Forums > Videos > 3 new videos by Zan. 2 Poi, 1 Double Staff

Posted: 2nd Feb 2011
Hey Zan, nice to see new videos with exploration of body movement. I've found snaking and isolating around all body parts lends itself to a lot of liquid dance.

In order to use the poi effectively while dancing I try to keep the technique solid and then experiment how I can use my whole body to enhance the motion of the poi or add some flare to some particular trick. I've found most of the non-beginner poi tricks have the potential to involve the whole body anyway so it's just a matter of loosening up all the muscles, finding your balance, and letting the weight of the poi pull you into several shapes.

So my approach is to make the body malleable as opposed to sacrificing planes, timing or zero points. Of course there will always be a compromise; I don't think it's actually possible to achieve 100% body movement without missing some aspect of poi but I try to balance it out.

Anyways just my 2 cents

Posted: 2nd Feb 2011
Do I even have to say it?

The only luck is bad luck.

Shut up before I stall my poi up your ass

Posted: 2nd Feb 2011
Pretty unique styling. Leospoi has good advice. a lot of body movement throws off your planes. too much body movement and it looks like youre trying to keep from falling over.

-I'm so Psily ::))

Posted: 3rd Feb 2011
I really dig the plane-bendy wrappy stuff around 1:30 in the first vid. And it's cool to see you incorporating more 3d stuff.

I like the movement style in the second a lot. I've never seen anyone incorporate that stuff that well, so I hope you pursue it some more.

p|.q|r:|::s|.s|s:|:.s|q.|:p|s.|.p|s

Posted: 10th Feb 2011
I filmed all these videos in one night. My idea was to watch my practice session to see what needed cleaning up. The verdict?
I was free-flowing and dancing to music, but decided that I could clean up a lot of stuff by trying to be slower and more controlled. I gave up some precision by trying to keep up with the beat of faster songs. It's not that slower is necessarily better, just a different style. But that's how I've focused my practice since seeing these videos.
But how can we do it all? Clean precise movement that matches the mood and rhythm of a song, even when improvised! That's my future lofty goal.

Posted: 16th Feb 2011
Here's another video from that night in the Yurt. This is my first contact juggling video ever:

Posted: 16th Feb 2011
I really liked the doubles video Zan! and I guess thats unusual for me - I dont like most doubles vids I see. It was great to see you moving and flowing with it, considering something other than 'just the trick'.

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

Posted: 1st Mar 2011
Thanks Pyrolific-
I appreciate the feedback. I took a choreography class years ago in which the teacher said "Your techniques are just your tools. People don't want to see your tools; they want to see what you can do with them."
Even though the class had nothing to do with spinning, it's so applicable to spinning because so much focus goes into technique and we forget that the ultimate goal is to create an artistic piece of self-expression that is aesthetically pleasing to the audience.

Posted: 4th Mar 2011
You teacher is fully right, your are hiding behind your tool, So you maybe should take more class dance in the future To get cleaner moves, and forget a bit the tool. ( or any kind of movement stuff )