Page:
duvanancient oachkatzlschwoaf
248 posts
Location: germany


Posted:
Hi there,

some of you may remember this thread from several years ago. I decided to work on it and not only release the missing chapters but also improve the ones I had written so far keeping the experiences I made and the knowledge I gained in my poi life so far in mind. This thread will be extremely useful for people that just started poi but also for the ones that have been playing for quite some time. It will change your perception of poi and the person that has written it, for you will inevitably start feeling an incredible attraction towards the author of this thread.. muhaha..

A few words on the thread itself:
Pretty much four years ago I decided to write a guidebook for poi spinners in a German forum. Back then my motivation was to not only list the things I have learned for myself so far but to make them accessible to the public. I sucked at every aspect of playing poi back then. Hell, I promise you, I ruled at sucking. I honestly didn't think that I would ever come remotely close to a "good" poi player. So my evil plan was to infiltrate some more talented poi players' brains with my ideas and feel like I have part in their success. What a brilliant plan I had back then laugh3

Well not only did I change but also my level of playing poi. And this is why I believe that you can easily achieve what I have achieved. This sounds cheesy as hell but it's the bloody truth. Face it, my friend! The only person holding you back from becoming an awesome poi player is yourself.

Ok, that's enough of me writing passionately. Before you start reading I want to make sure that you understand that everything I write is from my own point of view, I don't claim to know or write the truth (although I might be damn close to it hehe) so don't feel offended if I say something that you wouldn't approve of. The things I wrote won't be breathtaking, they won't be revolutionary but as I think quite nice to read and an inspiration to everyone. If you wanna post comments - go ahead - I am always thankfull for criticism.
The different parts don't have a special order for when I wrote the thread I just wrote what came to my mind.






Chapter I
Steps


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Steps. Probably not the first thing you'd expect to read about in a guidebook about poi spinning. So I hope my efforts in surprising you paid out.
It is actually something we usually don't think of when spinning poi. We don't see ourselves doing them, only if we are practising in front of a mirror but who gets to have that luxury in his training space? Anyways, if we are performing the whole audience can clearly see if you have worked on your steps or not. I recognized that the first time when I saw PK spinning at the BJC'04 in Derby. Although his tricks weren't too geeky he had an immense charisma and I simply couldn't take my eyes off him. I didn't know why and for the first time ever I started analyzing one's poi style. It took me at least 5 minutes to find the feature that fascinated me the most about his style: It were his steps. He had a very distinctive way of making steps while playing. This is where it gets a little tricky, I can try to describe it to you but I am not sure that you will get it.
Whenever he did turns he crossed his feet, standing close to each other (right foot on left site and vice versa) and then he turned himself 180° so that his feet were in the right position again (right foot right side etc). It's really nothing that you would happen to realize immediately if you watch him spinning but you will always feel that he has some very clean and nice control over his body.

But wait, there's more to it. Now we talked about a few single steps, why not talk about walks? I find it very interesting how you can define a character on stage by the way you walk. You can be the smooth ninja fighter, lurking across the stage. Maybe some drunk idiot tumbling around with his fire poi or even a horse, jumping up and down making funny noises. It's completely up to you and your decision of what character you want to represent on stage but please keep the steps in mind for they will be very sad if you forget them.

There are hundres of people on this board reminding you of "moving and making steps while spinnig" but I'd like to add a little something: "but before making steps think about the kind of steps you want to do." Start to move your feet, start to think about different possibilities, but please remind yourself: start with the simple figures and make easy things with your feet/legs first so that it is easier to keep them in mind. Once you get a feeling for these moves you will start moving your feet automatically to some kinds of tricks and that in a nice and impressive way, I hope.

summing up
- pay more attention to your feet
- think about steps (how about step dance?)
- think about your character on stage and the way you walk
- start with easy moves, then progress to advanced moves

And how could I talk about walking without showing you
Monthy Python's Ministry of Silly Walks.?

