything at once. I sometimes feel like I need to know how to do it all, but all you really need is whatever tricks you think look nice. =)

I've got no interest in things like air-wraps, so I won't be learning them any time soon. I'd say I'm not gonna bother, but I know I will "just because".

I guess the first thing you need to do though is swing them. Practise the forward swings, the backward swings, and the alternate swings.

I've listed the moves I can do, so maybe copy and paste some of those into YouTube and have a look at how they look, and learn whatever catches your eye.

There's a whole lot more not on my list though. You could search for tricks lists online though, I guess (I've not tried myself).

Oh! Don't be afraid of your poi. You will hit yourself, but it isn't that bad at all. My spiral poi don't hurt at all, and my sock poi only hurt abit, and that's because A) I swing them faster, and B) They're full of rice, so they're a hell of alot harder.

I'm no expert though. Remember that. ^^;

--- EDIT ---

Oh, and you could also practise spinning split-time too, when you're ready.

I don't know if these'll be of any interest of help to anyone, but I'll post these here anyways.

This is a video of me just doing random stuff like the butterfly, skipping rope, 3 beat weave, and abit of the 5 beat weave. It was really hard to use these in the wind.


And me having a go at the over-head butterfly, or helicopter.


And abit of 3 beat weave practise indoors.


Annnd the totally embarrasing video I made for Zy recently, about the 5 beat weave. I use both the spiral poi and the sock poi in this one. And it also features abit of the butterfly near the end. And a little bit of chat about the 3 beat weave 180.

And, because it's awesome, here's a video I took of Cirque Bijou performing at the Bristol Christmas Lights Switch On the other week. They had a few different acts, but as this is a poi topic, here's the fire poi one:


It was really inspiring to see this with my own eyes. I'd love to be this good someday.

I've learnt two more poi tricks. I was practising the 3 Beat Weave 180, which is the trick I've been having trouble with lately, and I think I've almost got it. I've done it a couple of times, but then I seemed to lose it, so I'll come back to that one again tomorrow maybe. But, to break it up, I went on to learn another trick (basically, if I find I'm getting frustrated, I'll either take a break or try something else, so that I can come back to the original trick with a fresh mind).

I went on to learn the Corkscrew. And I had trouble with it at first. Why? Because the teacher I've been using isn't right for me. I've checked out alot of videos on YouTube, and there are a few guys who have alot of trick tutorials on their channels.

Now, the channel I use regularly is meenik's. Any moves I've learnt from the interest; I've learn from there.

However, when I searched for the 3 Beat Weave 180, I couldn't find one from them at the time, and someone else came up; AquaThane. Now, he breaks down everything for you, and I'm sure alot of people find him useful, but he's just not right for me. The only reason I've started to get the 180 is because I've started to look at it in a completely different way (and if it works out; I'll video it for you).

I've seen his video on the 3 Beat Weave, which is a move Mary taught me when she was staying over last month. And when I looked at his video, I knew straight away that, had I tried to learn it from him; I'd have gotten nowhere.

I also couldn't get the Corkscrew from him. I gave-up on his video, and went in search of other ones. And I found one that taught the 2 Beat Corkscrew. I learnt that one first, and then brought it down into a Corkscrew. So, I learnt two moves there. And the 2 Beat Corkscrew has also set me up nicely to learn the Windmill tomorrow.

So yeah. Two more tricks to add to my list. ^_^

My set of LED Glow Poi arrived todaaay!! They have 30 different settings, and they came with 2 packs of extra batteries (each with 8 inside), annnd my own discount code. =)



The discount code is Sam118, and is currently set at 5% off, but the more I use it, the higher the discount becomes. So feel free to use it whenever you're shopping on Home Of Poi. ^-^

I'm loving these right now, and I'm just itching to give them a twirl, but it's raining outside and I've no space inside right now. >_<

My updated trick list:

