Multi prop pros and cons...

Im also a multi-proper, this kinda happened by accident and there have been times when i've thought i really should put more time into say,staff because im putting all my effort into clubs atm. I've decided to take a more long term look at things though, if i work on lots of stuff bit at a time in 10 years ill be good at everything! (i hope)
Anyway, just one prop isnt enough to satisfy my seemingly inexhustible apetite to fiddle and play with stuff anymore.
Also, going professional has meant that i've needed to be more adaptable to what clients want, i didn't originally want to learn to club juggle but there is such a demand for it that i kinda had to, and once i started i got into it just as much as everything else, so no bad thing really.

I play with three things, so I guess technically I'm a multi-propper, but not to the same extent as others here are. I've often pondered this topic myself, so I'm glad this thread got started.

Poi, contact ball and hoop are what I do. No regrets, except sometimes when I see an exceptional poi spinner I think to myself "I bet I could be doing that if it wasn't for all the hours I've spent hooping instead..." And so on for all the toys I play with. These thoughts are not helpful in any way.

My main problem now is frustration at not having enough time to practice everything as much as I want, but I can't say I regret picking up any of these toys, they're all so much fun. But hoop is the one I'm feeling most, so that's where my main focus has been lately.

I thought it would be cool as a performer to be able to do many things, but since my performance interest and ambitions have waned, full-on mastery of something is seeming more appealing, yet the thought of dropping any one of the toys I play with just makes me sad.

I agree with Khan about the practicing. If you have 4 toys to practice with over the course of an hour, that leaves 15min per toy. Enough time to keep your skill solid, but I find it tends to take about 20-30 min-ish to really get into a creative channel.

It frustrates me not to be as good as I want to be with everything I like (swords, staff, devils). Im now narrowing my practice to poi for awhile. Not that I still dont multi prop. I put 75% ish of my time on poi most days. Multi prop & prop combination at other times. All that i use goes toward poi and allows me to transfer what I learn to all the props, like a circle (twin (small) hoop and dbl staff).

Used in the right combination multi proping can strengthen your main prop.

In my mind the only REAL con is if you unbalancely practice, in which case you will learn alot a first but never progress to the heights that you want.

The main pro is using the right combinations can help make all 3 processes strong.

Then say a year or two down the road move into another say triangle but make sure to keep the ones you love close to your heart.

Nice thread I must say!

I use two things, a contactball and a pair of poi.

And haven`t I tried more things? Interesting question and I guess it`s because when I wanna try other things it`s beacause im stuck in my poi, I cant get any further. And this is where many people go on to something else. And I dont mean that as a bad thing, probably the other way around cos im so stubborn that I stay with my poi and refuse to open my eyes for something else. But on the other hand, when I finally finds an exit from where ivè bin stuck I feel so happy and my knowledge keeps improving and you reach a level when people ask for your help and that makes me feel good.
I never had a big knowledge about anything and now I have poi and I feel so good when I can help people. Yes it`s ridiculus that I feel good about helping people that has problem with there poi. Help people that really needs help instead is what people tell me when I say this. But I love what I do, can`t you let me be happy about this and enjoy the happy faces I see when teaching people?

Now I just writing without any idea of what im writing about but I let it be as wrote it.

So way do I use a big shiny contactball? Two reasons:

* It`s so easy to travel with and I can practice on a buss, on a small space or anywhere where I can have a ball in my hand. That you can surerly not do with poi

*it improves my bodycontroll alot and the fine differences between a body position and another.

For being a realm of balancing objects, its ironic how hard it is to balance using different tools. I can only consider myself dabbling in contact ball. Its an excellent travel tool and for focusing on my own body (where the ball rests, how my joints must rotate to continue balancing, ect).

That, in turn, has helped me immensely with my contact staff work, in exercises like palmspins, head spins, fishtails, angel rolls, and so many moves where I am trying to increase the rotation to a continuous kind of move (like jesus, and simple continuous halos) But, I dont think I would have ever picked up fishtails if it hadnt been for my flowersticks.

however, my staff work has never really been explored beyond that. It and contact ball have kind of been used as ways to help each other. They have, though, been useful in letting me distract my head from compex poi patterns that sometimes frustrate me.

When I play with contact moves like wibbles or when I move into experiments in negative space and the like, I find a connection to what I've learned in contact ball and it encourages me to try and practice the other and learn more.

Im with Richee in that I love focusing on my poi, but reaching those milestones and breakthroughs are coming less and less. Until I manage to actually comprehend the text of Alien Jon and others regarding the "poi code", I feel like I simply struggle slowly through the more complex poi techniques. Not that it isn't fun. I absolutely love it.

