Dance lessons for spinners

I think someones missing the point of silliness in this thread.

First ask yourself-

"Is there ONE RIGHT way to DANCE with poi?"

The answer is no.

If you take any dance style, or martial arts, or any type of movement and integrate it with your spinning, I'm sure you'll find the one way to dance with poi that is uniquely your own and makes you

Look at Nick's exaggerated smooth clowny style born from yoga and moving circles down the spine, watch oli's crazy monkey madness with quick direction changes and longarm with isolations, or yuta's martial artist jumps and kicking, Andy/poibox simple clean moves, or fluffy napalm fairy's hip moving

There is no one right way to dance with the poi.

Just find what suits your personality and aquire/steal it for your dancing

Ta

Yeah, i totally agree. Its about finding what's comfortable for you. Although dance classes can really help you to connect to your body. Yesterday i went to a really cool popping, locking and boogaloo workshop! it was amazing!

I’m just back from UberOZ where we learnt much about combining dance with poi. So, as a suggestion, I recommend checking out one of the Uber Workshops. They rock.

Cheers

Sounds super cool.
Too bad I was on the other side of the planet. :-(

Aliosha, the workshops were cool. And they do help you to find the “inner dancer”. Well worth the 4000 km trip for me to attend.

So do you do hardstep?

Dunno: what's hardstep?

In my experience I've found that dancing comes naturally when you concentrate less on new moves and more on perfecting and adding passion to what you already know.
Spinning to music you love helps massively as well during practice sessions

I'd say music is actually a thing you can't really dance without. I think those of you, that make shows also use music in them.
The dancing thing is more than just complicated. After two and a half years of poi spinning I still feel kind of stiff and unmoved . I think I need to see myself on a video to change that .

How is your experience?

twirling greets

chris

I think music is crucial, I've never found myself getting into that trance, or that complete intense poi vibe without it.
Not to mention choreography, or even limited choreography depending on high and low points in the music can be one of the biggest factors on how well a performance is taken.

I find it depends on the mood.

Most times when I get in the 'zone' its because the music's doing its thing

However, the best time and best 'zone' I was in I'd hafta say was when there was no music and I was spinning on a floating dock and the sky was full of stars and the mist was on the water......

I found that at that moment the dance, and movement there came more from the poi, the rush of the flames, and the spiritual energy

Written by:

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However, the best time and best 'zone' I was in I'd hafta say was when there was no music and I was spinning on a floating dock and the sky was full of stars and the mist was on the water......

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I completely agree with this, except my zone was on the beach on the fourth of july with fireworks shooting off the pier behind me.

hie all , i am new and only just started learning poi was looking for any lessons in the dublin meath area , can do a few moves but have gone a bit stagnant need help

ty

Try the "Meet Others" section. Or just hit Youtube. There are plenty of useful things there.

thank you , ohh tried you tube and getting the tricks an't the prob or maybeit is but i can not see where i an going wrong i am a total novice

dance courses for spinners are not in ready supply in usa. i have taught classes for incorporating poi into ballet salsa tango and more modern dance style routines for some time now, but always in central america and europe. also i have found that this has some to do with the fact that the majority of american spinners are more tech oriented so the dance is designed around the tech rather than the opposite. i think that dance classes would help many people but also i think more info for expressive movement with poi is needed i hope to make some tutorials when i can find a good camera

Discowraps, did you ever make those tutorials?

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Discowraps mentioned possibly making tutorials on expressive movement with poi. I'd like to see something like that.

I'd like to see videos on that also.

You are always bound by the tech to a certain extent, if it's not tech then it's just flailing. Even 'dance' is also tech: Beat matching, precise speed control, advanced footwork with tricks and sequences that incorporate it, body alignment and intention, musicality, etc.

I love this thread. Hoop is my only toy, so I'm not sure this is quite as applicable to poi, but I think it would for all objects to a certain extent:

I see so many hoopers and videos who just put on music and do tricks. Emphasis on the DO TRICKS. It's more like Ooh see how many hoops I can hoop around my body at one time and how many complicated executions I can do. I think you are incredibly talented and have a lot of dedication practicing, but I hardly see any ''dancing'' in there. My favorite hoopers or performances to watch, they don't do hard trick after hard tricks but they are incredibly entrancing to watch for the way they move, their expression, and their matching and hitting the beat of the music (ex: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82lez1GYyO0).

Personally, I took tribal fusion belly dance for two years before I ever picked up a hoop. Tribal fusion is great to learn body control, and if you get a good teacher you will learn the little things such as how to walk (not kidding), playing with symmetry and asymmetry, dance aesthetics. And with good practice and a solid foundation comes the awareness of where your limbs are in space and an intuitive placement for where you want them with respect to what you are trying to express. Adding a prop to this is just another level.

Overall, here are some tips:
1. Move your body! Your WHOLE body! Don't just stand there and spin! Move alll over the place, turn, face different directions!
2. Point the toes
3. When you're spinning with one part of your body, think of what parts of your body are not moving and use those to help emphasize what you're doing.
4. Think of how small you can make a movement. How large can you make that movement? How much energy can you put into it? What does it feel like when you try to put as little energy into executing it? How fast can I do it? How slooow can I do it?