Forums > Beginner Poi Moves > I need opinions and help?

Posted: 15th Jun 2010
The more you learn, the more transitions you'll have. Your video looks good, you're consistent. Not constantly hitting yourself, which is even better.
Compliments on how much you've learned, at six months I was abysmal.
Your planes look clean, keep up the work on the flowers, and if you really wanna get good, learn the lingo inside and out. Youtube is an amazing resource.
Maybe you know this...
good luck!
EDITED_BY: anelaen (1276548524)

"you have to imagine the impossible is merely preposterous"

Posted: 16th Jun 2010
Thank you. I've gotten pretty good at dodging! Hahaha. I will keep trolling youtube and of course keep my eye on the tut's here.

Posted: 16th Jun 2010
I like it. It seemed more dancy than most people

The only luck is bad luck.

Shut up before I stall my poi up your ass

Posted: 16th Jun 2010
*uber applause* Finally another person like myself who is attempting to dance with the poi!!! Yes!!! Now dance more (like don't look hesitant to move your body and just groove with it, it's fun I swear!) and what you did will look 10X better and having the rotations match the BPM of the song you pick will help clean it up too.

For transitions, I noticed that you never once used the joy of stalls and they really open you up to many transitions and they give a wow appearance too. All the standard turns and extensions are simple and will open you up to more things along with learning reels on top of the waves you know and switching them out.

I think you did great and should dance a lot more than you were, clearly your body wanted to so allow it to rock out!

Most of my videos are on my facepage so add me if you want to have a visual reference of grooving and dancing with poi (well attempting to) YouTube keeps eating my audio tracks and forcing me to swap what I was actually spinning to so yeah I've given up on their endless audio swaps.
EDITED_BY: EpitomeOfNovice (1276703469)

~Rock on!~

"As the pattern gets more intricate and subtle, being swept along is no longer enough"-Waking Life

(All you RLers this is epitome_of_lame *waves hello*)

Posted: 17th Jun 2010
Hey as you are a dancer, my I ask... For me with zero dance background. I want to be more dancy with poi. Well by dancy I mean, hmm. I'm bad at explaining Umm, maybe a video of a performance with lots of what I'm talking about.


Thomas kind of reminds me of a money or martial arts, and Alien John, idk it just makes me think of something urban. But I'm purely talking about foot/body movements here. Would you know how I could work on getting better at that because I can't exactly pay for dance lessons...

The only luck is bad luck.

Shut up before I stall my poi up your ass

Posted: 17th Jun 2010
Well SoD, I think looking through beginner's and even kids level classes would help you and trying to mimic choreography without poi would be a start. This channel on youtube is actually middle school age choreography for house, hip-hop, pop/lock styles of dancing (I chose this for you because of the music styles and BPM compatibility in the videos I've seen you do) https://www.youtube.com/user/kundudance#p/u/0/rjrvOldTfZ8
I viewed all of these and the only thing needed to incorporate your poi is a change in arm stances.

Here's a beginner channel for modern (more compatible stepping stone moves for the style presented in the video you posted be sure to watch the series)

and all the ballet footwork is vital in that style to here those are

(all the related videos go through footwork and leg work)

Also look into learning some Bollywood/Hindi dance for the core and to groove like these type

(I think Bollywood and poi were meant for each other)

First and foremost try to get the feet, legs, and body moving the merge the two together. I'll edit this post with good beginners links to other styles of dance when I find appropriate channels. That should keep you busy for a bit SoD, while classes are best there is no reason why video lessons and asking for comparisons wouldn't do just as good!
EDITED_BY: EpitomeOfNovice (1276711372)
EDIT_REASON: enough links for SoD

~Rock on!~

"As the pattern gets more intricate and subtle, being swept along is no longer enough"-Waking Life

(All you RLers this is epitome_of_lame *waves hello*)

Posted: 17th Jun 2010
EoN you have been added on fbook! And thank you for the advice. I want to start dancing around, and I don't know what I'm so reserved about it. Hahaha. I will loosen up for sure.

Posted: 17th Jun 2010
Oh also about stalls! I've played with them a little bit, but I think the weight of my poi are are inhibiting them from being really "clean." I did just order some 12.5 oz ones, so once I get those that's probably all I'm going to be practicing for a while. I'll have to upload a new video and get some more advice

Posted: 17th Jun 2010
Stalls are really tough without weight! The added weight will help you a ton, I honestly couldn't do tricks with fire until I moved up to the monkeyfists and I was stalling like a mad woman over the weekend. You'll get there and the new ones you have on the way will get you started.

I think dance and expressive movement are a very important thing to focus on if you want your poi to really appear as an extension of your body and expression. You move a lot more than many beginners I've seen spin which is good to meld the two together early on (which I'm not so techy, but getting there slowly, hoping to get newer video up soon), all in all a great start and with some tweaking and experimentation your talent will go through the roof.

Personally I've been complimented by tech spinners for my flow and to my surprise they expressed they thought I had higher skill and I've told them I thought it was the other way around. LOL I think if you have something unique and it comes natural, don't hold back. Just set yourself free and play with it!

~Rock on!~

"As the pattern gets more intricate and subtle, being swept along is no longer enough"-Waking Life

(All you RLers this is epitome_of_lame *waves hello*)

Posted: 17th Jun 2010
Well I'm stoked now. Thank you. I'm glad people wont think I'm a re-re if I dance around while spinning. I love doing it. Haha.

Posted: 17th Jun 2010
Hey thanks for the videos, I'll be sure to look at those in my spare time, which I actually have less of now that school's pretty much over because i hang with friends all day

And no one herer will think you're a re-re for dancing. Poi is a type of dance If anything we like it much better with dance.

The only luck is bad luck.

Shut up before I stall my poi up your ass