Forums > Beginner Poi Moves > glowsticking vs. poi

Posted: 17th Nov 2007
o yeah i for got to add that fire poi does have many bonuss like fear conquering anybody can pick up some glowsticks and start spinning but it take courage and confidence to pick up fire poi and catch a burn with out those two thing you will get burnt

Posted: 17th Nov 2007
No one I've heard of down talks the actual art of glowstringing, in fact the majority of people I know who spin do both. However I feel there are a few issues with some of the concepts seen in glowsticking. The main concept I have a beef with is the whole "battle" thing. For some reason I feel this stops the focus from being pleasant to an audience to how many tech tricks i can do. But thats just one persons view, there may be some people out there who think its the spawn of doom because the green light given off attracts evil gremlins who steal your black socks. But for the most part I don't think poisters are at all against glowstringing.

There is nothing to be afraid of. Virtual reality will eventually rehabilitate your mind and eventually your body. Everything will be allright, i promise. Just concentrate. Try some music.

Posted: 17th Nov 2007
It's funny really. If you look at traditional maori poi, they use light weight poi, do tons of wraps and linked very closely to music.

Very much like glow stringing.

I've even seen maori girls doing 'mind games'. And there are tonnes of 'competitions' where all the groups do their kapa haka and judges vote for whoes is best. Maori are warriors, again similar to glostringing battles.

Western 'poi' bares virtually no resemblance to maori short poi. It is far more similar to club swinging. I guess maori long poi is similar but you rarely see it.

anyhoo, it's all the same thing, weights on strings.

Spherculism ~:~ The Act of becoming Spherculish.

Posted: 29th Nov 2007
i dont know if it is different in other parts of the world. but all the raves i've been to no one has "battles" between glowstringing (or other lightshows/art). its not about whos better. if you do happen to be better, you should help others to get better themselves or help them learn new things.

i also do both poi and glowstringing. it is very similar except the poi are a lot heavier and its a lot harder to do wraps (and it hurts more when you hit yourself..... or others)

Posted: 29th Nov 2007
its harder to isolate glowstrings than it is to wrap poi.

I do both but mainly poi

Posted: 29th Nov 2007
I have heard of the contempt between glowers and poiers, but havent actually witnessed it. It seems rather silly though. I mean, its like traditional jugglers dismissing poi or the rift between staff and poi.

Its just one avenue of manipulation among many. It would be wonderful to be fab at all of them, but my concentration requires me to focus on one or two at a time.

Maybe its just a silly way for folks to make themselves feel better, by raising their skill toy to a pedestal, and demeaning all others as inferior.

"to a man whose only tool is a hammer, the whole world looks like a nail." Abraham Maslow

Posted: 17th Jan 2008
Well, I'm not yet a poier, but I am a glowstringer. I've been doin it for about 5 months now, and I'm absolutely addicted to the glow, the speed, maneuverability, etc. I first witnessed it at my first rave. Some dude was doin it, and it was like, the most amazing thing I've ever seen. He wasn't all that great when I think back on it now, but that sensation I felt as the sticks were blazing through the air was unbeleavable. So as to difference of choice when it comes to stringin or poi, I'd say it's all a matter of comfort, atmosphere and influences.

And for the battling issue. I'm not a battler and I don't support it at all. It's not about who's best at all. As long as your diggin what you're doin, do it up. Just don't do it for popularity, women, money, etc. My feeling is that this should remain as something that we love personally. Something that we find comfort, enjoyment, and respect with. I love stringing, but I want to open my doors of poi as well. Most movements and concepts that make glowstringin work are very based on poi. It'd be nice to master these things.

And I ramble...

Posted: 25th Jan 2008
It doesn't matter what community you're a part of- I've experienced the competition and badmouthing and put downs in the bellydance community from dancers who do different forms of bellydance- each convinced theirs is better than someone elses form.

If you love it, do it. And if someone tries to put you down...just walk away. You know you do what you do because you love it- not because its better than what someone else is doing...so just do your thing!

Whatever floats your boat!

