Forums > Social Chat > Attraction ????

Posted: 1st Sep 2001
a continuation in the search for the ultimate rush, the ultimate hit, finding seconds of pure Nirvana to become more spiritually enlightened, to improve ones self, to have funto meet people Well thats what I think anyway.peace outgarbo ------------------

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"Be the change"Mahatma Ghandi

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www.liquidfire.moonfruit.com

be excellent to each other: safe:

Posted: 1st Sep 2001
I started raving about 6 months ago. Started to Liquid dance (as that is basicly what everyone does) and after seeing it done with glow-stix became enraptured with the moving color and patterns traced by these dancers. So I picked up a pair and began to dance with them. Still fun but it felt so limiting. The first time I saw twirlers was about 4 months ago. While most were not that good it was still fun to watch. I later ran into him and began to talk.After a bit of chit-chat he offered to teach me the basics. Four months went by with me basicly teaching myself. Then school started again and out front (they had all sorts of stuff: beer gardens, jousting, music, etc.) I saw fire being spun for the first time. While she was re-fueling I wandered over and began to talk to her. She told me of this site and now I have been spinning almost non-stop (and improving rapidly).That's my story ------------------'There is a fist pressing against anyone who thinks something compelling'

The world is not out to get you but if you fight it you will be eaten alive

Posted: 1st Sep 2001
Swallow a bicycle????sweeeeet!!! When I went to the states I saw a guy swallow a pool ball then cough it up again!!phil.....

C'mon baby light my fire

Posted: 2nd Sep 2001
I actually started when I saw a video of someone spinning glowsticks at tranceaddict.com. Then I did a search and found this site. And I have to admit, the reasons for my spinning were nowhere near as meaningful as garbo's. I just wanted to do it because it looked cool

Posted: 1st Sep 2001
Hey Pele I reckon there are two kinds of people those who play and those who watch. I'm terrible at being a showman but LOVE to just show up, rip a few cool moves and then dissappear into night. I like to be the one (or one of the one's) providing the fun for others. Watching is all cool but twirling and juggling looks so cool that I wanted to be one of the ones doing it. No ego stroking here, just a genuine enjoyment of people saying "That looked so cool!". I like the way you can see in their eyes the look of pleasure (though I don't actively seek out the compliments it's good when they come in).That and it FEELS so damn cool to have something down and pull it off in front of people. It highlights that feeling of achievement inside when you pull off a good routine when practising.

Posted: 1st Sep 2001
Oh yeah, "When did I realise I could?"The first time I picked up a devil stick and it just 'happened'. A feeling that it was right, that it felt natural. Everytime I pick up a new piece of apparatus I get that feeling renewed.Fire just drilled that feeling right in to my heart to a point where it's a part of me. A part of the routine that is life.

Posted: 2nd Sep 2001
Aeons ago, the autumn of nineteen ninety eight. A fearless girl I knew took me to a park down by the river and she danced with a single staff until day turned to evening. I have heard so many dancers say this, but it always rings true: I fell in love. I had no choice.But I didn't want to just watch from the sidelines. And then I found the Home of Poi... ------------------Augusta'What the flame does not consume, consumes the flame.'[This message has been edited by Augusta (edited 03 September 2001).]

Augusta'What the flame does not consume, consumes the flame.'

