- Make someone's day with a Home of Poi Gift Voucher! Email a Gift Voucher now
Forums > Beginner Poi Moves > very basic concepts of moving with poi: now with added theory!
Login/Join to ParticipateCarpal \'Tunnel
2,895 posts
Location: Cambridge UK
There has already been lots of discussion on dancing and body movement. I don't think I can add much to Duvan's thread [Old link]
But, I did have an idea for a way to express body movement in the same sort of broad terms as poi, and I found it helped me when initially thinking of new movements to incorporate into moves, and has been a basis for all sorts of moves I've been working on since:
Anti: any move where a part of your body is moving in a different direction to the poi (i.e any antispin)
Similar: when you move a body part in a way that is the same direction as that of the poi, but not on the same scale or time
Congruent: when you move a body part in a way that is exactly the same as they way the poi are moving (i.e isolations, longarm circles)
Isolation: when a body part remains completely still
Now, this will probably confuse people when thinking about poi terms as well, so forget about the poi moves and focus on the movement of the body instead, and how you want the poi to be following your movement . These are intended as very BROAD terms only, and the most important thing to remember is that they can be applied to any body part.
i.e:
fountains with anti head movement
stalls with congruent leg movement
I hope someone gets something out of this
EDITED_BY: LazyAngel (1140005524)
Because ActiveAngel sounds like a feminine deodorant
Like sex, I'm much more interesting in real life than online.
'Be the change you want to see in the world around you' - Ghandi
big and good and broken
7,330 posts
Location: lunn dunn, yoo kay, United Kingdom
Written by: LazyAngel
fountains with anti head movement
i was going to post about fountains the other day and how they (i think uniquely) have a possible 3 centres of rotation.
but then i thought "if i learn rev as weave i would be able to spin all combinations of a fountain" so ididn't post anything and span some poi instead.
i didn't manage to learn half of the rev as weave though so i still can't spin all of the combinations...
cole. x
"i see you at 'dis cafe.
i come to 'dis cafe quite a lot myself.
they do porridge."
- tim westwood
Bastard Newbie Messiah
1,269 posts
Location: Apparently lost in my ego, USA
were the clips I made not helpful in that endeavor cole? is there perhaps somethinh More useless information courtesy of Rev...
Confusing the masses, one post at a time...
"Obviously, you're not a golfer.."- The Dude
"Buy the ticket... Take the ride..." -Raoul Duke
"FEMA has never done catastrophe planning..."-Michael Brown
Carpal \'Tunnel
2,895 posts
Location: Cambridge UK
cole: much as that is an awesome idea, it's not really what I was getting at. By 'head' I meant the thing atop your shoulders, not the poi head
Because ActiveAngel sounds like a feminine deodorant
Like sex, I'm much more interesting in real life than online.
'Be the change you want to see in the world around you' - Ghandi
Flying Water Muppet
5,276 posts
Location: Edin-borrow., United Kingdom
I do love crazy b-boy style: I'm going to look over there, while my staff is over here then when I move my staff over there, I'm going to look over here head movements.
They feel both super silly and like I'm really really cool.
"the now legendary" - Kaskade
"the still legendary" - Kaskade
I spunked in my friend's aquarium and the fish ate it. I love all fish. Especially the pink ones. They are my bitches. - Anon.
still can't believe it's not butter
6,978 posts
Location: Melbourne, Australia
i like spirit fingers.
they be the shiz in the nitz.
Laugh Often, Smile Much, Post lolcats Always
big and good and broken
7,330 posts
Location: lunn dunn, yoo kay, United Kingdom
rev - sorry, i haven't seen your clips other than the inversion stuff - no d/l here at work and i haven't been online at home for a while now.
lazyangel -
sorry for the tangent.good thread
one thing that i've mentioned before that i noticed is part of how i spin is delayed 'similar' movement i.e. making the body lead the poi.
this is an amalgamation of things like: early turns (think 90 degree turns before every crossover), looking ahead to your next turn/where the poi will be, leaning towards the poi, (poi)head manipulation (e.g pulls into catches).
cole. x
"i see you at 'dis cafe.
i come to 'dis cafe quite a lot myself.
they do porridge."
