I'm going to Costa Rica in March to play with some of my NYC jedi kula. Funny enough, Nick of playpoi fame is going to be in CR the week prior, teaching his classes on advanced poi spinning. The pre-requisite is "The Basics". I consider myself a fairly decent poi spinner, so wanted to see what "the basics" consisted of, in Nick's opinion.
To my astonishment, it included some fairly advanced moves (behind the back weaves, anyone?). I've been playing inside the Weave for almost a year now, and its time to incorporate some new moves. The one that I *do* consider basic, that I was struggling with, even after classes, was the Butterfly. This morning, in between sets of pushups, I decided to tackle it.
With good music, anything is possible!
To my own amazement, I had the butterfly within 2 minutes of attempting it. Just like when I first learned the weave, it was a really high energy schping moment! The important thing about new moves is to train your body to unconsciously complete them. In otherwords, so you can transition into, play freely within, and out of the move without so much as a conscious thought. This is the nature of flow. So I stayed within the move for a mighty long time, and played with the internal possibility space, seeing where all my hands could go, where I could relax, where I could exert force, where the beats and rhytmns were. All the while the chakras were unlocking and energy was flowing freely up and down my spine. It felt so good to be opening up to new moves again!
After 20 minutes or so of left over right (which seemed very natural for the butterfly), I heeded CMs advice: for every move, practice your weak side twice as much as your dominant. So I painfully reverse engineered the move and finally got my right over left working. It *almost* felt like (which means, there is) a way existed to swicth dynamically between the two in real time while still maintaining butterfly. But every time I tried it I either wrapped a wrist or konked myself in the head. We'll get there... something tells me its related to that move I hear about called "thread the needle" :)
I've got it now where I can actually interlock my hands and still keep butterfly going... that's fun! Also tried it bending over backwards and essentially doing helicopter overhead and then reverse butterfly over the head. Fun fun fun. :)
Showing posts with label poi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poi. Show all posts
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Friday, July 4, 2008
Happy 4th of July
This is my fourth public performance. (following Hollywood, Bryant Park NYC, and Central Park NYC)
So as midnight neared last night, I had to celebrate in some way, so I threw on a pair of shorts, scrambled up some batteries for the iPod amp (Music was a required part), lit up my flowtoy glowpoi, and headed for the rooftop. A couple was romantically perched on the ledge, and I said a brief hello but decided not to intrude (breath). I cranked up my music and proceeded to spin a really nice set to Michael Franti (Love, Why did you Go Away?) and then to Bassnectar (Underground Communication). Franti was heartbreaking. Bassnectar was mildly reassuring. I spun a pretty good set. And the whole time I could see the big mis-numbered clock on the rooftop nearby, so I knew exactly the moment we entered July 4. I imagined how my performance would look from the eyes of the couple. I thought, properly done, this could be excellent romantic fuel for them. I hoped it was. I concluded my set and gave them a bow and a polite good night and a "Happy Fourth!". And went back to my own personal independence day in Apt Om.
So as midnight neared last night, I had to celebrate in some way, so I threw on a pair of shorts, scrambled up some batteries for the iPod amp (Music was a required part), lit up my flowtoy glowpoi, and headed for the rooftop. A couple was romantically perched on the ledge, and I said a brief hello but decided not to intrude (breath). I cranked up my music and proceeded to spin a really nice set to Michael Franti (Love, Why did you Go Away?) and then to Bassnectar (Underground Communication). Franti was heartbreaking. Bassnectar was mildly reassuring. I spun a pretty good set. And the whole time I could see the big mis-numbered clock on the rooftop nearby, so I knew exactly the moment we entered July 4. I imagined how my performance would look from the eyes of the couple. I thought, properly done, this could be excellent romantic fuel for them. I hoped it was. I concluded my set and gave them a bow and a polite good night and a "Happy Fourth!". And went back to my own personal independence day in Apt Om.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Tantra
been researching Tantra a lot lately. As best I can tell, it encourages engagement with physical reality, as opposed to detachment from it (Vedic)... and all this implies.
However, I also *just* found out that Tantra translates to "weave"!??!?
Sanskrit: तन्त्र "weave" -- denoting continuity
How cool is that?