Posted: 2nd Sep 2001
ok well my memory is a bit hazy at the best of times but i think i started twirling when my older brother was doing some kung foo. i got addicted to playing with his nunchuks. then i picked up a staff (i was 9yo). i guess i just kept using that staff without any regard to what i was doing. years later i went to a festival and saw a guy using a glowstaff and started chatting/ playing with him/his staff and then saw him use fire... wow! double wow! a kodak moment!of course then the authoritAY threw him and his fire out, but my devious little mind began piecing things together. this dude just did something insane, i could entertain a crowd and this is something i love doing. my first light is vividly imprinted in my mind. i was at a party when i noticed somewhere in the background a guy lighting double staves. well i was amused but talking to this really cute guy at the time so we just watched. this dude was giving out his staves for people to play with and everyone was having a go before i finaly plucked up some courage asked to play. well i tell you what... i was in love, passionately, obsesively in love.not one single person at that party was talking, everyone was watching me, i was oblivious to all, lost in a world only firetwirlers could know - flames hissing past warning me of thier danger, heat so close against my flesh, my pulse was rushing and adrenalin screamed through my body , ahh just the thought gives me goosebumps. hhuhuhuwhen i entered reality again i found that i had upstaged this poor twirler with his own sticks, impressed the pants of everyone there including cute boy and fallen in love with fire. now i can see that; 1. firetwirling gives you loads of extra sex appeal 2; using a fellow twirlers staff to upstage him/her is a definate faux pas and 3;theres a whole new world out there.besides all that (sorry if i'm boreing you) i've recently made my third set of devil sticks, which i started using a couple of years ago through a friend (but am really slack at). i have had my poi about four months but have only really been using them this week. so i've got a few tricks to catch up on but hey what would i do without 'em?capture the flamebeth

floating
drifting
fading away
how could these stimulants lead us astray?

Posted: 2nd Sep 2001
I was at this party. Completly minced, didnt realy no what was goin on. there were loads of poeple but i felt like there was something missing from the atmosphere. All of a sudden there were these two balls of fire spinning in such a way that it captured my mind imediatly, which up untill then hadent been able to hold a thought for more then a few secounds. I watched with such intensaty i got lost in the flames, following the maze of tricks which flowed like unbroken water! This was the begining of my passion 4 poi, the start of a journey which i know will last a lifetime.I couldnt get my hands on a set fast enough and gotta say, have been addicted ever since.Jowah

Posted: 2nd Sep 2001
I first saw Poi on TV, in a clip (dunno which one nemore tho). After that i saw it on Dancevalley, some guy did a butterfly and put his hands against his forehead. Looked pretty silly tho. But i got home and did some search for glowsticks, and ended up liking stringing more, so i ended up here, and got addicted... Been stringing for a month now and its going pretty well. Had my first nite-practice a few nites ago...SWEET!!! :-)

Posted: 2nd Sep 2001
I first saw someone spinning fire about a week ago, when I was out camping.One of the people we were with had a set and let people have a go, I didn't because I was wearing a very loose shirt, and didn't want to risk it catching on fire.When I got home, I made a very basic set (out of some juggling balls, some sandwich bags and some string) to practise with. After having a quick go, I decided I really needed a proper set and ordered some from this site.They arrived 2 days ago, and they've been more or less attached to my hands.

But there's no sense crying over every mistake. You just keep on trying till you run out of cake.

Posted: 2nd Sep 2001
Humm, The second or third rave that I ever went to I saw someone doing a bunch of really basic wraps with glowsticks, and I though that was the coolest shit going.Then my woman started to do a few basic moves and well, the rest is memories and bruises.I realized I could spin fire the day I met you Lynn. Thanx "Madame Volcano Goddess" ------------------Care of other people's approval and you become their prisoner.Live fully, Rave wholly.Fluid are the movements of my strings...

Care of other people's approval and you become their prisoner.Live fully, Rave wholly.Fluid are the movements of my strings...