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Chapter II
Head


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Well, after discussing the bottom of the human body I will continue with the top of our bodies. The head. Unfortunately some people forget after all that it isn't dancing and tricks only, that make a good performance. Your head plays a major role in looking good while playing or amusing the audience.

Normally if we practise our head is faced towards one of the poi or to both, sometimes even worse to our feet and the floor only. Both of it makes us look a little dull. So what you want to work on is the position of your cranium. Start stressing different moves with a specific movements of your head.

Lets just think of a very simple move for a second to understand what I am talking about, the giant butterfly for example. Whenever your poi cross at the bottom, try bending your head towards the floor in a nice motion. If your poi are crossing on the top, you should try to bend your head on the top. Now depending on what you want to convey to the audience do this in either a very funny, a very beautiful or a very aggressive way. Or do it the other way round and look at the top, when poi are crossing on the bottom and vice versa.

Another example : make a simple same time equal direction figure in front of your body and stall both poi at the right side (like a pendulum, not like a super crazy Yuta-stall lol). Follow this movement with your head. then, once again do the same movement at the left side. This should look quite good already but now try to invert the whole thing. Stall at the right - head faces to the left and so on..
Or just do a simple thread the needle move and whilst that make crazy circles with your head.
If you try some time you will find a few things that will actually "feel" very good. To see for yourself if this trick looks as beautiful or crazy as it feels, ask a friend or your mom to watch you and to rate the "head variations". Or just use a cheap ass 50€ digital cam, works fine as well.

Well, that's it on the head already, isn't it?
Noooooooo! Please punch yourself if you really thought that was all I have to say about the head.
Head movements contain facial expressions, too!!! Look, I gave this phrase three exclamation marks to show you how important that is! Honestly, please never ever forget what you just read.

If you perform, you should think about the character (more about this concept later on) you want to be on stage. Now you'll learn more about what I mean by that and how to create one in one of the last chapters of this guidebook, but let me blow this already: A character has a mood he or she is in. You can be a funny character, an arrogant character, a sad character, an aggressive character and so on and so on. So how do you convey your mood? By the music you use? Hah, nice guess but this answer is far from the truth. It is actually your facial expression, your mimic. Now don't tell me you completely forgot about that so far in your routines hehe. I used to. Always.
Did you ever do a fire comedy show ? It's really great fun doing something like that. Not only do you learn more about your mimic but also about group dynamics and the relationship between performer and audience. You can easily make a few hundred people crack up and admire you for your performance although you don't do any fancy tricks. Have you seen Thomas' JFF2008 performance (if not so click here)? Then you probably recognize how he amazes both, the jury and the audience with his performance. It isn't very good technically (compared to what this man can do) but yet so funny and entertaining that it ended up winning the JFF contest. I will analyze this and two more performance videos in the "Character" chapter.

But now back to the face. Some plain advice. Never look dogged or strained. 80% of the people I see doing fire spinning do exactly that thing. Stop it. Please. It greatly weakens your charisma. It feels like all the fire spinners think it is important to show people how DANGEROUS and SERIOUS fire spinning is. In fact it looks ridiculous most of the time. If you wanna do a "serious" show it's better in my opinion to have a neutral facial expressions.

I found it quite interesting to see how people reacted when Yuta filmed for his "Poi Around the World" project. He always said "Smile!" when he started filming and people smiled for about 10 seconds before they forgot about their face and started looking stressed again because they really had to pull off this very technical trick for the camera. wink

summing up
- think of the movements and the position of your head
- play around with facing/not facing your poi
- get feedback from friends or a camera
- mimic! mimic! mimic!
- think about your "mood" on stage
- never look dogged or strained


If you wanna see a really bad example for facial expression check out Steven Seagal's work. No this isn't funny, this is just what most of us look like when spinning lol

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Chapter III
Freestyle or Choreography?