So, while I have multiple props, I only really consider myself a single prop user.

Pros:
-when it comes to travel (and travelling light) poi takes priority and life becomes simple.
-each of the other tools has definitely had an impact and influence on me being able to progress on the others.
-I feel my poi work has reached a more mature level that I couldnt have reached if I hadn't started experimenting with how different types of props are used and manipulated. (hybrids are much easier when understanding antispin staff thorougly)

Cons:
-sure I would love to do more staff, but until an expensive breakdown staff becomes feasible for me, it always gets left behind

-just because I focus on one prop doesnt mean I dont have a problem deciding on what tools to take: 2 sets of flags, 4 very different sets of poi, and 2 fire poi sets make the bag get bulky enough. Toss in an acrylic and one stage ball or lacrosse ball and things get silly. You start removing things from your bag like cameras, socks, and toothpaste just to fit that last set of tools.

-because practicing poi is the top concern, I havent felt like my staff work has progressed far enough, nor will I be likely to start working on short doubles anytime soon.

Well written dude!

Jane of all trades here as well.

I have always come at this from a very different point of view. I was a performer first and was looking to expand my repetoire of skills (not toy specific). For me it was more of finding ways to cross the lines of "circus", "sideshow", dance and storytelling using the various skills, never to be the biggest, baddest or best but to make it fit with what I already do. Therefore, my list of pro's and con's will be directly related to that.


Cons of multi-prop for me:

-I too have found that transporting props is more problematic than it is for my friends who only juggle or only play fiddle, for example. Even a simple day out never really is.
-I have also found, like others, that I don't progress with single objects as fast. There are the odd moments where I look at someone and sigh wistfully, but in the end I am ok with it as long as I can work what I can do into the presentation I want.
-Not as cost effective, personally. If I were only into poi, let's say, then I am sure I wouldn't have spent as much money as I have on the various props I have purchased or have made.
-More props means more costume adjustments. Odd to think of, but alot of props I can't do fully in my skirts, so I had to adjust my costume to look like a skirt but be pants. Devil sticks in my bodice is easier than poi in it, for example.

The pro's for me:
- More is more markettable. I know that we've been hired for gigs over a friend who specializes in balloon twisting, for example. The more diverse we are across the board, the more we are able to book.
-Cross over. I have found that diversification has allowed me easier cross over into other props, even dance props such as melayaa (a kind of heavy, large veil) or cane have been influenced by my work with poi or staff, and the reverse, to be sure.
-Not bored. Yeah, I agree.
-I agree that it has also opened alot of personal relationships for me compared to those that I know who specialize. But, even beyond that, we have been approached by different people after shows who each liked a different element. I even see it with my son and his friends. One loves the staff and another the poi, but the neighbor girl who is terrified of staff and poi thinks devil sticks are more fun. We are able to cultivate relationships of budding interest with more people I think.

I can see the benefits and draw-backs of both specialization and diversification.

I have never regretted my choice to diversify. I love to learn. Through these tools I've learned alot about cultures, history and people and it seems the more I take on, the more I learn and the happier I am.

Beyond my shows, I also seem to think that my a.d.d. plays into my wanting to more stuff up, as well as my constant need for challenge. I get bored, or inspired, or...oooh look, Shiney!



*editted for spelling

I do a bit of everything too.

I started out juggling 3 balls, and was only interested in finding as many complex "rave" style patterns as I could. Did this for a couple of years and then moved onto 4+ balls and more traditional style juggling.

About the same time my friend was getting heavily into single staff but I was starting to get too obsessed with contact ball (especially in 3 ball juggling) tricks to really notice. I'd played briefly with poi, decided it was for sissy girls (i.e. I couldn't do it and really didn't want to smash my balls again) and left it alone.

Then comes double staff. In the last 18 months I've been playing with sticks more than any other prop, I love the body movement aspects, I can dance with it like I can dance with 3 balls, but it has a totally different effect.

I definitely didn't intend to play with lots of props. In fact I never intended to learn 4 balls to begin with, I wanted to be "the Best 3 Ball Juggler In The World (tm)". But I'm incredibly glad I have done. I love how movements and effects transfer between different toys, staying the same yet completely different.

Its even allowed me to do a little poi, although my style is a bit strange - easy spin stuff mixed with silly throws, whip catches etc

Its all a journey though isn't it? At the moment I feel like I've found the grail - staff juggling. I started out only wanting to juggle 3 objects, went on a journey and somehow ended up finding the ultimate 3 object juggling prop, its all happened just as it was supposed to.

It is pretty awkward with the transport I agree! I carry 4 staves and 7 balls around with me normally. If I'm going out for a full day in the park I need to add 7 clubs, a contact ball, sock poi, and of course 6 litres of juice, not easy to carry!

