Forums > Beginner Poi Moves > Variations
Login/Join to ParticipateSILVER Member
Rampant whirler.
2,418 posts
Location: Geelong, Victoria, Australia!
Rampant whirler.
2,418 posts
Location: Geelong, Victoria, Australia!
Posted:
Lets get some sharing going on different variations of more basic movements.
Theres another thread I had going that made reference to Canoes, thats one variation.
Another is butterfly corkscrews, could also be classified as a variation on a thread the needle as its the same but in horizontal plane.
Is there anything that any of you have come up with or just enjoy? Doesn't need to be your own creation, just something to share.
Any level of experience is welcome to throw in their two cents.
Lets get some sharing going on different variations of more basic movements.
Theres another thread I had going that made reference to Canoes, thats one variation.
Another is butterfly corkscrews, could also be classified as a variation on a thread the needle as its the same but in horizontal plane.
Is there anything that any of you have come up with or just enjoy? Doesn't need to be your own creation, just something to share.
Any level of experience is welcome to throw in their two cents.
GOLD Member
enthusiast
290 posts
Location: Everywhere, USA
enthusiast
290 posts
Location: Everywhere, USA
Posted:
Now hold on a sec, I'd think of TTN as stacking on side atop the other over and over, with some pushing and pulling along the axis of spin for good measure. There are no plan-facing flips (crossovers) unless you then start throwing in inswings...
Soooo, I'd hesitate to call a horizontal TTN a bfly corkscrew. You can do horizontal versions of bfly "weaves" and "windmills" (both seem a lil lame to tack those names on to bfly moves, cuz there are some fundamental differences). Since a corkscrew is usually split-same 2-beat plan-facing switches with the crossover points landing in the same place, but offset in time... I'd say that a bfly corckscrew would be similar... which I bet a lot of us have played with at some point or another.
That said, all those lovely horizontal blfy varients are great fun. Also horizontal versions of inswung moves, inversions, introversions (which change somehow... gotta look more at that), etc.
As a fun game do a move in some plane, ie horizontal or wheel, or wall, and bend your torso over sideways. You get to observe the changes in symmetry in the move due to plane and body orientation, adding or subtracting beats, or changing a move with X beats that is symmetrical to X beats asymmetrical. Doing this type of thing will go a long way towards teaching you to adapt moves to different zones and angles around your body... variations here we come!!
+Alien Jon
Now hold on a sec, I'd think of TTN as stacking on side atop the other over and over, with some pushing and pulling along the axis of spin for good measure. There are no plan-facing flips (crossovers) unless you then start throwing in inswings...
Soooo, I'd hesitate to call a horizontal TTN a bfly corkscrew. You can do horizontal versions of bfly "weaves" and "windmills" (both seem a lil lame to tack those names on to bfly moves, cuz there are some fundamental differences). Since a corkscrew is usually split-same 2-beat plan-facing switches with the crossover points landing in the same place, but offset in time... I'd say that a bfly corckscrew would be similar... which I bet a lot of us have played with at some point or another.
That said, all those lovely horizontal blfy varients are great fun. Also horizontal versions of inswung moves, inversions, introversions (which change somehow... gotta look more at that), etc.
As a fun game do a move in some plane, ie horizontal or wheel, or wall, and bend your torso over sideways. You get to observe the changes in symmetry in the move due to plane and body orientation, adding or subtracting beats, or changing a move with X beats that is symmetrical to X beats asymmetrical. Doing this type of thing will go a long way towards teaching you to adapt moves to different zones and angles around your body... variations here we come!!
+Alien Jon
+Alien Jon
SILVER Member
Rampant whirler.
2,418 posts
Location: Geelong, Victoria, Australia!
Rampant whirler.
2,418 posts
Location: Geelong, Victoria, Australia!
Posted:
Well, I would have said that a butterfly weave was a thread the needle variant anyway, but I guess I'm less rigid with my terminology, I tend just to lump everything in the same category because its fun. 
