My small guidebook (to become famous and sexy)

Hi to all HOP people

I decided to translate a thread I wrote a while ago in a German forum because I have to increase my English skills for my next class in school in which I have chosen the uber-English class
So the things I wrote won't be breathtaking, they won't be revolutionary but as I think quite nice to read and a inspiration to everyone except me
If you wanna post comments - go ahead - I am always thankfull for criticism. If you want to post comments about my English - go ahead huarharahrar
The different parts don't have a special order because when I wrote the thread I just wrote what came in my mind.
So here we go

~ PART I : STEPS ~

steps. how many people do care about steps when spinning?
I think only a plenty few. but so did I at the beginning. taha, but steps are a very important part of spinning, not less important than a clean and smooth 3 beat wave. I recognized that the first time when I saw PK spinning at the BJC'04 in Derby. although his tricks weren't too spectaculary, he had an immense charisma. a very clean but in my opinion "hard" style which is really impressive. but it took me about 5 minutes to discover which fascinated me most about his style : It were his steps ! if he did turns he crossed his feet, standing close to each other, and then he turned out of this crossing-figure. not easy to see on the first look but once you start looking at his footwork it's a nice and impressive thing
I mean most of us know that : you select an album to listen to while spinning, we start spinning and then whe are hopping aimless across the garden or our room. although there are already many people saying "make steps while spinning" I want to add the expression "but before that think about the steps u wanna do" - be honestly, if we do uncoordinated steps it really looks scrappy .( and before I do uncoordinated steps I'd prefer to spin while standing ). a friend of mine told me some while ago : "your spinning is really nice and clean but your footwork is terribläääh!" and of course he was right. even today it's quite difficult for me to call it back into my mind to make coordinated steps, but everytime I success to make a good footwork I am a lot more content with my "style".
start to move your feet, start to think about different possibilities, but another important thing : start with the simple figures and make easy things with your feet/legs so that it is easier to keep them in your mind. once you got the feeling for these moves you will move your feet automatically to some kinds of tricks :o) In a nice and impressive way

steps- maybe one of the most important things about spinning


~ PART II : HEAD ~

Not that much important as steps are but a nice addition to improve your personal style. most of the time our head is faced to one of the poi or to both, whatever, but it is definitely worth a try to stress the movements with the head. easy example : the giant butterfly. if your poi cross at the bottom, bend your head to the bottom. if the poi go to the top, you should logically bend your head to the top. try to look as impressive as possible
another example : make a simple butterfly figure and stall the poi at the right side. follow this movement with your hand. then, once more the same movement at the left side. this should look quite nice already but now try to invert the whole thing. stall at the right - head faces to the left and so on..
or do a simple thread the needle move and whilst that make circles with your head ( like some of these neck-relaxation-exercises for car drivers )
if you try some time you will find a few things that "feel" good - to controll your self tell a friend or slave to watch you and to rate the "head variations" or use your digital friend, the digi cam.

that's it. is it ?

noooooooo

head movements contain, of course, facial expressions, too !
unfortunately I can't tell you how to look more angry and dangerous whilst doing fire spinning, but I can tell you how to look friendly. ehe. blubb.
did you ever do a fire comedy show ? It's really a bunch of fun doing something like that. you can make technically difficult things like hyperloops, isolations and so on without looking like a brave and grand fire fighter, but more like a baboon and a clumsy fellow. in my experience I have to say that people and of course especially children prefer that way of spinning.
ok back to the face. never look dogged or strained. 80% of the people I saw fire spinning in my short life had that facial expression. STOP THAT please because it really really really weakens your charisma. many fire spinners think it is the A and O to show people how DANGEROUS and SERIOUS fire spinning is but most of the time this "wannabe serious" really looks ridicellous. If you wanna do a serious show in my opinion it's the best way to have a neutral facial expressions. or did you ever see a surfer who faced the most dangerous waves having a face like t-rex ? did you ? seriously ? ok then I might be wrong
well the nicest laudit I ever got came from my sister and a few friends who were impressed by my friendly face while doing a nice and of course DANGEROUUUSSSZZ show which made the whole thing looking more fluid and friendly.
ok that's enough self- praise, I have to admit that I did that smiley-thing automatic without thinking about it but I hope that this part might help a few people. aren't we always happy to see smiling people in our grey and sad everyday life ?