Posted: 3rd Sep 2001
When I was about 14 (now 20) I used to do gardening and odd jobs for an Indonesian woman who was about 80 years old. She lived with her daughter about twenty minutes up the road and her property was just one huge hill that ran down from the highway, with a house mounted precariously at the top. The property was very run down, the roof was rusting through and the inside walls were just uncovered silver foil. Her daughter only had 1 leg and why she bought that property with only one leg has always mystified me. Anyway after working an hour or two in the garden the old lady would come down and bring us drinks and biscuits and a folder filled with newspaper clipping and photos of her when she was younger, she was beautiful. The newspaper articles read things like “THE PRINCESS OF THE PACIFIC COMING TO AUSTRALIA!” in big headlines and front page photos, she had been an extremely famous dancer, and had danced hula and all sorts of native Pacific and Polynesian dances. She had also run a huge dancing school and had photos of 50 or more children all swinging these strange balls on strings and wearing Hula skirts. She’s had three children, 2 boys and one girl who was going to be the next Princess of the Pacific only she lost her leg in a car accident when she was 14. The next time I worked for her she got us dancing with poi, this, I thought was nuts. Here I was standing by the side of the highway, dressed in gardeners overalls swinging these funny white balls while an 80 year old toothless woman stood in front of me wearing a hula skirt and playing and singing with a ukulele which sounded quite horrible actually. All this time she was paying us about $40 AU per hour which we wouldn’t take but she always managed to hide the money somewhere where we’d find it later when we got home (in shoes or packets of home made biscuits). Most of the moves she taught us were pretty basic, but she got us doing a 1 handed butterfly which was kinda cool. I played with firestaffs a few years later but never really thought of poi again until some friends of mine came down from Brisbane about 1 month ago, they had been doing a fire show, and had fire poi. They taught me to firebreath and also to do a lot of flaming acrobatics like a ‘dragon’ (does anyone else do this? Probably.) I started playing with their poi and remembered a lot of the moves the old lady had taught me, they were quite impressed although their skills were high high above mine. I’ve been playing everyday since and got the 5 beat chase a week and a half ago and the BTB chase two nights ago which is blowing my mind because neither of the Brisbanites had ever seen anyone pull these off. Sorry this is all so long, I got a bit carried away with the story.

Posted: 2nd Sep 2001
Wow! It's interesting to hear how different people started spinning..I especially like this quote from BERZERKER

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"No ego stroking here, just a genuine enjoyment of people saying "That looked so cool!". I like the way you can see in their eyes the look of pleasure (though I don't actively seek out the compliments it's good when they come in).

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that's why I continue to spin, although I also do it by and for myself too..as for how I started spinning, I've just always sorta done it.. someone showed me the basic figure eight in front of you motion with a staff when I was about 7 or so.. Ever since then, I have always known how to do it, and have been experimenting and messing around ever since..one day at a rave (god I feel so stereotypical) I saw a girl spinning a firestaff and I was blown away, it was absolutely hypnotizing, and I KNEW it was something I had to try..I asked her to try, and unfortunately for me at the time, she said no.. but she said she would sell me one, and I knew I had to have one so I just watched patiently.Then I got back, and didn't see this girl for awhile.. Finally, I saw her down at the park on Canada Day, selling sticks.. me and my friend steve decided to split on one, and I practiced all day in the sun to bongo's with my stick.. It was and still is a beautifully made piece of equipment, an excellent wood(not sure what), with metal tips, and kevlar wicking. It also had a leather grip, which I wore in quickly due to my never putting the thing down!That very night, I lit up in a huge circle with people all around in the middle of the park, and went off like a maniac. I was scared but exhilirated at the same time, I'm sure you all know what I mean!Anyway, I spun at my second Canada day 2 months ago, greatly improved, and blew people away with two staffs at once and lots of tosses and cartwheels and such, I love this thing!