However, I also *just* found out that Tantra translates to "weave"!??!?
Sanskrit: तन्त्र "weave" -- denoting continuity
How cool is that?
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Weave, Corkscrew, Headspins!
My weave had, over the course of the past month or so, been naturally migrating into a corkscrew. This was pretty neat and I liked it. I made sure to practice both directions :).
Now just the other day I got to do the weave to a corkscrew with high cielings and a high mirror. And lo and behold, as I raised my arms high into the corkscrew, I began doing the "behind / front / high" weave, or vertical corkscrew, or whatever you want to call it. The visual effect is a fast moving vertical circle clear around the head, as left and right poi alternate what is frontside and what is backside. Yay! Finally, breaking out of the weave wormhole, into new tricks!
Now just the other day I got to do the weave to a corkscrew with high cielings and a high mirror. And lo and behold, as I raised my arms high into the corkscrew, I began doing the "behind / front / high" weave, or vertical corkscrew, or whatever you want to call it. The visual effect is a fast moving vertical circle clear around the head, as left and right poi alternate what is frontside and what is backside. Yay! Finally, breaking out of the weave wormhole, into new tricks!
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Weave Death
Well, this was inevitable. And now I progress to the greater evolution of this precious flow art.
My weave dance is about over. This, because I shot a video of it. And I looked at it without seeing the poi. And all I could see was a hunched over person focusing all energy internally, hands tied together and staying close to body core.
I didn't want my dance to look like that. I want it to be free and expressive and OPEN. I began to really move my arms and hands OUT from my body, stretching to maximum extension and re-discovering those BASIC poi moves. It felt good. For the first time in a while, I got the good ole spine tingle... for me, that means I'm opening up new energy channels. Yay!
The FINAL nail in the coffin was when I realised that my "tight weave" manuever could be best explained by saying "pretend like you have handcuffs on"... I did subsequently confirm that I can do forward / backward / spinning weave while handcuffed, but was that really the dance I wanted to be putting out into the universe?
So, farewell continuous weave, hello OPEN SPINNING.
With Open Heart Forward,
+h30ry
My weave dance is about over. This, because I shot a video of it. And I looked at it without seeing the poi. And all I could see was a hunched over person focusing all energy internally, hands tied together and staying close to body core.
I didn't want my dance to look like that. I want it to be free and expressive and OPEN. I began to really move my arms and hands OUT from my body, stretching to maximum extension and re-discovering those BASIC poi moves. It felt good. For the first time in a while, I got the good ole spine tingle... for me, that means I'm opening up new energy channels. Yay!
The FINAL nail in the coffin was when I realised that my "tight weave" manuever could be best explained by saying "pretend like you have handcuffs on"... I did subsequently confirm that I can do forward / backward / spinning weave while handcuffed, but was that really the dance I wanted to be putting out into the universe?
So, farewell continuous weave, hello OPEN SPINNING.
With Open Heart Forward,
+h30ry
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Weave Revelations
Well, I've been both meditating, and just started to begin feeling, what, a little "stuck" in the weave coccoon. So I thought I would expand the repetroire a bit and watch some Pele instructional video.
The first four lessons were all stuff I already knew, but it was still nice to see it executed with perfect form, and I learned a few things about planes. I also found a "hole" in my practice which I didn't know about. Strangely, I could with ease do the backwards left over right crossover, the forwards right over left crossover, the fowards left over right crossover. But when it came to the backwards right over left crossover, I hit myself in the face, every time. Wow! So, I practiced that until I "healed" the hole. I'm sure it will open up new areas in my freestyle play, since now we are back to "balance" with that move.
Now, the next thing was something that C had taught me, the corkscrew. But Pele gave me an entiirely new revelation with a single comment:
The Corkscrew is simply the Weave on a Horizontal Plane
BAM!
First, I could now do one weave at least, the split time counterclock, with ease. I practiced that a bit. It felt good. I practiced spinning my body in circles while corkscrewing. It felt good. I really tried to keep my spine completely upright, because one of the things that bothered me about Pele's corkscrew was that she was constantly bent forward over it, hunched. I wanted to do it standing erect. This meant that the poi came *really* close to my chest, almost buzz-saw style, but as long as I could deal with that and remain calm, it worked.
