The best spinner in the world... and the state of spinning today

Written by: coleman

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having said that (and this may be because i don't spend as much time spinning as i used to, or possibly even because i am older now and don't see things the way i used to) i find that the london scene is not as vibrant or as full of ambitious, enthusiastic (techy) poi spinners as it was a couple of years ago.

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That's cos you is all jaded! And you smoke too much... Or could it be cos everybody keeps going on about this dancing malarky... ??? I find myself emphasing the importance of flow, enjoyment and dance more than tech nowadays. (and then I slap myself )

Perhaps drew has had some influence after all...

Written by: ado-p

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What do i love about the spinning community? The sense of 'massive extended family' i get from it is right up ther at the top of the list.
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What meg said about people learning to fast. But that probably says more about teaching skills.... And i really get frusrated when people just dont get things that i take completly for granted. Like planes. Muscle memory and a firgure of eight. In short. I wish i was a better teacher.

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family: Words, mouth, out of, etc.

I wish I was a better teacher too, but there's no way to really show a noob that they need to learn good planes and transitions instead of the matrix, and it some ways, that's a good thing, cos planes are obviously dull to teach and having a move that people want to learn makes a teachers job much easier. Plus I think everybody that enjoys spinning will have an open enough mind to understand new concepts if they have a teacher there to help them. So hopefully an annoying contact junkie will come back to you again to ask for help when they realise that they need it. (is something like what I'm trying to say)

Plus learning new ways to teach people better is almost as good as learning new moves. Oh no, wait! Argh! <slap's herself> Ok, only half as good, but still good.

and adobe: was that thoughtfull or toughfull?

Duvan's second post: This is figure skating as an olympic sport... not as a dance, a form of transport, or as a hobby... The same with gymnastics, in the olmpics it's out to find who is the best gymnast on the floor, dancers would wipe the floor with them, many people can do 'better' flips and tumbling, and many people can put together better displays, but in that arena a certain person wins, because of the context.

I think the 'best' spinner is one that makes you cry tears of joy. Cos then you can use those tears to moisturise your scalp.

I don't think any rules of poi would ever work. In my opinion. (but open to discussion, if anybody can be bothered.)

Written by: andrealess

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Oh you guys, of course there can be a best spinner.
*Stage whisper*

its ME, of course!

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GODDAMN! Arashi inspired ego madness! I love it! How did not think of that the moment I read the thread title! DAMN! I've got to start being stuuuupid again... darn it...

Rev: good points. The hotpot style of new spinners will be interesting to watch and to see what comes of it. But I think you need to quit with the use of ... (I also need to) and start structuring your sentences better. (no offence it's just your posts are hard to read cos they read just like your thoughts. If telepathy was easy everybody would be doing it.)

Yes it's crap they miss the basics, but if they really want to learn, they'll come back to them.

Plus for all us old farts annoyed at newbie messiahs, I find experience always counts. Maybe these noobs can do a matrix already, but you know more about how a toy moves and feels that they do, and that's something that only time can bring. And the vainglorious fact that IN MY DAY, WE DIDN'T EVEN HAVE A MATRIX!

I don't think it's so much that we've trained ourselves into habits of spinning, but that we forget how long things took to learn in the beginning and that we expect more sooner now that we're more experienced (and to a large degree more and sooner is true but sometimes it's that same old slog again.)

and yes it's hard to strike a balance between learning a little and going off and developing new things off your own back, hoping to create a new realm, and learning so much that you can't think of new things. It's a problem in many areas. Maybe there is some research on it.

None the less, much as I would like to, you can't withhold knowledge, it's just not on!

Written by: Rev

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you simply can't compare.. good spinning is like good art.. it simply is..

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following on from what Rev said, I have to say that I love watching people with different styles. I'm not very keen on spinning where it's all stand and do numerous static tricks, because then you might as well just watch someone do TTN for half an hour. It only becomes interesting with transitions and imagination: I try not to stay 'locked' into one move for too long, as I prefer to see a variety of transitions rather than a variety of moves. But it still happens, because some moves just feel good!

The awareness of the beauty of non-moves (for want of a better word) was something that I only really hooked into last summer, and it has revolutionised the way I look at poi and given me proper 'awareness' of what I like about different spinners, rather than just looking at people and sayinng 'ooo.... pretty..'

Written by: arashi

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yeah why aren't there any arashi jokes in this thread yet?

i must be gettin rusty, my legacy has faltered.

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Does that mean you're like, shooting blanks now?

Yay! An Arashi joke!


So like I heard that bluecat isn't as good as he is in videos? And like top models aren't as beautiful as they appear in glossy magazines? G'damn, life is good.