You also tilt when you should withdraw, and that is Knightly too.

Posted: 27th Jan 2008
Who really cares who is better than who. I would consider myself to be a pretty good poi artist. But I didn't always spin poi. I started with glowsticks back in 2006 when I went to my first rave party! I used glowstringing as my prenup to spinning fire. Now just because I think I'm good, I still am not the best. There is always someone who is better at what they do then you are. I look up to the people who are better than me. And I'm greatful for the people who look up to me. It's amazing to think that someone could look up to me.
The point is there are a million people out there with a million different styles, and there's no way that anybody can do it all. It's all about preference, comfort, and all in all having fun with what you're doing.

If you wanna push then I'm ready to push, but if you're pullin' while I'm pushin' then why'd you ask me to push?

Posted: 25th Feb 2008
i've got my poi now and while i still love my ol glowsticks we been thru alot together i really love my poi they feel like this is what i was meant for i meant the poi style allow me more freedom of movement glowsticking is generally done at raves with limited space or inside some where. my poi i gotta go outside and i can spin and leap my lil heart out

Posted: 2nd Apr 2008
I just wanted to chime in on the 'battles' point. I've not actually seen a glowstringing battle, but when we go to raves we often play '2 drop' with glowballs (juggling) - when you've dropped twice you pass em on. I quite like that element of competition, but also the fact that nobody 'looses' as such.

I also know a few breakdancers, and the general opinion is that most of their battles are friendly, everything is all in good fun. Yeah there are winners and loosers, but everyone hangs out together afterwards.

So, are poi battles somehow more seperatist than this? Since when can people not play games without getting annoyed by 'loosing'? An element of competition can push people to new levels of ability and I would much prefer informal 'battles' to WJF style structured competitions.

Chris - who loves it when someone beats him at 2 drop.

Working hard to be a wandering hippie layabout. Ten years down, five to go!

Posted: 2nd Apr 2008
What's the difference between glowsticks and poi? I always thought that they are essentially the same thing, at least as far as spinning and tricks go.

How do these battles you all talk about look? I haven't seen anyone doing glowsticks live let alone people battling each other.

Posted: 2nd Apr 2008
Battlers are most often looked down upon in the Rave community. Glowsticking.com condemns them.

What are we, Cheerleaders? Turning art into a competitive sport? Lets keep it to the music and to the art mmm?

HoP'ers are known to be pretty hippie'ish, ravers are supposed to be plur'ish. Theres not that big of a gap between the two, I find theres a much bigger gap between the competitive spinners and the non competitive spinners in both generes of spinning.

Posted: 2nd Apr 2008
a wise rave girl once told me that the difference between glowsticking and poi is that poi concentrates more on fluid movement whereas glowsticking is more technical.

the two styles can be interchanged to a degree but at their cores they're fundamentally different. as in, with poi, arm bounces and leg bounces and such are extremely difficult if not impossible, and if you're spinning fire please don't ever attempt a bounce because chains just don't work like that (tried it). even spiral wraps with chains are kinda tricky, whereas with glowsticks and basic strings they're simple. however, i'm still waiting on my colecord set to see if you can incorporate bouncing into poi spinning, i'll let y'all know how that goes.

as for the competition thing, who cares? i was at a rave a few days ago, and in one of the rooms a dude busted out his hardware and started spinnin after he quite obviously saw my LED's around my neck and i'm like 'oh snap, no he didn't' and it was on like donkey kong right then and there and it was all in good fun.. and plus it looked really cool. and for the record i'll admit a loss to that battle, i broke one of my sticks while turning a thread the needle into a butterfly. please note that without a proper set of handles, butterflies can break your equipment.

Posted: 3rd Apr 2008
i dunno how much you've done with firepoi but I do bounces and wraps ALL the time with my fire poi, Oval link at that. They aren't lite by any means and I have to add momentum but pretty much any bounce combo you can do with sticks you can do with poi, it just requires more work is all.

I once learned every move that there was,
Every style, Every technique.
Then I woke up, and forgot it all,
So now I struggle to dream.