OK, now heres the second part of the revelation:
Like I said, I have a pretty decent feeling freestyle weave dance, where I can spin, change directions, and reverse directions at will anywhere in the beat. I've also been doing a lot of experimenting with moving the center of the weave up and down in space (high over head, low near groin). Finally, I've been experimenting with both "loose" and "tight" weave, which I define as how much the wrists move through space, and relative to eachother, as the weave moves. You can basically do a "tight" weave with handcuffs on. Seriously. You just psychicly "glue" your wrists together and movve those poi.
Sudenly, in a fairly tight weave while spinning my body, I realised that the poi had shifted to horizontal planes, and that I was doing an erect spinning corkscrew! Sweet! Then what Pele said about the corkscrew being a horizontal weave made total sense, and I also had an ultrasmooth transition between the two moves.
But best of all, its just more life into my freestyle flow improv, which is the only way I really like to dance :)
The first four lessons were all stuff I already knew, but it was still nice to see it executed with perfect form, and I learned a few things about planes. I also found a "hole" in my practice which I didn't know about. Strangely, I could with ease do the backwards left over right crossover, the forwards right over left crossover, the fowards left over right crossover. But when it came to the backwards right over left crossover, I hit myself in the face, every time. Wow! So, I practiced that until I "healed" the hole. I'm sure it will open up new areas in my freestyle play, since now we are back to "balance" with that move.
Now, the next thing was something that C had taught me, the corkscrew. But Pele gave me an entiirely new revelation with a single comment:
The Corkscrew is simply the Weave on a Horizontal Plane
BAM!
First, I could now do one weave at least, the split time counterclock, with ease. I practiced that a bit. It felt good. I practiced spinning my body in circles while corkscrewing. It felt good. I really tried to keep my spine completely upright, because one of the things that bothered me about Pele's corkscrew was that she was constantly bent forward over it, hunched. I wanted to do it standing erect. This meant that the poi came *really* close to my chest, almost buzz-saw style, but as long as I could deal with that and remain calm, it worked.
OK, now heres the second part of the revelation:
Like I said, I have a pretty decent feeling freestyle weave dance, where I can spin, change directions, and reverse directions at will anywhere in the beat. I've also been doing a lot of experimenting with moving the center of the weave up and down in space (high over head, low near groin). Finally, I've been experimenting with both "loose" and "tight" weave, which I define as how much the wrists move through space, and relative to eachother, as the weave moves. You can basically do a "tight" weave with handcuffs on. Seriously. You just psychicly "glue" your wrists together and movve those poi.
Sudenly, in a fairly tight weave while spinning my body, I realised that the poi had shifted to horizontal planes, and that I was doing an erect spinning corkscrew! Sweet! Then what Pele said about the corkscrew being a horizontal weave made total sense, and I also had an ultrasmooth transition between the two moves.
But best of all, its just more life into my freestyle flow improv, which is the only way I really like to dance :)
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Weave Flow
Yay I'm celebrating for a new "trick"... not really a trick, more like a natural flow.
First I had to nail my front to back weave transitions, so I just kept doing them over and over until I could do them without thinking. This is where you rotate your body 180 mid-weave and simultaneously transition from front weave to back weave or vice versa. It was a lot harder smoothing out the clockwise rotations than it was the CC, go figure.
Once I got these rotations nailed, I realised that I could do a continuous circular body rotation instead of just moving 180. So I started doing FW-turn-BW-turn-FW-turn, etc. continuously.
A few days later, I realised that I could rotate my weave without rotating my body, so that if I could be running a forward weave with my torso torqued 90 degrees leftward, than I could simply rotate my torso 180 (to the right), keeping my feet firmly planted, and in doing so switch to the back weave, on the right side. Neat!
It was only natural at that point to realise that I could stop, start, or reverse both my body rotation, my torso rotation, and my weave direction at ANY TIME in the dance, and I didn't need to have set entry / exit points or "cardinal directions". That was where the fun began. For like 20 minutes I listened to a series of songs (a good mix of 180bpm techno and 45bpm folk FYI) and just freely explored the bodyspace inside the coccoon of the weave. I stopped thinking about where the poi actually were and my body naturally rotated, my wrists naturally reversed when needed, and I reveled in the dance.
