Forums > Beginner Poi Moves > I need help with the tuck turn

Posted: 5th Nov 2008
This has come up before, but took a fair bit of creativity to find with a search, so nevermind....

What is going on is that, assuming you are spinning forward and turning left: your right hand comes to your right armpitty area as you turn and sort of "slides" down the right tricep after the turn is complete. To continue the illusion, your left comes up more than it would normally. From the front you are doing a reel with your hands under their own armpit. At least, that is what I call a tucked turn....

Hope it helps, but I am pretty tired right now....

'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

Posted: 5th Nov 2008
I never learned how to do it.. I learned to turn with the 3 beat before anything else... so if its really tying you up, just move on. SOME of the basics will just be built up through your practice of other things... but some still do need to be returned to.

Posted: 5th Nov 2008
Do not think that I ever learned it either. Leaving it out is not going to lead to you missing out on anything dramatic like if you did not bother with isolations. If you can turn, it will just happen one day.

If you must learn it, then another way to try it is to pretend that you are going to wrap your upper arm, but just before you connect properly, turn and let it slip past you.

'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

Posted: 5th Nov 2008
I forgot something here... as usual... if you can do lockouts which are just removing the poi from their weaving action... so you end up with your poi going same direction in the same plane and this can go on forever...

Try going from a weave, into the lockout, then turn your body so the lockout is on the other side of your body (But doesnt move in relation to where it is in the space around you) then go back into the weave like that... this could help you turn with the weave, since its the same action without the extra beats.

Not quite a tuck turn, but its a way to turn if you couldnt already.

My biggest tip is to make effective use of your time practicing... theres nothing that you HAVE to learn at all, not the 2 beat, not anything like that. You do need to learn split time, same time and directions, as well as arm positions(For flowers) but nothing is a prerequisite for advancement. (Except the 3 beat if you want to learn the 5 beat... but you don't have to learn the 5 beat either. )

Posted: 5th Nov 2008
Ha !!! I thought I knew this move, but I checked the lessons section just to make sure. Nope, I wasn't doin' it. I gave it a go and found I liked the whole swoosh feel of the move.

The video isn't all that good, like it doesn't tell you that this turn is for going from forwards to backwards spinning only but it's simply crossing one poi across your body and and spinning half a circle before turning your body in the direction of the hand that crossed your body in the first place.

I'd practice with one poi, especially in the hand that crosses the body before the turn, so for a right turn, hand across body for half a circle ( remember to tuck right hand under left arm ) and when that poi completes the half circle and is at the top of the circle, bring it down back across your body, turn and assume the position for backwards spinning.

The other hand turns as it would normally, but there's that twist in the arm that's there to accommodate your other arm being tucked under it.

Posted: 7th Nov 2008
This new tutorial at PlayPoi might help with the hand movements behind your back

https://www.playpoi.com/poi-basics-week-two