Pendulums, stalls, plane changes and point isolations all suddenly get lumped in the same category.
Well, I would have said that a butterfly weave was a thread the needle variant anyway, but I guess I'm less rigid with my terminology, I tend just to lump everything in the same category because its fun. Pendulums, stalls, plane changes and point isolations all suddenly get lumped in the same category.
BRONZE Member
Pooh-Bah
1,872 posts
Location: Canada
Pooh-Bah
1,872 posts
Location: Canada
Posted:
I've been racking my brain trying to come up with anything I could call a variation, and so far I'm coming up empty..
I do an "interesting" thing with the 4beat corkscrew that might qualify.
Instead of just standing there, doing it I prefer to lower the poi to the ground by bending one leg, keeping the other straight until the poi are just skimming the ground on the lower half of the move.
When it's time for the ceiling plane portion, I stand up in a wide stance and lower the poi again, but this time by bending the other leg creating, in effect a pyramid shape pattern were the move to be photographed.
Finish the whole thing off by wrapping one poi around my waist ( throw in a pirouette here, just for grins, and end up in a ceiling plane TTN.
I've been racking my brain trying to come up with anything I could call a variation, and so far I'm coming up empty..
I do an "interesting" thing with the 4beat corkscrew that might qualify.
Instead of just standing there, doing it I prefer to lower the poi to the ground by bending one leg, keeping the other straight until the poi are just skimming the ground on the lower half of the move.
When it's time for the ceiling plane portion, I stand up in a wide stance and lower the poi again, but this time by bending the other leg creating, in effect a pyramid shape pattern were the move to be photographed.
Finish the whole thing off by wrapping one poi around my waist ( throw in a pirouette here, just for grins, and end up in a ceiling plane TTN.
SILVER Member
Unofficial Chairperson of Squirrel Defense League
4,061 posts
Location: South Africa
Unofficial Chairperson of Squirrel Defense League
4,061 posts
Location: South Africa
Posted:
Hmmm.... I have been shown a butterfly tangle in horizontal.
From what I remember, you do a TTN in horizontal and let the collide like an airwrap. Have not tried it since someone showed me early last year though, so can not answer more.
Does not seem to revolutionary though....
Hmmm.... I have been shown a butterfly tangle in horizontal.
From what I remember, you do a TTN in horizontal and let the collide like an airwrap. Have not tried it since someone showed me early last year though, so can not answer more.
Does not seem to revolutionary though....
'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad." [said the Cat.]
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland
SILVER Member
Rampant whirler.
2,418 posts
Location: Geelong, Victoria, Australia!
Rampant whirler.
2,418 posts
Location: Geelong, Victoria, Australia!
Posted:
Hahaha, I wasn't after anything revolutionary, per se. Just a place to discuss variations to give one another some ideas on the basic ways we've been playing around, even to provide ideas to newbies.
I also didn't mean for everyone to stick in the horizontal plane!
Variations on anything.
Hahaha, I wasn't after anything revolutionary, per se. Just a place to discuss variations to give one another some ideas on the basic ways we've been playing around, even to provide ideas to newbies.
I also didn't mean for everyone to stick in the horizontal plane!
Variations on anything.
SILVER Member
Unofficial Chairperson of Squirrel Defense League
4,061 posts
Location: South Africa
Unofficial Chairperson of Squirrel Defense League
4,061 posts
Location: South Africa
Posted:
You can do a sort of weave by keeping one arm extended and just doing figure-8s with that and passing the other in the normal over, under across pattern.
If done very cleanly over time you end up with a few circles next to each other if you also swap sides.
You can do a sort of weave by keeping one arm extended and just doing figure-8s with that and passing the other in the normal over, under across pattern.
If done very cleanly over time you end up with a few circles next to each other if you also swap sides.
'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad." [said the Cat.]
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland
GOLD Member
beginner forever
159 posts
Location: Santa Cruz, Ca, USA
beginner forever
159 posts
Location: Santa Cruz, Ca, USA
Posted:
Overall, everything is everything in a different direction.