First I had to nail my front to back weave transitions, so I just kept doing them over and over until I could do them without thinking. This is where you rotate your body 180 mid-weave and simultaneously transition from front weave to back weave or vice versa. It was a lot harder smoothing out the clockwise rotations than it was the CC, go figure.
Once I got these rotations nailed, I realised that I could do a continuous circular body rotation instead of just moving 180. So I started doing FW-turn-BW-turn-FW-turn, etc. continuously.
A few days later, I realised that I could rotate my weave without rotating my body, so that if I could be running a forward weave with my torso torqued 90 degrees leftward, than I could simply rotate my torso 180 (to the right), keeping my feet firmly planted, and in doing so switch to the back weave, on the right side. Neat!
It was only natural at that point to realise that I could stop, start, or reverse both my body rotation, my torso rotation, and my weave direction at ANY TIME in the dance, and I didn't need to have set entry / exit points or "cardinal directions". That was where the fun began. For like 20 minutes I listened to a series of songs (a good mix of 180bpm techno and 45bpm folk FYI) and just freely explored the bodyspace inside the coccoon of the weave. I stopped thinking about where the poi actually were and my body naturally rotated, my wrists naturally reversed when needed, and I reveled in the dance.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Max Rocks
Tonight, just before bed, the kids and I had a poi party. we turned off all the lights and I turned on the glowpoi (in their zebra sock casings). Alyson went first since arguable she had the most experience. I played her favorite song. But the performance, though fun, was uninspired, and she wouldn't listen to my gentle guidance of holding the socks midway down so they would stop smacking the floor.
Next I performed, and I took C's advice to heart and gave it my very best, really getting into the music (Incubus/Dig) and trying some fairly challenging moves like a weave high overhead while on my knees.
Max was chomping at the bit by the time I was done and requested he perform to a song from his first CD, "I'm A Ram" by Government Mule. I gave him a big MC-style intro and he immediately disarmed the crowd by saying casually "Well, I'm normally a stand-up comedian but tonight I forgot my routine, so I'm just gonna play with these here glowy things." As the music came on, he then proceeded to completely dazzle Alyson and I with a passion I had rarely seen. He reminded me of my first poi days after midnight, drunk, syncced to blaring punk rock. He danced with abandon and the poi followed his every move. I cheered him on loudly and he really rocked to the beat, dancing all over the linving room and doing some moves so chaotic I couldn't even interpret them, mixed in with stalls, butterflies, and wraps. I was so proud.
Alyson then insisted she do it again and wanted to do it to Max's song, which I refused, but played Gorillaz/Dare instead, which seemed good. Again she didn't heed my advice and ended up giving herself a really strong poismack right in the mouth (I know how much that hurts!)... all the while Max continued dancing with abandon, grace, and his own unique style. It was a great night for us all.
Next I performed, and I took C's advice to heart and gave it my very best, really getting into the music (Incubus/Dig) and trying some fairly challenging moves like a weave high overhead while on my knees.
Max was chomping at the bit by the time I was done and requested he perform to a song from his first CD, "I'm A Ram" by Government Mule. I gave him a big MC-style intro and he immediately disarmed the crowd by saying casually "Well, I'm normally a stand-up comedian but tonight I forgot my routine, so I'm just gonna play with these here glowy things." As the music came on, he then proceeded to completely dazzle Alyson and I with a passion I had rarely seen. He reminded me of my first poi days after midnight, drunk, syncced to blaring punk rock. He danced with abandon and the poi followed his every move. I cheered him on loudly and he really rocked to the beat, dancing all over the linving room and doing some moves so chaotic I couldn't even interpret them, mixed in with stalls, butterflies, and wraps. I was so proud.
Alyson then insisted she do it again and wanted to do it to Max's song, which I refused, but played Gorillaz/Dare instead, which seemed good. Again she didn't heed my advice and ended up giving herself a really strong poismack right in the mouth (I know how much that hurts!)... all the while Max continued dancing with abandon, grace, and his own unique style. It was a great night for us all.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Natural Movement
after another 30 minutes of spinning to some of my favorite spinmusic (Prodigy: Breath, Fighting Cocks misc, various Burning Man DJ set rips), I have both integrated the weave, both directions, and had some good practice moving into and out of it from other places.