I remember having had countless discussions about the whole "freestyle vs choreography" topic. Some people were of the opinion that choreography doesn't allow you to play freely and emotionally, some of the opinion that choreography is the only way to play clean and emotional. Well to be honest I don't have an opinion on which of these two ways of playing is "the best" so I thought I might just discuss both of them and show you when freestyle might be of advantage and when you'd rather choreograph a short routine.

Freestlye
Pros: Good way to relax your mind and body. Good for improvising skills. Nice to watch for a few minutes. No pressure. You're not too focused or too much in your head but can let your thoughts drift.
Cons: Sometimes too random. Gets repetitive after a while. Often lack of coordination. You don't really learn something new.
Synopsis: I like freestyling. It is great fun out in the sun and can really get your mind and body in a nice state of relaxation. You usually have no pressure on you when freestyling (except if there's a guy filming you or something like that). You're not too focused or too much in your head but can let your thoughts drift. Yeah, in a nutshell this is perfect for some playing around. But to be honest I get tired of seeing exactly that in 80% of the fire perfomances I usually get to see. No offence, it's just this feeling that if you get paid for a performance you shoud actually prepare one.

Choreography
Pros: You know exactly what you're going to do, don't have to think of your next move in panic. People will pay much more attention if you know how to win the spectators' favour. Interesting routine without any repetitions (hopefully). Fits the music perfectly. Adrenaline (that's a pro in my opinion cause I like it - bring it on!).
Cons: Pressure. Expectations. One mistake can strongly influence the rest of the routine. Takes a looong time to prepare and work out.
SynopsisYeah, to be honest choreographies still scare the [censored] outta me. I mean really planning, trying to fit all of your movements to the music, getting a rhythm and climax for the show - qué palo! That's really a whole lot of hard work. But once you mastered that work you will be able to express yourself sooo much better and even more fluidly than with freestyle. Your choreography shouldn't be in your head only but mostly in your body (I love it that G describes our knowledge of poi tricks "muscle memory")! To be honest I feel that a good performance is the only way to evoke strong feelings in the audience.

Just have a look at this, my all time favourite baton twirling routine:
Kiyoshi Sugimoto

I could cry everytime I see it because of it's beauty. Does that make me a wussy? Probably lol. I dare to claim that poiple are able to do so much more so much better than it's done at the moment. It's not about the fancy tricks. It's about showing some personality, some emotions and some originality on stage. Challenge yourself, show some courage, move up your lazy ass to do a choreography and you will see how much your style will improve.

This is what a very old choreography looks like. I'm sure you geeks would do it with MS Paint

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Chapter IV
The Torso


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All right, let me start this chapter with some ancient Asian wisdom that will hopefully kick your ass. Chinese people say that the power house of our body, the "Dantian" is positioned in the pubic bone, about 3 fingers underneath the belly button. Not only is this position of great importance for the fluency of the "chi" (the energy of all life forms in the world referring to the Chinese) but also for the fluency of all body movements. I won't discuss whether you want to believe the whole "Chi" thing or not, personally I don't but the importance of the "Dantian" position is interesting for poi spinners anyway.
If you do a handstand, a wheel or a backflip - this area plays a major role in doing these these stunts. Some blunt physicists would probably say that it is simply the balance point of a human body, but no matter which point of view you have, this point should be the center of your moves at least most of the time. Thus in my opinion many poi and body moves should be done with the abdomen rather than with legs or arms.

Think of a belly dancer for a second. She or he moves precisely that part of the body. And it looks fluent as a jellyfish. Oh hell, I am just realizing that it is kinda hard to describe what I mean in words. Just wait until I upload a video (which will probably never happen, I'm just being honest here hehe).

Let me try with a different example: If you do the insane "Matrix" move that everybody loves to watch. You have to lean back a looot, and I find it a little easier to do if I focus on the position of my mojo storage the "Dantian". Then again I find that a lot of the holy "Matrix" move depends on your footwork so I will rather talk about the torso in general then trying to mash up Poi and Chi theories.