Spinning Together
Spinning Apart
Butterfly
Butterfly (Reverse)
Single Weave
Single Weave (Reverse)
3 Beat Weave
3 Beat Weave (Reverse)
3 Beat Weave 180 (Left Forward To Right Backward)
3 Beat Weave 180 (Right Backward To Left Forward)
3 Beat 180
Fountain
Threading
Flowers
Flowers (Reverse)
5 Beat Weave
Butterfly Over The Head
Butterfly Over The Head (Reverse)
Butterfly Behind The Head
Butterfly Back And Fourth
Skipping Rope
Corkscrew
Corkscrew (Reverse)
2 Beat Corkscrew
2 Beat Corkscrewl (Reverse)
Windmill
Windmill (Reverse)
Buzzsaw
Buzzsaw (Reverse)

The next few moves I’m keen on learning are Chasing Sun, Fountain, Angel Wings, Low Reel, and also my Stalls and Turns need some work.

I plan to practise a hell of alot more this year, but at the moment, with the weather being so cold and rainy, I can only practise indoors. And for that, Kaze needs to be out (because the only place that barely has enough room is the living room). So I've gotta wait 'til he goes back to Uni. ;p

Poi: My Toys

Ok, so I started off with my home-made sock poi, and home-made glow strings. I now have 3 different store-bought poi, in very different styles.

Sock Poi: Sonicso X


These are replacing my home-made sock poi now. I was going to send them back because they didn't come with the finger loops they were advertised with, and the bean bags inside made them feel "off".

Instead, I replaced the bean bags with my own rice bags and now they feel much better. And the site they came from, Fire Toys, don't have anything in stock that I actually want to swap them with. So I've decided to keep them and just use them as practise poi.

They're very nice to look at, but there's no stretch what-so-ever. They feel very restrictive to use. But hey, they're still good for practise. =)

Spiral Poi


Very pretty, very flowy, very easy to use. There're still some tricks I can't quite do with these yet, as the tails get in the way. But they look so lovely and they're great fun to use. =D

LED Poi: Pro Series Multi Function


These are my newest toys, and I love them! They have 30 different modes, and they're on Cole Cords, which feels amazing!! I've never felt finger loops so soft. =D



They're heavier than my usual practise poi, so I've adjusted the weight in those to match now. And I'm paranoid that the metal links are gonna come undone and send the balls flying in all directions, but that's probably just me being silly, and something that'll fade in time.

They look awesome in play, and if I get myself some white sock poi, I can use the balls in those too.

The cords are also adjustable, and they came with two packs of batteries, and a screwdriver so you can actually get into them and change the batteries too. =3

So I actually took the time to update my trick list...

2 Beat Corkscrew
2 Beat Corkscrew (Reverse)
2 Beat Weave (Left Side)
2 Beat Weave (Right Side)
3 Beat Weave
3 Beat Weave (Reverse)
3 Beat Weave 180 (Left Forward To Right Backward)
3 Beat Weave 180 (Right Backward To Left Forward)
5 Beat Weave
Angel Wings
Archer Weave (Left Side)
Archer Weave (Right Side)
Butterfly
Butterfly (Reverse)
Butterfly Over The Head
Butterfly Over The Head (Reverse)
Butterfly With Angel Wings
Buzzsaw
Buzzsaw (Reverse)
Corkscrew
Corkscrew (Reverse)
Crossing
Crossing (Reverse)
Extended Windmill
Extended Windmill (Reverse)
Flowers
Flowers (Reverse)
Fountain
Fountain With Windmill
Hip Reels
Orbit [Own Move]
Plane Change
Plane Change (Reverse)
Same Time Spin
Same Time Spin (Reverse)
Single Weave
Single Weave (Reverse)
Skipping Rope
Split Time Spin
Split Time Spin (Reverse)
Threading
Threading Overhead
Turn
Turn (Reverse)
Windmill
Windmill (Reverse)

I've still got so much more to learn. I'd really like to start work on some behind the back weaves soon. But at the moment, I'm trying to get shoulder reels steady. I can do each side on it's own, and I had them both going together perfectly. Once. Now I can't seem to get it to work again. >_< And I'm also hoping to learn chasing sun, but I haven't found a single decent tutorial video on it yet. Oh! And I wanna learn how to turn properly with the weaves and windmill. I can turn bit-by-bit, but I don't think I can do more dramatic turning with them yet.