~whoosh whoosh whoosh~

AnonymousPLATINUM Member

Posted: 3rd Sep 2001
I'd seen loads of twirling in various places in Australia and overseas before even considering having a go. There was always an element in my mind of the need for immense levels of skill to make it safe to play with real fire, especially hanging on a chain that could wrap around you. I'd even been to the beltane festival in Edinburgh, purely because it was on the night I showed up in town. 30 or 40 fire artists performing together in time was something I knew I'd never forget. But I still gave little thought to having a go myself.It wasn't until a month ago when a group of twirlers including some new friends got together for a session on the beach that I had the chance to try this thing out. I tried a couple of tricks with some practise poi made of tennis balls, then someone said "Hey Matt have a go with these" and handed me some fire poi soaked and ready to go. Before then, the smell of kero was associated with trying to keep my ass warm in winter. With far less practise than is safe, I swung with confidence knowing that with everything new you try you must approach it though you are going to succeed, and you will. Almost immediately I hit myself, and to my surprise, it was hardly even warm. I tried a couple of tricks but was mostly just listening to that soundand watching that glow as it spun around my body where I directed it. Someone in the crowd cheered me on. I spun until the fuel was spent but I was a different person. I was now a fire twirler. I had another go that night and couldn't stop grinning for hours. The next day I found some of my own tennis balls and sacrificed a tent rope to make my own poi. Pretty soon there were 6 or 7 of us in the campground learning tricks off each other and offering encouragement. But when we got our hands on fire poi, we were all entranced. One night we held a big dance party on the beach and performed for a hundred or so people and they loved it. Two weeks later, I was lucky enough to be included in the troop for a PAID gig for some rich people. Now I was a pro. This was so funny for a guy used to normal jobs and normal life. My chains are constructed and the wick is in the mail. I haven't told any family and friends back home in Perth about it yet, I'm planning a family get-together for when I return. I can't wait to see what grandma thinks.Your parents were wrongFire is goodPlay with fire

Posted: 3rd Sep 2001
Good question Pele.I've related previously how I started to play with fire. But it was from starting to play with fire that my world view expanded enough to allow me to think I could do other tricks with other toys and tools. I wouldn't have even considered doing them if I wasn't already dicing with death. Now I'll dance with death quite happily Oh, and the attraction? - it's real, not an illusion.ade[This message has been edited by Ade (edited 03 September 2001).]

Posted: 3rd Sep 2001
*stands up and announces* "Hi, My name is peter and I'm a poi addict."Well, for myself I have always been a martial arts fanatic and a juggler. The martial arts was something I picked up at the age of 7 'cause I used to get beat up a lot. Hey, let's admit it, kids are mean. As for the juggling I was always wonder "How do they do that?" But I digress.What got me hooked into poi was about 2 years ago when I went to my first big pagan/new age festival called Starwood (sort of like burning man in the woods ), Anyway, I woman that I met down by the drumming circle walked over one night and took out a staff and some other stuff that I had never seen before. She took out these two chains and lit them on fire and I was BLOWN AWAY. Watching her perform I thought to myself that the moves looked VERY similar to a Martial Arts 9 sectional whip form that I had seen before but so much more fluid. Ever since that night I have been obsessed with knowing how she did that (fire poi) and figuring out if I can ever get to the point of being able to be as open and as caring as she was to a newbie with a LOT of STUPID questions. ------------------Blessings to all, Peter "There is a rhythm that unites us with the natural world. The more we learnto feel that rhythm and get it into the mainstream of our lives, thestronger can be our spirit."--- Robert Rodale

Blessings to all,
Peter
When you find yourself in the company of a halfling and an ill-tempered Dragon, remember, you do not have to outrun the Dragon ...you just have to outrun the halfling.

Posted: 3rd Sep 2001
The first time I saw fire performers was at The Big Green Gathering 1998. And i was mightily impressed but a bit intimidated. That is, while it was amazing to watch, it never occurred to me that I might actually be able to do it.Then I didn't see any fire stuff for two years.Then, at the Big Green in 2000 (there wasn't one in 99, nor this year :-( ), I saw agroup performing and this time my reaction was immediate - I have GOT to do that, even if it kills me. It's very hard to put it into words (er, mikey, this is a bulletin board, words would be, you know, useful) but there was something so wanton about it, something about the totally unconcerned looks on people's faces as fireballs whirled around them... I didn't decide it would be good to do that, I *knew* that I *had* to do that.And maybe another aspect is, I'm 33, I cut off the hair and shaved off the beard a while back, my clothes are a lot more conventional nowv (hey, the bribe was good!), and to some extent fire seemed like a nice way to remind, me as much as other people, of the punk/hippy/weirdo lurking under the straight camouflage, a way of feeding that side of my soul, even.So i tracked them down the next day, bought a set of fire poi, got some lessons on the barter principle, and that was it.Lit up about a month later. There was never any quiestion about lighting up, it was the whole point for me.mikeyB[This message has been edited by mikeyb (edited 04 September 2001).]