Some of my favorite variations are extended, higher beats, behind the back, in a different plane, isolated.
The idea is you take a foundational movement like the weave or TTN, and then do it in a new placement or size. For example, do a horizontal TTN while leaning back and extend the close beats.
Overall, everything is everything in a different direction.
Some of my favorite variations are extended, higher beats, behind the back, in a different plane, isolated.
The idea is you take a foundational movement like the weave or TTN, and then do it in a new placement or size. For example, do a horizontal TTN while leaning back and extend the close beats.
SILVER Member
enthusiast
315 posts
Location: Melbourne, Australia
enthusiast
315 posts
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posted:
Originally Posted By: DyamiTKOverall, everything is everything in a different direction.
Some of my favorite variations are extended, higher beats, behind the back, in a different plane, isolated.
The idea is you take a foundational movement like the weave or TTN, and then do it in a new placement or size. For example, do a horizontal TTN while leaning back and extend the close beats.
Precisely, I was trying to think of a variation I like, but there's far too much to chose from. The simplest little difference to a movement could make it classified as a "variation". I mean, you can combine most movements, planes, positions etc to create a wealth of different looking outcomes. On top of that, as you were saying, you can extend your arms, isolate, beat manipulate etc also. That's one of the beautiful things about poi, there is so much room for personal style, there are so many ways of just doing a 3 beat weave, which is what makes everybody's 3 beat weave slightly unique to them.
Everything in poi is a variation on just spinning them. And some of these fundamental variations have been given names for the sake of terminology and communication. It's all just building blocks.
Originally Posted By: DyamiTKOverall, everything is everything in a different direction.
Some of my favorite variations are extended, higher beats, behind the back, in a different plane, isolated.
The idea is you take a foundational movement like the weave or TTN, and then do it in a new placement or size. For example, do a horizontal TTN while leaning back and extend the close beats.
Precisely, I was trying to think of a variation I like, but there's far too much to chose from. The simplest little difference to a movement could make it classified as a "variation". I mean, you can combine most movements, planes, positions etc to create a wealth of different looking outcomes. On top of that, as you were saying, you can extend your arms, isolate, beat manipulate etc also. That's one of the beautiful things about poi, there is so much room for personal style, there are so many ways of just doing a 3 beat weave, which is what makes everybody's 3 beat weave slightly unique to them.
Everything in poi is a variation on just spinning them. And some of these fundamental variations have been given names for the sake of terminology and communication. It's all just building blocks.
SILVER Member
Rum-Swilling Combustioneer
227 posts
Location: Macungie, PA, USA
Rum-Swilling Combustioneer
227 posts
Location: Macungie, PA, USA
Posted:
Well.... there's the asymmetric 3-beat weave - you do a 5-beat hand motion on one side, and 2-beat on the other. You still get a total of 3 beats, but they're flip flopped. There are other asymmetric variations in the same vein that you can play with.
You can also play around with pendulums - not a separate "pendulum" weave, but for instance, in the 5-beat weave, you can make the last beat on each side a pendulum (or stall); the poi only completes half of its revolution before being yanked to the other side in a semi-corkscrew fashion. I'm not sure that made sense, but using techniques like that also adds a layering effect and makes your spinning more 3-dimentional, without relying on atomics or overt plane changes.
Well.... there's the asymmetric 3-beat weave - you do a 5-beat hand motion on one side, and 2-beat on the other. You still get a total of 3 beats, but they're flip flopped. There are other asymmetric variations in the same vein that you can play with.
You can also play around with pendulums - not a separate "pendulum" weave, but for instance, in the 5-beat weave, you can make the last beat on each side a pendulum (or stall); the poi only completes half of its revolution before being yanked to the other side in a semi-corkscrew fashion. I'm not sure that made sense, but using techniques like that also adds a layering effect and makes your spinning more 3-dimentional, without relying on atomics or overt plane changes.
Bouncing Baby Pipe!
© 1998 - 2025 Home of Poi
All prices converted to United States dollars using XE.com