- tim westwood
HOP librarian
1,841 posts
Location: Prague, Czech. Republic
What about influences of other dance styles into Poi spinning like Break-dancing, Elelctic-boogie as a street styles or Thai-ti and Martial arts?
For example I uses some breakdance styles to prepar legs for spinning.
POI THEO(R)IST
veteran
1,286 posts
Location: My House, United Kingdom
hmmm break dancing a poi + poi with feet and hands = some crazy images in my head atm.
i never really thought how i dance with poi, it just kinda happens, and although ive neer done any Tai Chi, it kinda feels like i imagine that to feel, lots of weight transfers around the poi
Proudly Owned By The BMVC
Are You Sniffing My Mitten?
Carpal \'Tunnel
2,895 posts
Location: Cambridge UK
meg: yeah! I do like over the shoulder waistwaraps while turning the head away. The whole 'I don't even need to look' thing rules!
cole: yeah that's the sort of thing I'm on about
Richee: those styles are very cool if you can find a way to free your body movement from the movement of spinning poi, or moves which work within the movement of the dance. Example, if you isolate on seperate sides of your body in different directions, you can exagerrate it into a punching motion that is very similar in technique to the punches I learnt in kung fu.
The essence of what I'm getting at is to think about the movement rather than the spinning. One exercise would be to think of a body movement, then carry out that movement with poi in your hands while spinning circles, swinging pendulums or isolating. Do not focus on the poi, solely on carrying out the movement without hitting yourself!
Because ActiveAngel sounds like a feminine deodorant
Like sex, I'm much more interesting in real life than online.
'Be the change you want to see in the world around you' - Ghandi
Stream Entrant
2,829 posts
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Good luck to contortionists who can do “over the shoulder waistwraps”
Think I’ll stick to upper fountains
If we as members of the human race practice meditation, we can transcend our fear, despair, and forgetfulness. Meditation is not an escape. It is the courage to look at reality with mindfulness and concentration. Thich Nhat Hanh
Flying Water Muppet
5,276 posts
Location: Edin-borrow., United Kingdom
Ah, I was doing it as a "Where is my staff? Over there?
"the now legendary" - Kaskade
"the still legendary" - Kaskade
I spunked in my friend's aquarium and the fish ate it. I love all fish. Especially the pink ones. They are my bitches. - Anon.
Tosser
1,712 posts
Location: Bristol,UK
On a slight tangent-
The 'i don't need to look' reminded me of doing BTB inwrd butterfly throws from a cross arm release-
SO Inward BF, right hand crossesto crosser position under or over left shoulder and release-
Poi flys BTB and magically appears ready to be caught by the right hand now returned to its own side of the body.
If you sell it it really messes with your head. Contiuous looks rude as as well
Classically British
5,689 posts
Location: Epsom, Surrey, England
Circle gliding / "true moonwalk" with low-waves is nice
Good exercise in hand/foot independence...
Nice thread though - breaking down movement with poi into simiair families of moves. In some ways you could be mathmatical with this and go through the different combinations of each body move with each poi move - but this would be dull
[Music related side note]
It reminds me a bif of a kit-drumming exercice called "Fat Back" (As in it's designed so you can learn to play some fat back beats I think...)
~ Counting 4 16th's/Semi-quavers as 1e+a
It's a list of 40-odd 1-beat bars. Starting with a beat on 1, then on the 'e' of 1, then the '+' of 1 finally the 'a' of 1 - You then have all the variations of 2 16th notes in a 4-beat bar ('1e', '1+', '1a' ,'e+', 'ea' etc etc) on each beat, then 3 16th's then 4 16th's i.e. all beats.
(You can go even further by then introducing triplets)
So you then take 4 exercises and use one on each limb - for example - LH doing '1e', RH doing '+', LF doing '+a' and RF doing 1+a.
You can basically come up with an huge number of combinations and iron out every permutation of 4-way coordination - especially if you then combine them into 4-beat phrases with every limb doing something different each beat.