Posted: 3rd Sep 2001
Like most I first saw fire poi being used at a party. This was at my friends house I never knew my friend actually did poi till that night. !!I thought it looked awesome and wanted to have a go but knew it was not something that I would pick up in ten minutes so left it for a while after the party. So I decided to have a go in the morning. I played around trying to do butterfly for a bit then put them down. I had another go a few weeks later after an hour or so I'd cracked the weave and it felt so cool and I did that for about an hour with a big grin on my face. <-- like thisI went round my freinds house nearly every night to have a go on his zuni poi till I built up a few tricks then found this site and got my own Its now nine months since I first started I'm still hooked, although I dont spin every day I'm still going through moves in my head all the time..If there is a reason why I do it, it is for fun but I guess at the same time its like meditation.phil...............

C'mon baby light my fire

Posted: 3rd Sep 2001
Why?well.... there is something about the circular, round energy of the poi that is magical to me. The poi are about learning to move energy around without interfering. In the process of learning that i found out you learn a lot about yourself and your body.Take this flowing magical tool and light it on fire and you take it 5 steps further (for me that is). I am not saying anything here about fire vs. glow. Each of us does it for his own reasons and the different reasons lead to different styles. For me, anyway, the fire adds learning to relax with something that could go wrong.The fire takes me to a level of concentration and awareness that is very much like meditation and has the power to relax me deeply or move me. You know how you can sit infront of a fire and just look at it for hours ? well, for me it is the same only i am inside(!) the fire circle.The poi for me is learning techniques only to learn how to go beyond the technique and reach the level where i can express a feeling or a thought while dancing with the poi without getting stuck because my hands don't know where to go.Well, other than that it is just so much fun isn't it "Shine on you crazy diamond"

Shine on you crazy diamondPink Floyd

Posted: 9th Jan 2002
I got really psyched about poi/staff from when I went to a new year's celebration.I saw some folks twirling in front of a building for a crowd. The performers happened to be friends of my friends so I asked if I could try it out. (I had some 'chuk and staff experience from martial arts)I took to it immediately and when the fire burned out I was asked if I would like to perform for the ball drop later on =)...sadly, I wasn't able to stay for it

When there is no place that you have decided to call your own then no matter where you go you are always heading home -Soseki

Posted: 10th Jan 2002
i first saw firedancing at the woodford folk festival 2000-2001. it was a girl who did poi that made me want to twirl. the next day i went to buy some chains, but they convinced me to buy a staff, they told me it was easier???? i really didn't think it was, i didnt feel like i could flow and dance with it. so i put it away and played with socks on strings for a while, then i bought poi in march and i love it, love it, love it.i finally picked up staff again in september, its so much easier now after learning poi, the moves feels pretty similar. i love being able to use both, i definitly think poi are prettier to watch, but i love making a big fireball at the start with staff. i felt like i was just waiting for fire, as soon as i picked it up it felt so right.

Posted: 9th Jan 2002
My friend Wellie brought a pair of wooden sticks on string that he called 'poi' anyway, he was damn good on them! And he showed me some stuff, and it turns out that quite a few of my mates actually are secret poi lovers too. I bought my first poi today from a local kite shop and I've been spinning constantly walking home (hitting myself all the way mind. :P it hurts when it smacks me right on the face! )TaStu

Imagine something witty or profound was here.