Written by: mcp

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But I think you need to quit with the use of ... (I also need to) and start structuring your sentences better. (no offence it's just your posts are hard to read cos they read just like your thoughts. If telepathy was easy everybody would be doing it.)

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Written by: mcp

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I don't think it's so much that we've trained ourselves into habits of spinning, but that we forget how long things took to learn in the beginning and that we expect more sooner now that we're more experienced (and to a large degree more and sooner is true but sometimes it's that same old slog again.)

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good point. I feel that too much is taken for granted now. When you learned the weave, that was it. Learning it hoirzontal was something new, as was learning it over head or btb. Now, all of that is assumed to just 'come along' with learning a move. Now, it really isnt learned unless you can do it horizontal, overhead, and btb. This should contribute to more diversifcation, as people don't always flesh out their moves so completely.

Unfortunately, I think too many people only want to learn certain key moves. That's why so many vides look the same. How many glowstringer videos look different? Not many. How many poi videos look different? Not many. Even with all the diversification we have out there, there is still this sameness. Some of it can be attributed to the small list of possibilities that was poi 3 years ago. And, some of the rest can be contributed to the fact that the categories of diversification are deep enough yet. This is why I said earlier that I didn't yet agree with AP's statement that we all have something that no other spinner can do.

However, I still think we are on the verge of a renaissance. I think these ideas are progressing enough that pretty soon we will start to see more diversification in the videos. The each new area we advance in carries with it half the patterns we knew previously. When you think of the fact that there's been 8-9 of these new areas to pop up, you will see that we've got 4 times the amount of patterns out there accessible to us without venturing into the intercombinations of the new areas with each other. As these permutations build off each other, I think the list of 'key moves I want to learn' will be bigger than the present list 'moves available'. Then, we will see true diversification.

I think all the seeds have been planted. Some visionaries saw it coming. More people see it now. I think there are still many of us that can't fathom this bigger picture, because we simply can't imagine what it would be like. We understand, but we just can't see it. I mean what would it be like to spin a routine made solely of patterns -you- designed.

Written by: duvan

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Now there is one question I would love to ask Robbo
Do you have any regrets?

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Written by:

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Your thread is like "I had a bad motivation and finally found a purer
one".

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its not meant to be. that worked for me and i grew up.

Written by:

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When I started spinning a few years ago I watched all of your videos. I
remember you writing when I asked you how to improve my style "Practise like
. If you get tired practise more. If it starts to hurt practise even
more. Practise, practise, practise."
With these 3 sentences you really motivated me enough to push myself higher
and higher. You were so to say my only teacher.

So my motivation was to become just as good as you or even better. And I do
not have regrets.

When I met you the first time at the BJC 2004 in Derby I recognized that you
were not that brilliant as you were in your videos. You did not play that
clean and smooth. So please don't be mad with me for being honest
but this was a very important insight for me.

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Written by:

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I started to find out that the way you played in "real life" was not the way
I wanted to play my poi. So I started to develope my own things, my own style
and so on. You see I almost had the same motivation as you had. So one might
think "this poor lil' stubborn boy never felt the real joy of poi" but hell I
did. The "new" motivation for spinning is simply to move my body, listen to
some music and being glad. But it is not that much better than the old one. It
is not more prudent or even fulfilling. Sometimes I miss this personal
challenge, this thrilling feeling of competition

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Written by:

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No one of you saw me really spinning since there isn't anybody living in the
Bavarian forest who also takes part in these spinnish things. This is what
made me some kind of bystander concerning the international spinning
community. And this gave me enough distance from all of you to be some kind of
opposition to the typical "we-love-all" mentality

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typical we-love-all mentality? can you explain what you mean by that? i have a feeling i have a fundamental disagreement with this concept as you see it, but i'm not prepared to stick my head out until i know what you mean....

well, that may or may not answer your questions....

incidentally i look back at the videos that you talk about and cringe.... partly because i spin so differently to that now, and (imo) much better(now, no jumping on that, i never said anything about self competition and improving yourself), and partly because i was soooo proud

anyway. as the lovely and ubertalented richee would say

love nad light

R

Written by:

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i want to know how people feel spinning is developing and has changed since you started. i want to know what you respect about people that inspire you, and how you feel that inspiration is good for the community at large. i want to know what you don't like about the new spinning community, and how it has been belittled by its incredible growth.

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for all of you who are arguing over how you can define best in an artistic sense, please stop. there are many threads about that, mostly titled 'poi in the olympics' or something....

thanks

now to get back to wading through posts in order to answer bits of them