Since we just learned right now wherefrom our body movements should be effected it is our turn, not to say duty, to utilise this knowledge. Now watch it, I will give you some advice that can increase your performance by at least 15%!
This is my advice: LEAN! It looks so great if you do it while spinning. Back then when I started poi I was pretty amazed by bluecat's style. One of the reasons for my careless admiration and countless marriage proposals to this person was the simple fact that he leant.. a lot! Check his Spinach Sessions to see what I am talking about.
Lean, my friend, lean! Spread your legs when doing a corkscrew and lean forwards so that you are able to do this trick as close to the floor as possible. It might sound stupid but if done the right way it looks fantastic!

Another important thing to keep in mind are your shoulders. At the beginning of my "spinning-career" I had the problem that my shoulders weren't relaxed at all, they were wide above normal shoulder level. Relax! 70% of the people I see doing isolations have cramped shoulders. Relax, fellas! Have a look at a mirror and force yourself to lower your shoulders. Get a camera and see how kinky you look if you have cramped shoulders and start working on that problem.
On the other hand it can be a funny thing to use your shoulders to stress body movements while spinning and to convey a certain "character" (ok, this will be one of the very last chapters so please be patient with me). Try to push your shoulders up and forwards as far as possible, peer and smile, and et voilá - the kid's are gonna love you. (do you know what I mean with that shoulder thing ? just like Dave Elsewhere in the very famous collaboration video).



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Phew, that's a lot of stuff so far. Hang on, we're almost done with this chapter! Let me introduce you to behind the back moves for a second.
I often see that newbie spinners have the tendency to lean backwards when doing a btb move. Lean forwards as you can see it in the lovely HOP poi lessons (at least you could in the very old ones). You will have a hard time successing if you're leaning backwards! once you mastered it with a forward-leant body you will very soon be able to do BTB moves without leaning your body at all. Butt (haha, pun intended) let me share a little secret: most of the times btb weaves and stuff don't look too good anyways, so don't focus too hard on doing them.

Just as with facial expressions start to experiment with different styles: An anxious person with shoulders up and a hump, or a proud person with a straight back and an upraised head, an agressive person showing of his muscles...

Summing up
- Start moves from within your Dantian
- Never underestimate the power of leaning!
- Relax your shoulders while playing
- Lean forwards when learning btb stuff
- Play around with body positions





Chapter V
How to learn tricks

excl This chapter may contain some contents that are very likely to displease you if you're a Poi Teacher yourself. I apologize unreservedly if you feel offended, please feel free to share your opinion if you don't agree with my point of view.

Sometimes I feel a little sorry for the people starting poi these days. It's quite unlike it used to be a few years ago. Back then people like me complained about a lack of videos, a lack of teachers and a lack of books. I wanted to see more, better and more exciting poi players than I already did. Well, these days it's quite a different situation. There is a whole bunch of teaching DVDs, online tutorials and books out there, there are lots of workshops held every year and sometimes people seem to get a little confused about things. They don't know what DVDs to buy, what workshop to attend and what books to read. It seems to be impossible to make a decision.

[image]https://www.abload.de/img/homeworkr0r.jpeg[/image]
Soo much information... help

The question is if that is even necessary. Now don't get me wrong, this will be the part where some of you will feel like jumping and killing me for what I write but I feel like there's one truth to spinning poi and it is a very simple one: You don't need workshops, books, DVDs or teachers to learn new tricks. In fact you are even wasting your time by reading this article instead of practising yourself. The problem with learning new tricks is the fact that our brain finds a billion excuses not to practise that trick we want or should practise for any reason. You all know how hybrids work, what they look like and that's all you need to know. Still people seem to need more learning material or workshops on hybrids. Grow up and start practising yourself instead of making a teacher responsible for your success or failure. No one can "teach" you new tricks. Some people feel they attended a workshop successfully for they learned one or two tricks that they probably would have learned anyway if they would have practised a little longer at home. But usually they say something along the lines like "Yeah, it was nice seeing all the possibilities and what you can do with your poi, but I didn't really learn something new" - and that's it. You are a lazy and stubborn person to think that attending workshops will make you a better poi player.