Part III Freestyle vs Choreography comming soon

bye Maxl

what about going faster with less control?!

slow down, fool
it seems like u wrote your reply so fast that you didn't have the control to think about the possibility that I might come to that point in one of the next parts .. erm... or wtf so ever

~ PART III : Fr3e$tyLe vs ChoreogpraphY ~

jap, an interesting topic. most of the spinners are "freestyling" around. well maybe a choreography seems to be too intended or to contain too less freedom. but if you have a neutral spectator watching one guy doing freestyle and one guy doing his routine, which one wins the specator's favour ? well I am talking about a show or something like that, not about practicing in the backyard
sure, freestyle is very important, it's the essence of learning poi, understanding poi and so on but I don't like watching people doing a show without any idea what to do. did you ever really work on a choreography ? I don't mean sth. like preparing a show one day before the big event you should perform or anything. I mean really planning, trying to fit all of your movements to the music - que palo! that's really very very very hard work. but once you mastered that work you will be able to express yourself sooo much better and even more fluid than with the freestyle thing. Once you got the choreo in your head or let's better say in your body you'll be really able to ~*express yourself with the diddely-dancy poi*~
A very nice example for that is my favourite spinning videjoh, that Glass posted some months ago

http://www.homeofpoi.com/ubbthreads/show...5/o/all/fpart/1

ok it's not a poi video , but it shows the possibilities of expressions very good and it's further more very impressive. I could cry everytime I see it because of it's beauteousness. and I dare to claim that poiple are able to do so much more so much better than it's done at the moment. well this third part is less a guidebook than more a appeal to all of you : challenge yourself,have the heart to do a choreography and you will see how much your style will improve.

after some time of spinning I even claim that real "freestyle" is contained in a worked out choreography only


Maxl


PS : All of the things I write are my personal truth. Please don't feel offended if I hurt your personal opinion about spinning, I just want to show the things in my way. Of course I don't know the the real truth, it's just my own.

"it seems like u wrote your reply so fast that you didn't have the control to think about the possibility that I might come to that point in one of the next parts" - or.. he was assuming you had finished seeing as most people would have put all of what they want to say, in the first post

You have some really good ideas in there though.
I also completely agree that not enough people move around when they spin. Its something I activly think when Im spinning, but more often than not, I will still continue to stand in the same spot.
What you said about using your head is spot on though and is somethig I belieieieive not many people have wised up to. I beleive, that like in magic, you can make people look in a certian direction and at a certian thing when you want them to. Its all about the misdirection

Bender: I like yoooou (still). No one understands us (still).

Fantastic ideas. The footwork bit I've been working on for a while and I agree that it does add something to the performance. Most people won't notice it as, well, they aren't looking at your feet but I think they do take it in on some level.

Facial Expression... I know one guy who looks like he has a spike up his backside when he spins... I'm not sure about the whole "moving your head while you spin" idea possibly because I'm the type of performer who likes to speak to the audience and explain what I'm doing for instance my "Increacing Difficulty" routine where I start with a 2bt weave and end with a btb wall plane 3bt weave, telling everyone what I'm about to do next.

Freestyle vs Choreography... I agree with it but there are times when you can freestyle in a choreographed routine (ie a guitar solo or breakdown) or make a choreographed routine look like a freestyle which might just be the grail of poi...

i have to agree to that on the footwork and facial.
some people look so focused like its so hard for them to do it.
i think it is lovely when you make an expression that's just a smile, like its all you've ever done for entire life and you can't but enjoy it.
and for the footwork.
i automatically do some kind of aikido footwork since i've been training it for more than half of my lifetime.
might be kind of nice i think.

I'm the same with the footwork but I use Tae Kwon do. According to friends I tend to have a goofy smile when spining

Excellent thoughts, advice and tips - bravo.

Excellent job translating, btw! I took German and Spanish in highschool and I didn't become that fluent in them. Now I don't remember anything

thx all for your feedback, u really make me smile

~ PART IV : THE UPPER PART OF THE BODY ~

first of all a small proem. the chinese people say that the power house of our body, the "dantian" is positioned in the pubic bone, about 3 fingers under the belly button. this position isn't important for the fluency of the "chi" ( the energie for all life forms in the world ) only, but also for the body movements. if you do a handstand, a wheel or a backflip - this area is always very important for all of these things. well, the physicists would probably say that it is simply the balance point of a human body, but no matter which point of view you have, this point is always muy importante, sehr wichtig, very important ! Thus in my opinion many movements referring to poi should be done with the abdomen. but pleeease, try to make it look beautiful and don't shake your ass all time long
just take e.g. the poi "matrix" move : you really have to lean back and in my opinion you can lean even further if you focus on your DANTIAN! try it out - it might help. ok all of that stuff didn't really referr to the upper body but who cares

