From staff to poi??

ive been spinning a staff for almost a year, after getting bored during a hockey game, and spinning my stick around, and most of the figure of eights came naturally, though i prefer spinning it backwards, contrary to my friends who always spin forwards, i prefer getting a knock to the head than a staff to the groin,
more recently i have been trained in ninjutsu, and the use of the roku shaku bo (6 foot staff) and have now exceeded the skillz of a friend who has been spinning staff for yeeears, (i enjoyed this a lot since it was the first time i had performed in public with a fire staff, and after the crowd went crazy for him, i got even more applause hehe )
anywho, i met a guy who introduced me to poi a few days ago, and let me have a spin, and since i have learnt turns, 2, 3 4, beat weave, 2,3 backward weave, and the butterfly.
i was wondering how long it usually takes to learn these and if knowing how to use a staff has helped me at all?
im just starting to learn the four beat backwards weave and behinf the back and above the head techniques but so far im loving poi a lot.
yeh, thats it for me. anyone know what stylish moves could follow on easily from the ones i now can perform??

later all

--------------------

Go hard until it hardly goes

The time it takes to change from one to the other is very dependent on the person. I've found that the technique you learn for your first style seems much easier than your second (I'm a recent poi to staff convert, almost broke my thumb at the weekend). Don't get into the mindset of "My staff does that at this point therefore the poi should too." It won't. Just practice and it will come. As for stylish moves, work on stringing the ones you already have together in a seamless way, you'll find that you start to wonder whether you can put an extra turn here, another beat there, and soon you have a routine which is unique to you. Good displays are about showmanship as well as technique.

Incidently, there have been a couple of threads dedicated to how much people really hate the "I've only been spinning for x months and I can do all these moves and I'm better than someone else" lines. Your skills speak for themselves and it really does not matter if it took one year or ten to get them.

Just have fun doing what you do. That's the important thing.

thanx eera

im really enjoying using these poi, i hope that you have as much fun with the staff as with poi
for now i think that i will practice my four beats until they are sweet, then maybe ill head onto the harder stuff

Doesn't matter how long it has taken you as everyone is different and the number of 'moves' you can do is only one small measure of your progression through poi. But I can promise you with absolute confidence that I know people who have 'learnt' poi and staff faster and slower than you.

Have a dig through the poi moves section of this site for move ideas but also read the threads about dancing and style, which is as important.

Also the 4 beat weave is not a balanced move - it's half 3 beat and half 5 beat - but I wouldn't work on that until you've got the basic move groups smooth.

Happy spinning

I find 5 beat weave relatively worthless, unless you need another beat for a fountain turn or something zany like that... almost as worthless as 7 beat weave, which is really just a "ooooooooh I can do 7 beat weave" move.

Like others have said, just go with it. It's impossible to gauge how long it'll take you to do ________. Poi and staff and all the spinning/juggling arts shouldn't be about how long it'll take you to do anything anyway, I find most of the fun becoming slowly (or quickly) better and better at whatever you're doing. Believe me, once you learn everything on the HOP lessons, all the tricks and nifty stuff that is included in a regular poiist's arsenal, and a bunch of handy dandy stuff not very well documented on this site, you'll think back about how much fun poi was when you were discovering new stuff every single time you went out for a spin.

Enjoy the learning experience, it's the best part of spinning!

its probably due to Learning Set; positive transfer of skills from once action into a second action.........

......must......forget......stupid.....unit....4.....psych.........