[back on topic]
So, to apply this to the thread (
) - You can take a poi move and apply all those "body moves" in turn with each limb and see what you can come up with, then work through each variation of each poi move with each body movement - i.e. forward, backward, sync'd, split timed, BTB, anti-spin, WW, inverted, isolated etc, each with congruent, anti-spin, isolated body movements.That is if you have too much time on your hands
Burner of Toast
Spinner of poi
Slacker of enormous magnitude
3,149 posts
Location: London
dear mr durbs, despite the tutelage of both yourself and the weasel, i am still utterly rubbish at those basic sideways glide things. i think i'm missing some vital component in my understanding of the concept. Or possibly i'm just cackfooted.
Can you point me in the direction of good instructions on the net somewhere?
"Switching between different kinds of chuu chuu sometimes gives this "urgh wtf?" effect because it's giving people the phi phenomenon."
Carpal \'Tunnel
2,895 posts
Location: Cambridge UK
stone: that's normal OTS waistwraps, not BTB OTS waistwraps (ouch!)
meg: ahh, I getcha! my closest move to that is (in the whole silly but cool feeling) one hand on top of the head spinning in the ceiling plane while anti turning. Makes you feel like a carousel..
Chutney: hmmm, sounds like fun, have to give that a shot sometime
Durbs: exactly! there are loads of combinations! but you would need a very big diagram or list to work them all out. Possibly one large enough to take up all four walls of my room. Or maybe even bigger than that
actually, how cool would that be... wallpaper with spinning theory on it! (geek heaven) Because ActiveAngel sounds like a feminine deodorant
Like sex, I'm much more interesting in real life than online.
'Be the change you want to see in the world around you' - Ghandi
Classically British
5,689 posts
Location: Epsom, Surrey, England
In terms of writing it down - it's not that bad...
The drum example fits onto one A4 of sheet music - so it's only a matter of writing down all the poi moves you know and numbering them 1-x, and all the body moves you want to try also number 1-x.
Then get a chalk board and pick random number combinations on each limb...
Or - just put some music on and dance around like a loon
Burner of Toast
Spinner of poi
Slacker of enormous magnitude
Classically British
5,689 posts
Location: Epsom, Surrey, England
Simian - Try and download "ill Dill's gliding tutorial" (which comes under various file names... Very good clear advice from beginenrs up to advance.
Oh, and it's about 80% foot-strength and 20% technique, so lots of dull exercies or just lots of practising are the only ways to nail them
Burner of Toast
Spinner of poi
Slacker of enormous magnitude
Carpal \'Tunnel
2,895 posts
Location: Cambridge UK
Written by: Durbs
Or - just put some music on and dance around like a loon
that'd be me then
I guess the main body parts would be:
head
torso
pelvis
right leg (thigh and shin)
left leg (thigh and shin)
right arm
left arm
right foot
left foot
eyes (potentially, but I wouldn't be bothered)
body parts i'm not so sure can be used in this way
fingers
elbows
knees
toes
heels
shoulders
hands (are difficult as they have a lot of impact on the tragectory of the poi)
silly body parts to use
jaw
ears
genitalia
butt cheeks
nose
EDITED_BY: LazyAngel (1129291195)
Because ActiveAngel sounds like a feminine deodorant
Like sex, I'm much more interesting in real life than online.
'Be the change you want to see in the world around you' - Ghandi
Flying Water Muppet
5,276 posts
Location: Edin-borrow., United Kingdom
Durbs:
Ill gills gliding tutorial: Searched on Reflective.net and they seem to be the worse non-hosting bunch of annoying, hey pm me!, or hey go on soulseek! people in the world ever! Do these people have no HOSTING! "Well I know a friend who put it on his friends server a year ago, in russia..."
Who cares, I want to DOWNLOAD IT! ARGH!
You tease me with these ghost videos!
Can you send it to me, and then I can host it?
I'm tempted to put my video collection on the net anyway, I've got about 1 gig of free space and stupid amounts of bandwidth...
"the now legendary" - Kaskade
"the still legendary" - Kaskade
I spunked in my friend's aquarium and the fish ate it. I love all fish. Especially the pink ones. They are my bitches. - Anon.