back to the upper part of se boddyy. since we know now, wherefrom our body movements should be effected, it is our turn, to utilise this knowledge. and this is my advice : LEAN ! -one of the things I personally like most of all when doing poi ( or staff ) spinning . spread your legs when doing a corkscrew and lean forwards, so that you are able to make this trick as close to the floor as possible. it might sound stupid but it doesn't look stupid at all !
another important thing to watch over are your shoulders. at the beginning of my "spinning-career" I had the problem that my shoulders weren't really relaxed, they were too wide above. relaaaaax. 90 % of the people I see doing isolations have cramped shoulders. nothing can happen to you if you relax your shoulders (except a yummy punch into your face hehe just kiddin' ). but it is a funny thing to use your shoulders to stress body movements while spinning. try to push your shoulders up and forwards as far as possible, peer and smile, and et voilá - the kid's are gonna love you. ( do you know what I mean with that shoulder thing ? just like that "robot" guy in the collaboration video ).
ok short trip to the behind the back moves :
I often see that newbie spinners have the tendency to lean backwards when doing a btb move. pleaaaase, lean forwards as you can read it in the lovely made HOP poi lessons you won't success when leaning backwards! once you mastered it with a forward-leaned body you will be very soon able to do BTB moves without leaning your body anywhere. ah and another thing, if you learn a simple 3b wave, don't lean forwards and show the people behind you your nice butt, because it also doesn't look very nice.. but(t) (haha) very soon you will see which things are well looking and which are not.

just as with facial expressions start to experiment with different styles or let's say characters : an anxious person with shoulders up and a hump, or a proud person with a straight back and a upraised head.

one last advice : if you do waist wraps for example, spread your legs and lean to the right side if your hands are at the left side and the other way round... but let the movements come out of your dantian and don't forget to move your knees. if you did this, could you see what I meant with "beautiful" upper body movements ?






Maxl



( next part to come : Part V : How to learn a hyperloop )

"LEAN !"

Yeah!

love how you've broken the principles of movement down into seperate parts. I'm trying to work on this a bit at the moment, particularly applying some of the principles I learnt in Kung fu (starting movements at the waist, around what you call the Dantian I think, and some of the footwork)

The only very small thing I would think of to add is the movements of the hands: the difference between the clenched fist and open palm, and how much you follow the movements of the poi with your wrists. However, tis late and I may be talking rubbish.

Anyhow, great posts!

thx angel , I already thought about writing a part about the hands but I haven't too much to say about it because I spin with drew's non-stretchy-like-socks-looking-poi so I can't really "open" my hands.
Maybe some day I'll write a part about hands

ah yes, it is very difficult without fingerloops or a nice big knot in the handle!

~ PART V : HOW TO LEARN A HYPERL00P ~

against the title I won't tell you things about hyperloops only, I just needed a catchy headline to awaken the peoples interest
this part is more about "how to learn a new trick" in general.
you saw a nice trick on a spinning video but you have no idea how it is working ? you post in thousands of forums to find out how it is working ? if you don't do these postings then you are quite similar to me - I think I was kinda too proud to ask for help. I watched the video 2 - 3 times and then I started practising like a poisoned buffalo. then I managed the trick and I was always happy if other people asked me to show them this trick because that was the proof for me that I could do it quite good. that's still the way I learn today, less because of my proudness but more because of my experience that you are looking much better into the development of a move. of course I ask for help too, sometimes, but most of the time I try to avoid that. Once you start to learn tricks by yourself you are independent from outer influences and then you'll develope many new moves by your own.. BUUUUUT ! that doesn't mean that I am telling the real truth and how to do it - that's simply the way I learnt it ! There are hardly any spinners in my area so I had to experience the wide universum of spinning through the internet, I never had the chance to experience the other way. this might also be one of the reasons why I don't really go to conventions too often
it really doesn't matter which way you take but it is important to be thankfull for the things you are allowed to learn!