Um, I had a point I was heading towards but now I've forgotten it, hmmmmmm. I might add it later if my brain wakes up...

I have not had the time really to pick up something else. That said, I love my poi, but am going to start learning staff as well.

Once I get comfortable with a single, will do double too.

Anything involving throwing is likely to frustrate me too much. Hence no juggling.

I guess I'd say I'm a multipropper.

#1 would be poi. I'd still say I'm best at poi, even though it would get the least amount of my attention. I think I am at the stage where I am happy to pick up poi to any song, any rhythm and I can dance to it and not get stuck and not hit myself, and make it look different everytime so I am quite pleased with where I am.

I don't try for the 'advanced' moves that an average joe wouldn't be able to notice the difference between. I'll try things that are different and interesting, but once I know the 3 beat and 5 beat weave.. is there really any point in knowing the 7beat?

Next I picked up chucks. I was really into them for a while and even made up firechucks.
But, with chucks, you let go of them all the time, and I'm just not confortable with this level of possibility for error. There's still that _% chance of them flying out of my hands and into the audience, even though I've spent x amount of hours paying with them.

So for me to get to a true performance level... I've decided that, for the best interests of the troupe, I'll spend my time elsewhere.

3. Staff I can do all the basics and corners etc etc, and I even taught double staff at Perth's SpunOut, but the four male members of our troupe are way better than me so there's not really a need for me to get better at it so.. I don't practice.

4. Fingers/fans/sticks/fire-eating
This just comes naturally as I love dancing. Fire eating i need to practice more because I'm used to small firefinger wicks now and a newly lit firestick makes me go "eeek!"

5. Hooping
Our new toy!! Hoop takes most of my time now. It's something completely different, and something only the gals can do, and something that can be in fire and glow shows, so it's the most important thing for me to be practicing. And I'm loving it. I haven't got bored of it because there's just so many new tricks to learn!


I love having a multiple of things to do. It's really useful because after a day of hooping, I'll have bruises on my knees/thighs/hip bones so then I can work on poi of something that doesn't have body contact.

Bad things...
Carrying hoops on trains/buses is really really annoying.
I'll never be best at anything (though I don't really care...)
If I find some move frustrating I'll just go to a different prop (because I'm lazy and bad like that..)

Pros
I love doing them all!!!
You can't do a show with just poi... We have poi and staff and fingers and sticks and orb and hoop and sword and snakes and whip and...
It makes things more interesting! There's always something more try! I'm never going to get to the 'end' of all these props and not have something to challenge me!
The more props I do, the more people I have to talk to and teach/learn off, the more social spinning is.

So to me it's a huge pro. If I had done just poi... I would be much better at it than I am now... but only other spinners would be able to tell the difference
I wouldn't be in a troupe because i wouldn't be versatile enough, so I wouldn't be able to earn money from it, and i wouldn't have met Mr HotStuff, and then I wouldn't have gone to Thailand, and wouldn't be going to Africa at the end of the year.. and I wouldn't be moving in with him...

So life would be a lot different and lamer without Jed... I mean multiple toys..

Why can't the fellas do hoop? I'd love to get one; in fact, I just found out one of my neighbors makes 'em so I may commission one from her!

I can't consider myself a multi-propper just because I'm not even good enough to consider myself a single-propper with poi! However, as others have mentioned, I find some skills carry over, and general honing of hand-eye coordination is apparent.

It's just fun, though! Since picking up devil sticks I've started doing poi (which has since become my favorite), juggling clubs, staff, and contact ball (well, a little, but I'm not good at it one bit!). I keep 'em all in my livingroom so they get pretty much equal use, every time I pass I tend to pick something up and spin it for a while. Honestly, I don't have the patience or dedication to focus on just one skill, as much as I envy those people who achieve technical greatness.

"Why can't the fellas do hoop?"
Ok, I meant the guys don't want to hoop, and have never tried, therefore can't hoop. :P

I'm sure there are many men in the world with 1337 hooping skills.

Honestly, as a man, I would love to get into hooping. The circle just epitomizes spinniness to me. Only reason I have yet to pick it up is its size and portability factor.

Still, its the one tool in this arena which my wife has shown an interest in, and I would love to get her involved and spinning with me.

As for gentlemen hoopers, Ive always been inspired by Barry Clement, who lives in the same city as I do and operates SuperHoopers.org. He does some very interesting things with a hoop that has little to do with simply spinning it on his hips.

Oh, hoop would be so nice...

I've been one kind of a hopeless monkey-minder...