Posted: 9th Jan 2002
um... had just always known it had existed. wheni was 10 i remember seeing a guy set his dreddies on fire lighting... something at my circus school. had heard of lots of people stafftwirling. didnt know poi existed.saw a couple of guys i barely knew practising with staffs in an alley, with a girl selling poi/staffs.grabbed a business card and tried to get one of the guys to teach me staff stuff. i sucked beyond belief. then i heard about a girl who had poi, instead of staff. figured that'd be the way to go.bought poi, without ever having seen them lit, or even seeing glowstick spinners. practised. set fire.so there.

Posted: 9th Jan 2002
*Sick Puppy laughs maniacly*Fire Good.

Jesus helps me trick people.

Posted: 9th Jan 2002
I first saw fire twirling in June at a pagan festival called PSG. (I've been to Starwood, like Steelwings, and it's a lovely time. But I digress)anyway, some friends convinced me to come with them and we wandered down to the drum circle. No dancer, me. And there's this guy there, very very artistic. He only had a few moves, butterfly and 2-beat chase and 2-beat corkscrew, I think, but he was sooo beautiful. He had black pants and a white mask on, and he went into the fire and lit his chains and did his thing. It was sooo beautiful. I was mesmerized. Awed. absolutely absorbed in watching him. Got some lightsticks on strings the next day and practiced. two days later, bought my chains. 2 days after that, lit them up. Summer solstice. Took turns with the guy in the mask. What an incredible feeling. absolute rush -- still is for me, too. every time. (and the guy in the mask told me I did a nice job... didn't believe a word he said )I'm a long time pyro and a juggler to boot. Spinning poi is a real blast for me -- I like to entertain and at the same time I do it for myself. The fire makes it special. Indescribable. People always want to know about it and I just can't explain the feeling to them. Perfect moments in life.

Laugh, and the world laughs with you. Cry, and the world laughs at you. It's your choi

Posted: 9th Jan 2002
For me it started with the obsession of fire.. a candel flame.. lighters.. matches i progressed to gasoline, wd-40 flame throwers.bonfires, melting old clothes..i discovered spinning as i was working of r theater company and these raver girls did this during intermission... all the guys fell over them instantly and i was hypnotized and i thought.. hey i can do that thats easy.. they wouldnt teach me so after they left i picked there dead glo-sticks outta the trash and practice all by my self.. the next day i was showing them one handed butterflys..then i got the idea hey what abotu fire?that would be sweet..so i did that then.. (this was the shortened version of the story) then i found out that there was a whole community that does the same thing... neat huh?and there i am..

Teach tolerance, not competition.
Send food, not bombs.

Posted: 10th Jan 2002
Fire is mesmirising, mystical, untameable and full of energy. I've always loved and had a fascination for fire (so much so that my parents worried I was destined to be an arsonist) and then I went out of my house one day to catch a bus and there was someone spinning fire in my garden!It turned out to be one of my bro's mates and he tought me the basics of poi. It is a creative and beautiful outlet for energy and passion, and also for my love of fire. The fact that others appreciate it to is just a bonus.

Geologists do it in the dirt................

Posted: 11th Jan 2002
I use it as a meditative aid, when I'm spinning fire, its like I'm cutting myself off from evrything else, like I'm drawing circles round myself that splits the universe in two, the outside, and the inside (the bit I'm dancing in). Its one of the only times now my mind feels completely at ease.------------------Trance the sacred spiral dance.Love and LightSpiral

Posted: 11th Jan 2002
Oregon Country Fair 2001. Working for the recycling crew. There were alot of other people on the crew who were spinners and I would hear about them spinning. Finally made it to the meadow where they were spinning and after weaseling my way thru the crowd, was captured by the drumming and spinning that went on that night. It was so primal and raw, it felt like something had been awakened inside me. after getting home I made some practice poi, met a few fire dancers from the local area, had my first burn and have been trapped ever since. Bit

I create, I destroy... who said you can't have the best of both worlds!