back to the topic, the trivial philosophy about learning new tricks
just take a hyperloop for example. most of the people practise it until they are able to do it on one side. well here it's up to you : practise it that long that you can do it on side and then skipping to the next trick or practise the hyperloop so long until you are able to do it on both sides. I prefer the second one. If I have a new trick as my own aim I sometimes do that trick only one week long. TAKE UP TIME with the new tricks ! They don't run away ! there are always new moves comming. why don't you enjoy it to have one move you know but you aren't able to do ? why don't you enjoy the time practising on it ? it's a challenge to do an unknown trick t a k e u p t i m e ...
if you don't wanna do so make it the other way round. when I learnt the "steve" move for staff about 2 years ago I didn't want to practise that long so I decided to do the "steve" move 150 times before doing my typical freestyling. and every 10 times I got so much better in understanding that move, feeling that move and whatsoever. don't we all know the feeling that if a move works we are proud of what we've done ? and I tell you that you'll have the same feeling of happiness if you "re-learn" the hyperloop not only from the right to the left, but also from the left to the right.

~~~ don't look for the great fortune in new tricks, but look for the petit fortune in old tricks ~~~


next part : part VI : arms

Its a great Thread, thanks for Making it Max.
Why not reformat it, and maybe add a few pictures and post it as an article.
You're english is very good...
Although I know it will not be as good, as you wish until it is perfect.

My spelling grammar and punctuation are terrible.. so don't ask me for corrections.

Hows the video editing going?
It would help if you posted a video to accompany this.
so people can see what you mean

Smiles
Drew

yep, this is wicked max.
if i had time i'd help you with the english, as i spent several months teaching it in italy... but right now i don't. if noone else has offered by early october i'm your man.
got to reread before i ask some questions.
cause it's been too long.
R

thanx mr drew & rob =)

well I'll post a staff video first ( probably this weekend if everything goes right )

I like the idea to make an article out of that thread with pics
maybe I'll really work it out one day =)

next two parts will follow in a few hours ( need to finish the "Illuminati" book from dan brown first - cheap but exciting literature )

~ PART VI : ARMS ~

ok the message of this part is : bring more variations into your arm movements. we all know them, and we all know the differences : just take a normal butterfly and a giant butterfly. the only difference is that the arms are streched but the optical difference, especially for the audience, is quite big. but there are so many other figures than the giant butterfly or the giant windmill you can play with stretched arms or in variation with one inflected and the other one stretched. have a look at the graeat video "spinning in paris" to see how cassandra variies her moves ; olive from paris does some nice variations with arms too, also with double staff, definitely worth a look.
so there isn't too much to write about this part except doing variations. a three beat wave behind the back backwards is much more beautiful when stretching out one arm everytime you come from the left to the righ or from the right to the left.
or do the giant butterfly not in front of you but laterally ( sorry, I always forget about these floor,wall and so on plane names ),with one arm inflected and the other stretched. very easy but a nice variation to the monotony of usual giant bf's.
ok. it's really a short part but worth a look I guess




~ PART VII : SHALL I IMITATE MY IDOLS ? ~

well the answer I have is a bit paradoxal : "at any rate" and "definitely not" ! difficult to say the right thing. If you see nice figures impressing you then enjoy them and imitate them. if you have the chance to, ask your "idols" how to do them , keep your idol in mind when practising that figure and remember how the hell he did that magical move. of course watching videos is a nice way to follow these moves. B u t don't copy your idols style! when I started spinning I tried many times to imitate bluecat, drew or whomever because they knew how to move their body, they knew how to move the poi, it seemed to me that once I got it to imitate them I'd be able to do everything.well... but it doesn't look that good at all if you try to imitate someone. it took me some time to release that imagination and to bethink. today I hardly watch anymore spinning videos, 'cause I think that too many impressions might influence OUR OWN style too much. yeah sure, it is exciting to see as many tricks as possible, as many spinners in the world as possible who spin intoxicantly yadda yadda yadda.
I prefer to have 2 - 3 nice videos on my harddisk and watch them every few months a few times. then the intensity when watching these videos is also a lot higher. at the beginning of my spinning career I watched about 1 - 2 new spinning videos every day and I ran the risk of being bored when seeing beginner's videos. no hyperloops in the vidyo = puta aburrido.(boring) <- but that's bullshit! every damn spinner in this world has charming attributes in his style and I try to discover them by watching as less videos as possible. it's just like drugs. a favour once you use them only a rare few times but once you use them daily or even more often you get used to them ( and probably addicted - I wonder if I was ever addicted to spinning videos ). every 2 beat wave in this world is something really beautiful so I'd ask you to pay them as much attention as possible. so go ahead, watch nice videos, but don't turn into a "hungry ghost" as drew wrote it a few months ago in a nice thread...if you loose motivation watch some old videos you liked in earlier times...

once you disengaged your desire you'll get what you REALLY want

have a nice time

maxl

next part VIII : what music shall I listen to when spinning ?

I just realized this... He didn't finish his post!

Just up and disappeared.

that's because I haven't commented yet

Great stuff Max
got a couple of comments on body move & style
I'll come back to this very interesting thread soooon