I can truly say this is the most natural move I've ever assimilated. After the first few "watch the video" disasters, I gave up on it, and then "voila!" at the beach, it simply materialised out of thin air, and now its like second nature.
I hope that all moves come so easily in the future!
I can truly say this is the most natural move I've ever assimilated. After the first few "watch the video" disasters, I gave up on it, and then "voila!" at the beach, it simply materialised out of thin air, and now its like second nature.
I hope that all moves come so easily in the future!
Celebration! Got my Weave oN!
It happened completely naturally, the day after thanksgiving. I was just playing outside, with two moves that make me feel good: the double crossover figure 8, and the left right swing where both poi stay exactly shoulder width apart in horizontal alignment while doing large figure 8s across the front of the body. Then just out of instinct, when the poi swung left, I did the left weave on them. It worked, and I could feel the energy pulse! Yay! So I got it so I could do one hadn "over under out" come back to the paralell, wait 3 beats, then do the left "over under out" again.
Within 15 minutes, I was in the middle of the yard, and through some complete chaos that my body understood fully but my mind failed to comprehend, I did the weave on both sides, without interruption, for several beats. I then thought "what the hell is going on?" about which time the poi smashed into my thighs.
I was able to repeat this three more times and each time the energy ripped right up and down my spine, like I was unlocking a new piece of the tummy-knot puzzle that is my life, the string unravelling into its naturally relaxed and untangled state. New energy pathways opened, I nearly yelped with joy and celebration.
Where none of those videos (Scales of Poi, Art of Poi, Pele's Poi Spinning Basics, Glowsticking) had gotten me to unlock it, continuing natural movement, and following the natural rhythmn of the poi, led me right into it.
Notably, after those three sucesses, I tried to mentally grok what the hell was going on, and that wrecked my practice for the next three days.
So today I went ever so slowly back into it, repeating the practices and techniques that had got me there in the first place, and again and again kept tangling on the right side. Then suddently something happened, and Just as "New Day" by Donna and the Buffalo came on, I got into the cycle and weaved for a straight 3 minutes uninterrupted.
At that point I concentrated on two things: 1) ignoring mentally what was going on, and 2) straightening my posture (I found I was hunched over the weave).
Anyways, I got it! Yay me! Let the energy pathways pulse with freedom!
Within 15 minutes, I was in the middle of the yard, and through some complete chaos that my body understood fully but my mind failed to comprehend, I did the weave on both sides, without interruption, for several beats. I then thought "what the hell is going on?" about which time the poi smashed into my thighs. I was able to repeat this three more times and each time the energy ripped right up and down my spine, like I was unlocking a new piece of the tummy-knot puzzle that is my life, the string unravelling into its naturally relaxed and untangled state. New energy pathways opened, I nearly yelped with joy and celebration.
Where none of those videos (Scales of Poi, Art of Poi, Pele's Poi Spinning Basics, Glowsticking) had gotten me to unlock it, continuing natural movement, and following the natural rhythmn of the poi, led me right into it.
Notably, after those three sucesses, I tried to mentally grok what the hell was going on, and that wrecked my practice for the next three days.
So today I went ever so slowly back into it, repeating the practices and techniques that had got me there in the first place, and again and again kept tangling on the right side. Then suddently something happened, and Just as "New Day" by Donna and the Buffalo came on, I got into the cycle and weaved for a straight 3 minutes uninterrupted.
At that point I concentrated on two things: 1) ignoring mentally what was going on, and 2) straightening my posture (I found I was hunched over the weave).
Anyways, I got it! Yay me! Let the energy pathways pulse with freedom!
Friday, October 26, 2007
brains in hands
watching scales of poi, one of the most profound things i heard nick say (and there are many), is that many poi routines are similar to the meditation of "patting your belly while rubbing your head" (or vice versa).
Particularly I have been interested in starting each hand going in a different direction (i.e. same time, opposite direction), and then stalling both simultaneously and smoothly, then performing a double reverse immediately post stall. A stall, however, requires a great deal of feedback between the hand and the poi tension, to pull it off while maintaining perfect string tension... in fact, i often feel my whole body reacting to the stall, stretching and moving to let that ball find its "place", so to do it in two different directions at once presents a good solid challenge, and new learning space, for my body and my brain.