Classically British
5,689 posts
Location: Epsom, Surrey, England
It's about 84mb I think... (Very comprehensive) So it'd be a bit of a bandwidhth killer for general hosting - possibly could host it for a select few though
Burner of Toast
Spinner of poi
Slacker of enormous magnitude
Flying Water Muppet
5,276 posts
Location: Edin-borrow., United Kingdom
I laugh in the face of your big files!
Actually I have 3.8 gb left, Hmmmmmmm, Gigabytes...
and how much bandwidth? 120gb per month? Really? Wow, that's more than I'm really ever going to use...
"the now legendary" - Kaskade
"the still legendary" - Kaskade
I spunked in my friend's aquarium and the fish ate it. I love all fish. Especially the pink ones. They are my bitches. - Anon.
Carpal \'Tunnel
2,895 posts
Location: Cambridge UK
meg: maybe you could host some of the PiP files as the site seems to be down these days?
Because ActiveAngel sounds like a feminine deodorant
Like sex, I'm much more interesting in real life than online.
'Be the change you want to see in the world around you' - Ghandi
Classically British
5,689 posts
Location: Epsom, Surrey, England
Cool - Grab me on msn at DurbsUK on the hot male thing
I'll beam it over to you if ya like
Burner of Toast
Spinner of poi
Slacker of enormous magnitude
Flying Water Muppet
5,276 posts
Location: Edin-borrow., United Kingdom
pmage.
"the now legendary" - Kaskade
"the still legendary" - Kaskade
I spunked in my friend's aquarium and the fish ate it. I love all fish. Especially the pink ones. They are my bitches. - Anon.
9,232 posts
Location: NYC, NY, USA
Yeah, I realized years ago how cool gliding and poi would look but I know I'm never gonna get there. Especially since I'm not even trying.
But I'll definitely watch you guys do it.
Well, shall we go?
Yes, let's go.
[They do not move.]
Pooh-Bah
2,110 posts
Location: Philadelphia, PA - USA
I want a copy of that! Meg, if you host it, lemme know pls.
Let's turn those old bridges we crossed into ashes.
We'll blaze a new trail,
and torch the rough patches.
-Me
Stream Entrant
2,829 posts
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Great topic Lazy Angel, I love there body movement threads. And for sure BTB OTS waistwraps would take some practice
But I was really having a go at your terminology. Like over the shoulder waistwraps seems like a oxymoron to me. Try some contra.
If we as members of the human race practice meditation, we can transcend our fear, despair, and forgetfulness. Meditation is not an escape. It is the courage to look at reality with mindfulness and concentration. Thich Nhat Hanh
still can't believe it's not butter
6,978 posts
Location: Melbourne, Australia
would PK mind if i hosted his videos while Pip is down then?
seems like some wikkid videos need sharing!
Laugh Often, Smile Much, Post lolcats Always
Carpal \'Tunnel
2,895 posts
Location: Cambridge UK
stone: yeah I know it is a bit of a wierd way to describe it, but if i start saying shoulderwraps I reckon people might get even more confused. Cos the move is like a waistwrap in feel (mostly) and execution, I thus described it as an OTS waistwrap. These days you just say waistwrap and everyone thinks BTB not the 'normal' variety.
Anyway that OTS waistwrap is NOT being described by the terminology I put in the first post, which was intended merely to get people thinking about the possibilities of body movement while spinning
Sorry for any confusion, and what is contra?
Because ActiveAngel sounds like a feminine deodorant
Like sex, I'm much more interesting in real life than online.
'Be the change you want to see in the world around you' - Ghandi
HOP librarian
1,841 posts
Location: Prague, Czech. Republic
Soulderwraps are called Thru wraps. The difference is that wrap wrap some part of body and twist aroud the wrap point into full wrap and than can be recoiled. So its like tap, an untap.
Thu wrap, uses this wrap point only to turn around this new center making smaller circle.
Contra, like contra-productive meen something like against.
EDITED_BY: Richee (1129548230)
POI THEO(R)IST
© 1998 - 2025 Home of Poi
All prices converted to United States dollars using XE.com