Wow, how rude. Now let me explain what I mean by that. I didn't say that teachers, DVDs and books are stupid or worthless things at all. In fact I would be the stupid one to say so. These things are great tools to improve what you already know, to give you new ideas or to help you if you are seriously stuck with learning a new trick. Seriously stuck. Sounds a little strange, eh? It sounds strange because it is strange. Personally I can't remember being stuck with a trick. I wasn't stuck but simply too lazy/scared or whatever to really practise the trick (of course I wouldn't admit that hehe).
What I was trying to clarify is that there's no one or nothing out there that can spare you the seemingly cruel, boring and endless duty of practising. Careful, my friend! I said seemingly cruel, boring and endless. In fact practise itself is what will eventually give you a deep satisfaction and the desire to keep on spinning poi for a very long time. I'll talk about that later on in the Chapter "Long Term vs Short Term Gradification" - in my opinion the "key" to becoming a good poi player.

After boring you to death or making you rage like a poisoned monkey by explaining my view on things I will now get a little more practical. Allow me to share my way of learning new tricks. I usually watch a video for 2 or 3 times if there's a trick that arouses my interest. I start by asking myself the question "Do I really want to spend plenty of time on learning that trick?". If the answer is "Yes!" I proceed by analyzing directions, timing and the way the person transitions into that trick. This can take some time but it's use shouldn't be underestimated. A proper analysis can make practising a lot easier. After the whole theoretical stuff I make a commitment to myself. It is either "I will practise this trick for 30 minutes" or "I will practise this trick exactly 100 times". A commitment will help you having the discipline to actually keep practising the trick. If you don't commit to yourself you will end up jumping from freestyle to that new trick and back again without a real learning success. After I have practised for either 30 minutes or 100 times I am usually able to do the trick. If not so I decide to spend NO MORE TIME on the trick for the rest of the day but to pick up things later on, maybe tomorrow or later that week. This helps me maintaining a positive attitude towards my practise for I don't feel like it is a cruel punishment but a fun and interesting thing. If that time is over I will focus on different things, such as steps, transitions or maybe even some freestyling. I can almost guarantee you that if you practise a trick for 30 minutes 7 days you'll either be pretty good by the end of the week or have at least some major progress.

Ok, now that you have learned that trick you will be facing another challenge: directions. You may very well be able to do the trick perfectly in one direction but nuts at doing it in a different direction. Now it's up to you. Do you want to learn the other side/direction as well? Let me just say that I strongly recommend doing so. This can be done in various ways. Sometimes I practise a new trick for 15 minutes in one direction and then for 15 minutes in the opposite direction, sometimes I learn the trick in one direction in the first week and take only 15 minutes a day for the next week to learn the different direction as well. You will learn the trick a lot faster in different direction once you have learned doing it in one direction properly for you'll understand how the trick works and what you have to pay attention to.


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Trust your instincts when picking a teacher (preferably not your sexual instincts, though..)

As for the challenge of which teacher, DVD or book to pick: Trust your own instincts but stick to them. Once you have chosen your teacher or bought a nice DVD stop looking for better stuff, at least for a while. Searching for better teachers/videos/books will distract you from practising and learning tricks. You will simply feel when you need new inspiration or learning material. Besides that keep your eyes open. Check free spinning videos on youtube every there and then to see what path you want to take later on. If you start teaching yourself it can actually be quite interesting to get some of the DVDs and books to see how other people teach themselves. There are some brilliant people out there but as I said before they won't be able to spare you practise.

