Tattooed Spinnerstranger
11 posts
Location: Derbyshire, UK


Posted:
Hi,

I hope this is in the right place, I've learned a fair few moves but i seem to get "stuck" in one move and find it really hard to move to something else. I've tried searching all over the internet for help on this but nothing seems to quite do it.

Basically, I'm more into it from a dance/performance angle so I want things that look pretty. Preferably for performing in a round. I can do a fountain, but thats really the only thing where i can change moves.

Sorry if this has already been asked, I did do a search.

BansheeCatBRONZE Member
veteran
1,247 posts
Location: lost, Canada


Posted:
Hi! I would suggest getting something like Nick Woolseys Scales of Poi dvd to work with, or one of the others...

It will give you the concepts to develop, rather than a series of tricks. If you understand what plane your movement is in, and the timing, it will become clear what options you have to easily and gracefully flow into another movement or variation!

If you just want one simple thing to help free up your movement, try experimenting with stalls, cause from them you can go into pretty much anything-- a different plane, different timing or direction. Pendulums are also fun for this!

An exercise Bluecat gave us in one workshop was to list 26 moves we can do( you can use different directions or planes and timing variations to expand your list if you dont know many tricks) attach a letter of the alphabet to each one. Then spell your name, and try to dance it, creating new transitions between each of the "letter" movements. It really serves to break you out of your patterns, makes you get creative about transitioning!
good luck!
smiles
a

"God *was* my co-pilot, but then we crashed, and I had to eat him..."


Mother_Natures_SonSILVER Member
Rampant whirler.
2,418 posts
Location: Geelong, Victoria, Australia!


Posted:
I'd recommend Scales of Poi to the dance oriented poister.... I dunno about the others since A) I've not seen them and B) I've got the inkling they're more trick based...

I'd say go with the scales DVD.

I also agree with BansheeCat that stalls are great for ease of transitions... I can't really give any clues on how to achieve transitions because I did so much work on stalls that my transitions are all very much intuitive. Using a bit of a wrap is also quite good.

This is a video that I made on stalls and I think its actually a good lesson so I'm gonna link it to you. smile



One thing on transitions is that you should try to break the steps down, try finding where you can stop.

To explain in terms of a weave, you can clearly turn in a weave if you can do the fountain, but try while doing the weave stopping off to one side of your body and spreading your hands apart so that each poi spins independantly... as in a 'lockout'

You should now be facing a wall plane rather than being in a wheel plane. Turn to face the opposite direction to the way you started and then go from that position into a reverse weave.

This is how I teach turning with a weave.

"Well thats all very well and good, but I already knew how to turn with a weave"

The point is in that point at which you're facing a wall plane. From there you can move into practically anything, you could bounce a poi off your wrist to turn it the other way and go into a butterfly, for example, you could quite simply go from that point into a buzzsaw.

Good luck, Tattooed spinner! smile

hug


astonSILVER Member
Unofficial Chairperson of Squirrel Defense League
4,061 posts
Location: South Africa


Posted:
Good answers.

I would also add to the advice with a suggestion to look where a given move can be broken. So a butterfly can be broken into two circles, going in opposite directions. If you do something to one of them, you do not have to do the same thing (or anything) to the other. And if they tangle or something, well, either you tried something at the wrong time or at the slightly wrong place or something and you need to try again. You should get a lot of ideas doing that. This assumes that your mind is wired a bit like mine though, which may be unwarranted.

'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


Mother_Natures_SonSILVER Member
Rampant whirler.
2,418 posts
Location: Geelong, Victoria, Australia!


Posted:
Originally Posted By: astonGood answers.

I would also add to the advice with a suggestion to look where a given move can be broken. So a butterfly can be broken into two circles, going in opposite directions. If you do something to one of them, you do not have to do the same thing (or anything) to the other. And if they tangle or something, well, either you tried something at the wrong time or at the slightly wrong place or something and you need to try again. You should get a lot of ideas doing that. This assumes that your mind is wired a bit like mine though, which may be unwarranted.

Just in case you read this, Tattooedspinner and get confused in retrospect about what I'd said... this is actually pretty much what I said, but said much more succinctly. ^_^

Aston has more correctly said "break" whereas I somewhat ambiguously said "stop" break is a much better term for what I meant. smile

hug


Tattooed Spinnerstranger
11 posts
Location: Derbyshire, UK


Posted:
Thanks for that. The answers you've given *seem* to make sense (for now at least).

I've got the scales DVD, I just wondered if any of you had any tips. I'll definately try what you've said. I guess i need to practise my stalls!

Thanks again

DyamiTKGOLD Member
beginner forever
159 posts
Location: Santa Cruz, Ca, USA


Posted:
Everything is everything is a different direction (simplified). All poi moves share common positions with other moves. The essence of transitioning from one pattern to another is finding those common positions.

A simple example can be changing between forwards and backwards weave Like MNS described. In both forwards and backwards weaves the poi go through a point where they are unwound and on the same side (I call that position lock-out). From that neutral position the poi can be taken in either direction.
Another example I like is transitioning between directions with stalls. Vertical stalls can be done from both same-time-same-direction spinning and from same-time-opposite-direction spinning.


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