Forums > Technical Discussion > WHAT IS EASIER TO LEARN? STAFF OR POI?

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GoldenKrispymember
60 posts
Location: Cornwall, England


Posted:
HelloIm a beginner, trying to learn staff, but poi is looking tempting to learn aswell! So basically, Im wondering what most of you found easier to learn? and why? Poi.......or......staff?? look forward to hearing from ya! winkKRISSYx

PeleBRONZE Member
the henna lady
6,193 posts
Location: WNY, USA


Posted:
I believe the general consensus will say staff as you don't have to move two hands in counter directions and patterns, which can get quite hairy if you're not fully ambidextrous and your less dominant hand is just stupid (like mine is).HOWEVER, I would recommend learning poi first for this reason, everything else is way easier after it....I have been able to pick up staff variations (cross, lil bit of doubles i have tried) and Devil Sticks with relative ease (I said "relative", not perfect ease grin) because I have my hands trained to move certain ways. That and getting the harder out of the way first is a real confidence booster for when/if you decide to branch out.Anyway, there you go, my opinion.Best to you in your practices and endeavors. ------------------Pele Higher, higher burning fire...making music like a choir...www.pyromorph.com

Pele
Higher, higher burning fire...making music like a choir
"Oooh look! A pub!" -exclaimed after recovering from a stupid fall
"And for the decadence of art, nothing beats a roaring fire." -TMK


flash fireBRONZE Member
Sporadically Prodigal
2,758 posts
Location: Sydney, NSW, Australia


Posted:
I'm 100% with Pele on this one: staff is easier, but learning poi first would be extremely benificial. BTW - moving you over to tech discussion.

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AnonymousPLATINUM Member


Posted:
Staff is easier from a not-gonna-burn-yourself perspective, but from a performance perspective, I actually think poi is easier.I think it is easier to reach a level of proficiency with Poi that will look cool to an uneducated onlooker, than it is to do the same with Staff. Everyone has seen martial arts flicks with nutters doing crazy shit with staves...and so when you get out there and all you can do is wave it around a bit, ppl are nonplussed.However with Poi, I think there is the novelty aspect, which boosts their appeal...So yeah.Poi is easier to impress with than Staff, but they are also a bit more likely to burn you.IMHOJosh[This message has been edited by [Josh] (edited 18 July 2001).]

s-p-l-a-tmember
383 posts
Location: Brisbane, Qld, Australia


Posted:
pppffftt..I guess it depends on who you are trying to impress? And how much exposure your audience would have had to twirling? I would love to meet someone who had been playing and learning with both for 10 years plus... I believe sticks to be definitely easier to learn than poi. Then again... I have to say I haven't seen many ppl do much that isn't ye olde 'martial arts' type moves with sticks. Then again I have also heard a story of some guy burning his hands bad in a super tangle with good old poi (Aloe vera is a Godsent).. depends what you would rather get burnt with and bounce back cause that's exactly what is going to happen at some stage with either.

The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.- B.B.King


AnonymousPLATINUM Member


Posted:
Yeah I guess it depends on whether or not you are wanting to impress at all? hard to deny that a lot of what gets said on this board is external impression related....pppffft! Indeed! winkJosh

FireSpiritSILVER Member
Classic 90's Fire Dancer... Poi, Staff, Doubles, and Breathing
743 posts
Location: South Lake Tahoe, USA


Posted:
my heart is with the poi, but I can't stop playing with my staff. I know it may seem like a personal problem, but i can't put it down. I spend an hour or two everyday with it. I have used a lot of variations of poi moves and have improved dramaticly. Its funny because a whole new style, and character comes out in my staff. Compleatly diffrent than my poi. I don't know it well enough yet to explain, but there is a major diffrence.So Go Big Staff Man! Keep on spinning!

FIRE IS ALIVE!
IT LIVES AND BREATHS!
IT CONSUMES, AND DISTROYS!
BUT WE CONTROL IT,
AND DANCE WITH FIRE!!


FiReSpRiTemember
23 posts
Location: Hudson, FL, US


Posted:
imho, i think that staff is easier to learn but harder to master than poi. meaning: with staff you can learn the moves easily but making them look fluid and professional is a lot harder; with poi the moves are harder to learn, but once you have them its fairly simple (in my opinion) to make it look smooth<3------------------What we call human nature, is actually human habit.

Its hard not to play when theres so many toys.


BrainchileBRONZE Member
member
15 posts
Location: Sydney, Australia


Posted:
I would say, learn both.I started on staff, spent a few months on that, then abandoned it for poi for a few months. After this, I went back to staff and found that all my moves were smoother, I was more aware of where the staff was in my hands and around me and I picked up a few new tricks easily.The motions of twirling are such that learning either will help you with both, and they're both heaps of fun, so there's really no point in only learning one of the two. Every time I twirl nowadays I alternate between poi and staff and find that it makes for great practice . . . if you ever start getting bored, you just switch toys.

newly burntmember
6 posts
Location: England


Posted:
Started leaning poi at the same time as a friend started learning the staff and just for interests sake I had a quick go with the staff I found that I learned moves in different ways with each. With poi the hard part is atually doing the move for the first time after that its really easy to make it look good. But with staff the moves are easy but to make them look good is really differcuit. If that makes any sense.

GoldenKrispymember
60 posts
Location: Cornwall, England


Posted:
Well cheers everyone for your replies. Its been quite interesting, but i get the general idea that its a wiser idea to master poi first, then staff will be easier to pick up. If anyone has any other comments, it would be cool to hear from them! Keep Smiling grinGoldenKrispy

Liquidmember
28 posts
Location: Raleigh, North Carolina, United States


Posted:
it depends on YOU. which one do you like better. I always like poi better than staff. so i picked it up faster, but some of my friends picked up staff faster than poi. it all depends on poi, but before you tie a glow stick or what ever you use to some rope and start going at it. just use a bath robe rope and tie knots at each end, that way when you hit your self in the head back legs, NUT it will not hurt, and to get speed and train your self move to jump rope with wooden handles, you can get realy fast with them. and when you mess up, YOU LEARN YOUR LESSON. oh by the way were does the word poi come from, is it related to koren ,tae kwon do in any way they do a form of my but i dont know what it is called thanksplur

Blackbirdmember
337 posts
Location: London UK


Posted:
easy solution btw, learn both smile 's what I'm doing...you can have a longer + better routine then. Plus if you get bored with one while practising, you can always swap.------------------"O! for a muse of fire, that would ascend the brightest heaven of invention." - William ShakespeareCheck out my Online Gallery!B l A c K i E

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