Summing up
- You won't learn new tricks by watching or reading
- Take responsibility for your own learning success
- Analyze new tricks
- Make a commitment to yourself
- Practise different directions
- Stick to one teacher but keep eyes open


Upcoming Chapters
Chapter VI: Arms
Chapter VII: Should I imitate my idols?

duvanancient oachkatzlschwoaf
248 posts
Location: germany


Posted:
wish I could write a few things on your posts but things
are a little crazy right now and I have no time at all

yet I uploaded first half of a new chapter

oh and if you wanna do me a favour you can
rate this thread. this will not only enlarge
my ego but also your pen1s muhahaha

enjoy grin
EDITED_BY: duvan (1224623897)

joshgomeramember
155 posts
Location: here


Posted:
hi max!!

i like your guidebook and i-m so sorry that my english isn-t as good as yours- to explain all my words, idea-s,experiences and picture-s ...

but i-m happy your german, so maybe one day we can speak about all this in our mother language...

cause some things i read ,are remebering me about things i learned in my education as teacher for sport, in modern and new dance ,thai chi,yoga and theatre-improvisation (clowning) aso

(cause about some things there-s a big book list,f.ex. didactic of sport (sportdidaktik),teaching about movement (bewegungslehre), teaching about training (trainingslehre)...aso.

also i agree a lot of what was said about dance (thanxs banshee !!)

setting different focus :step, feet, health, bodycenter, character, imagination,psychology ,chacras...

..using room and space...using bodywork ? !, using anatomic knowlegde,

these are just headliners...(sorry for all that i don-t go deeper in it now)

maybe i stay a bit longer in berlin 25.10. rob-s workshop in berlin ??

would be nice...


just now in my work is focused again in theatre /dance knowledge

using room FLoor), finding my (fool) character , rhythm, freezes, breath, "ticks"-, surprising moments (singing ??)....

for me in a group

onces more

josh
EDITED_BY: joshgomera (1224687007)

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


Posted:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laban_Movement_Analysis

might be interesting applied to poi spinning/staff too... also the bartenief movement work.That talks about the core support( center) stuff I have been trying to outline.

I find that just being conscious of which I want a movement quality to portray, really gives intention to the movement, and it reads much clearer. very useful for choreography of all sorts.

Expereiment: Try taking the qualities and coming up with movements that fit, for example one using direct, sudden, free and light. ( first have a read about what those mean in his system!) then try changing just one element, like making the movement direct, sustained free and light. See how it changes everything... Fun to play with.

Probably with poi a super big challenge, maybe less so with staff.
have fun!

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


duvanancient oachkatzlschwoaf
248 posts
Location: germany


Posted:
banshee: aaah soo much input!! thank you soo much
josh: I'll be there! see you on Saturday grin

control your body! or you'll end up like that pony

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


Posted:
Poor pony... frown

hug


StoutBRONZE Member
Pooh-Bah
1,872 posts
Location: Canada


Posted:
What???

Only half a chapter ?? frown

The conundrum...

Do I read it now and treat it like a work in process..go for the instant gratification ? Or do I wait until the piece is completed ??

Decisions....Decisions...

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


Posted:
Go outside and poi! grin Instant and complete satisfaction.

hug


joshgomeramember
155 posts
Location: here


Posted:
max:

..or already tonight

poi training:

23.10. 20h -in RAW- tempel ,berlin f-hain,revaler str.99, haus 4 .-1.stock. räume des "vereins zur überwindung der schwerkraft, u/s -bahn warschauer str.

if you haven-t been there already

see you soon

josh

SeyeSILVER Member
Geek
1,261 posts
Location: Manchester, UK


Posted:
[edit]
EDITED_BY: Seye (1224868211)

16.15.8GOLD Member
I can´t think therefore I´m not
291 posts
Location: In my backpack, United Kingdom


Posted:
That horse reminds me of Max when he runs down a hill with a camera on his shoulder and doesn´t pay attention to the ground he´s running on grin Max knows what I mean....