Fun! :)
Particularly I have been interested in starting each hand going in a different direction (i.e. same time, opposite direction), and then stalling both simultaneously and smoothly, then performing a double reverse immediately post stall. A stall, however, requires a great deal of feedback between the hand and the poi tension, to pull it off while maintaining perfect string tension... in fact, i often feel my whole body reacting to the stall, stretching and moving to let that ball find its "place", so to do it in two different directions at once presents a good solid challenge, and new learning space, for my body and my brain.
Fun! :)
Saturday, October 20, 2007
6 year old alyson is a master
and i, the apprentice. witness the wisdom:
"let me show you my hoop tricks...
and you can also use poi in this context, oK daddy?"
she's already related the two, with no prompting other than practice. yay, ally!
"let me show you my hoop tricks...
and you can also use poi in this context, oK daddy?"
she's already related the two, with no prompting other than practice. yay, ally!
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
what poi can learn from glowsticking
glowstickers use a tremendous amount of contact, close to contact juggling... the glowsticks move all over their entire body.
glowstickers are coming from a place of ecstasy... they are ALWAYS moving to the rhythmn first and foremost.
glowstickers use a large number of wrap / spiral moves where the cord wraps fast then bounces, direction change, spirals back out
glowstickers have an intuitive sense of "persistence of vision" and use that well in their routines.
glowstickers use physcial lock illusions where they "place" a glowstick in a stationery position on their body, then move both their body and the other stick around this "fixed" object... this is actually a technique straight out of mime.
they move those thangs FAST.
glowstickers are coming from a place of ecstasy... they are ALWAYS moving to the rhythmn first and foremost.
glowstickers use a large number of wrap / spiral moves where the cord wraps fast then bounces, direction change, spirals back out
glowstickers have an intuitive sense of "persistence of vision" and use that well in their routines.
glowstickers use physcial lock illusions where they "place" a glowstick in a stationery position on their body, then move both their body and the other stick around this "fixed" object... this is actually a technique straight out of mime.
they move those thangs FAST.
oh, neighbors!
one of the more amusing side effects of being both a poi apprentice and a nocturnal human is when my poi or hoop collide violently with the cieling.
I had always considered being on the ground floor of an apartment to be a lower status arrangement... the view is street level, and when the upstairs neighbors dance or jump (or whatever they do) you can hear the thump thump thump. (of course, its easier to get groceries in the house on ground level, hah!)
How unusual it must be to hear the thump thump thump coming from your *floor*! I grimace and laugh lightly when I bop their floor at 4 in the morning... of course they might not be able to hear it with the bass from my house music goin on too! :)
I had always considered being on the ground floor of an apartment to be a lower status arrangement... the view is street level, and when the upstairs neighbors dance or jump (or whatever they do) you can hear the thump thump thump. (of course, its easier to get groceries in the house on ground level, hah!)
How unusual it must be to hear the thump thump thump coming from your *floor*! I grimace and laugh lightly when I bop their floor at 4 in the morning... of course they might not be able to hear it with the bass from my house music goin on too! :)
Dancing with Planes
the most fun and chaos im having presently is the issue of "controlling my planes". sometimes i feel like i OWN them and can place them in whatever relationship i want... at other times they seem to completely have minds of their own and defy my every mental /physical suggestion.. either way it makes me laugh.. in the end i think the poi are in fact manifesting our unconscious desires into the material plane and its good to "play" with them like they have volition of their own... this way the poi dance is a living tapestry woven of our conscious decisions (how do i want to move next, what feels good?) and our unconscious motives (independent of what i want, where do the poi want to be right now?).
i'm also getting a real metaphorical hoot out of the chapter called "theory: moving your planes through space" from scales of poi... i couldn't wait, i bought that thing rapido.
i'm also getting a real metaphorical hoot out of the chapter called "theory: moving your planes through space" from scales of poi... i couldn't wait, i bought that thing rapido.