When I started travelling I was free... Really I was one happy content guy who only needed a few skins, rolling tobacco and a sixpack.... I didn't know what I was missing.

Over the first years I picked up playing the Didj - here come 5 odd kgs of solid tubing on top of my clothes.
Next I was learning wire wrapping jewellery... tools, silver wire and crystals = some 10kgs more.
Got myself into photography, propped up 12kgs of camera equipment...
The DJ equipment I never really dragged around much and passed most of it to my friend anyway.
Went into staff and Poi... 6kgs more because I like heavy staff (1 long, 2 short) and heavy Poi...

When I travelled to Koh PhaNgan 6 years ago to stay for three months, I dragged some pathetic 60kgs of luggage across Buddha pier, receiving pitiful looks from fellow travellers who only went there for a full-moon party.
My 2 months stay in Rio two years later have not been much better: I replaced the 10kgs for wire wrapping with a 4kg Djembe and saved on clothing...

Over the time I gave up on analogue photography. Ecological and economical reasons. Rolls don't cope with the heat, foreign labs don't do the job right and in the end I double exposed some 10 rolls of film - simply because I failed to note exactly how many pictures I've already been taking with which roll - I just gave up on it.
Less 12kgs - but hey, contact staff and massive fireswords, three clubs and balls and compound bows as replacement.

So last year I travelled to India twice, once from Europe (70kgs) and once from Thailand (80kgs)... Hard to believe my luck that all in all I only had to pay 150 Euro in overweight on all four (inter/national) legs of the flights.

This may sound like the HOP single (male) auction but now I'm the despaired owner of a mountain of costume material, and costumes, 2 french Crepe and 2 Belgium Waffle irons,
(estimated) 5kgs of silver(wire) and 6kgs of nice crystals/gemstones + heeps of tools,
got 3 compound bows to shoot with (two right one left in India and Germany),
3 fire swords,
4 Nun Chucks (in India and Germany),
1 Caisa (Hang derivate),
6 Didjes (some of them still unfinished),
4 Boomerang,
10 firestaff (most of them unfinished),
4 Djembes (three in Germany, one in India),
2 compact Congas/ incl. stand (one in India one in Germany),
a full set of (analogue) camera equipment (incl. a full set of studio lights),
8 rings for juggling,
6 clubs, 2 leather whips, some 5 set of Poi,
some DJ decks, amplifier, 800 old CD's of House and Trance I would most likely never listen to again,
around 80 cotton bags left for staff that I had made in India and couldn't sell as Chinese fishing bags are on the market - way cheaper,
some 50 pair of ThaiPoi
a pair of Dura-stilts (the other 5 pair of woodlegs I donated to a kindergarden before leaving Goa)
and I'll not go into all the other (minor) stuff that is spread out between Munich and Anjuna, in my own car trailer, my friends shed and my home in India... I'm dedicated to let go of it asap.

But "asap" didn't come for some years already... Already I'm opting for a plastic slide Didj and Compact Congas, still they lean on my Enfield terribly...

Fact of the matter is that sometimes, somewhere along the way, someone told me that "you need to let go of something, if you want to pick up something new". Guess I ignored her statement so far.

I shalt become a singer... or a triangle player.

Nope at this point I'm not a happy 'multi-propper'...
"FireHoop" not even a collapsible one, my friend... Bring one to EJC and to Arambol and I will happily practice with them, but "owning"....

Tom.... Wow. Waffle irons?? Haha I just keep my stuff in a duffel bag and carry my ghetto-staff!

But I hafta ask, are they the souvenir type boomerangs or the massive demolish-whatever-is-unfortunate-enough-to-get-in-its-way kind?

Also, what is the caisa like? I've always wanted to get my hands on one of those hang drums (if that's what you mean by hang derivative) but they're deucedly hard-to-get.

Since I've started spinning my focus has been on staff as it just seems natural to me. I've played with a few other toys, namely meteor and short doubles, but I usually ended up putting them down and going back to my staff.

Recently however I've picked up the short doubles again, it's nice to take a break and do something less strenuous after you tire yourself out. Plus I can make fancy poi like patterns and use fancy poi terminology like hybrids and such without having to learn poi. Also it helps to know a little doubles to learn triples, and triples involves contact so it brings me back to square one. Yay.

I have a contact juggling ball for in case I really really really can't bring my staff with me somewhere (I bring the thing everywhere) to develope some synergistic flow.

I'd say I am very happy and have found that the skills cross over from toy to toy. Especially when there's not much of a difference between them.

@Mucky: It's the "massive demolish-whatever-is-unfortunate-enough-to-get-in-its-way kind" along with some "one-way-types"...

Caisa? Sorry to say but I'd only opt for the original Hang in the future....