But the fact is that there is people out there that got balance reminding me of that horse up there, scares me a little bit, however I know that you wont meet any of these people here on home of poi and that makes me very happy grin , body awareness.

"I don´t like shoes, definitely not spinning with shoes, they make my feet feel flat, my feet are not flat...."


joshgomeramember
155 posts
Location: here


Posted:
..max..


had some more thoughts about those things we spoke in long vs. short time gradification...

you spoke about zen:

me for my own found some moves that are like meditation, that really makes me calm ,are grounding me- stlil some years after i leard them !!-

cause of their rhythm -like a mantra ..or cause you can ""jump into"

feels like flying...all of them are whole body- physically and not only a poi movement itself,while your body is not moving..so they are more like dance...

also i-ve a answer to your question about using some filmparts of our
show, but this i will pm you !

a hug

josh



EDITED_BY: joshgomera (1224969629)

PyrolificBRONZE Member
Returning to a unique state of Equilibrium
3,289 posts
Location: Adelaide, South Australia


Posted:
This is Beautiful Max! I love it! smile

one suggestion;

a chapter on developing or using models for understanding and exploring object manipulation would be good. Anti's staff siteswap, I think Yuta uses a 'multiple squares' model, others use boxes/cubes for 3d space - I've seen a geometric shape model demonstrated in a video (was it Thomas?) etc etc.

I think 95% of the poiple I really idolise use some kind of model to theoretically understand poi movement.

I think models lend themselves to the development of much more interesting poi than 'trick collecting'.



Josh

--
Help! My personality got stuck in this signature machine and I cant get it out!


duvanancient oachkatzlschwoaf
248 posts
Location: germany


Posted:
@thomas: weeeeehaaaa.. I really keep laughing when watching the video and seeing you imitating my accident, muhaha
as for other people being unbalanced, for me it was even worse than that poor pony. So I'm very glad and thankfull that I got rid of this uber-unbalancedness thanks to the help of many poiple.

ay, josh(gomera) you describe precisely what I meant, glad there are other people out there feeling like me!
still waiting for that PM grin

@josh(pyro): I planned a chapter in that I talk about a possible poi siteswap. I didn't have something like you mentioned in mind but honestly, one of the reasons I am not continuing writing at the moment is that I am getting a little scared of the size of this guidebook.
It's getting harder and harder for me to break stuff down if it is about psychology and that sorta things. Makes me feel like it might not really be helping but rather confusing one.
I'm also superbusy working on that documentary, so please be patient (do you get tired of my excuses as well?) smirk

free round of hugs for everyone grouphug

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


Posted:
I agree on the idea of models. My model is a simple one... simply consists of a breakdown of the components... timing, direction, poi relative to body, arm, other poi. And then everything is constructed out of that. With an emphasis on how the poi interacts with the space around you, the geometric patterns your hands and poi move on...

Apart from that its a theft of all the models I've heard of, it depends on the concept I'm battling with at the time, of course. Isolations, cateyes and the like I use Alien Jons circle theory, for example.

hug


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


Posted:
Pyrolific: I think it was Cyrille. Look for "poi geometry" in the videos forum.

'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


PyrolificBRONZE Member
Returning to a unique state of Equilibrium
3,289 posts
Location: Adelaide, South Australia


Posted:
yeah I reckon thats the one! smile

--
Help! My personality got stuck in this signature machine and I cant get it out!


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



joshgomeramember
155 posts
Location: here


Posted:
max...

you got a pm !!!

hug
josh

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


Posted:
*bump

MidkiffBRONZE Member
shadow stranger
462 posts
Location: Carmi, Illinois, USA


Posted:
bump for awesomeness

"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able, and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?" - Epicurus


LaasyaBRONZE Member
Wind Dancer
126 posts
Location: USA, east coast


Posted:
Thanks for the guide and the bump smile
EDITED_BY: Laasya (1281305846)
EDIT_REASON: typo ;~;

Impermanent are all created things;
Strive on with awareness.
- Buddha


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