Keeping the Dance Alive
i came up with the solution (consider it preventative medicine)
to stay in dance mode and never get overly obsessed with the technical aspects of the poi (a constant temptation).
1. always keep your feet moving (i.e. move your base, keep it dynamic)
2. hop to the beat! (i.e . generally only have one foot on the ground)
3. smile!
4. play in 3space, i.e. hop up on tables, chairs, beds, stairs, anything that can get your body off plane, adding a third dynamic to the physical equation and a spontaneity to your movement.
with these going, its hard to get lost in the tech. dancing ensues!
oh, of course, you've got to have music playing!!! LOUD!
Chris Bailey provides the perfect example:
to stay in dance mode and never get overly obsessed with the technical aspects of the poi (a constant temptation).
1. always keep your feet moving (i.e. move your base, keep it dynamic)
2. hop to the beat! (i.e . generally only have one foot on the ground)
3. smile!
4. play in 3space, i.e. hop up on tables, chairs, beds, stairs, anything that can get your body off plane, adding a third dynamic to the physical equation and a spontaneity to your movement.
with these going, its hard to get lost in the tech. dancing ensues!
oh, of course, you've got to have music playing!!! LOUD!
Chris Bailey provides the perfect example:
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
poi theory, part i
i've been going crazy with the poi for the past few days, and have come up with some fascinating theories.
first of all, poi is a practice, not a theory. so the great thing is, you can try out a new idea, and get IMMEDIATE results confirming or rejecting it OR saying "try that again and this time breath while you're doing it...
---
1. blindfolded poi. Since you know the length (you can feel the air in your face as the balls whoosh by) and you know the velocity (which is a direct function of 2 things: a) the force you feel pulling on your fingertips, and b) the rotational velocity, i.e. how fast that force is rotating around the axis of your fingertips... THEREFOR, you know the exact position of each poi at any second in time... in fact, the complete beauty of this system is, you also CONTROL the future position of the poi. There is little or no data visuals can give you that your fingertips don't already posess... blindfolded can work.
2. the only rule in poi (for purity's sake), is that the chain / line must remain in full tension at all times. in otherwords, the ball must remain a fixed distance (the length of the fully extended chain) from the axis (where your fingertips grip it) ... only exception being when you decide to wrap it in for a buzzsaw, or do a bounce off the thighs or something intentional... This idea flows perfectly into what I believe is the most fascinating piece of teh whol poi puzzle...
3. stalls RULE!!! and near stalls. There are SO many creative ways to do stalls other than simply as a transition between clockwise and counterclock rotations. The stall is the point of ZERO ENERGY, or PURE GRACE. It is a point of PURE STILLNESS in between one dynamic movement and another. It brings a fascinating possibility into the fray:
4. The continual stall. I am considering the possibility that a full tension (see #2, above) could be maintained by moving ones body around a stationery poi ball, as opposed to rotating the ball around a bodily access. Heavier poi would definitely be a bonus in this experiment... (STOP! Theory runs off to check this experientially) ... OK that was a good thought experiment, just tried it for real... basically it works in low orbits, but trying to do a full "levitating" poi in front of my body with arm pulling around is going to take some serious practice, and SPEED. Basically got to beat gravity on the way down, and modulate force the whole time so that the real "stall" is on the bodily bottom of the arc, and the max "force" is at the bodily apogee (opposite of normal poi, go figure)
POSTNOTE on 4: C has told me that this is called an "isolation"... but i'm not going for an isolation, i'm talking about a full stall with the human body orbiting the fixed poi head. isolations "freeze" the gravitational center if the chain between the poi ball and the fingertips. i'm talking, make your arm go in a large orbital circle, while the poi stays absolutely still in center.
So that's Thoughts On Poi, Part I.
BONUS: a fully tensioned poi path will form perfect "french curves"... i.e. continuous functions that can be expressed as bezier curves (via quadratic equations), with a clean and explicit tangent at each and every point on the path, with zero sharp corners or angles.
coming soon:
* poi as swordplay
* why fingertips rule
future investigations:
* light fire
* partner poi
first of all, poi is a practice, not a theory. so the great thing is, you can try out a new idea, and get IMMEDIATE results confirming or rejecting it OR saying "try that again and this time breath while you're doing it...
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1. blindfolded poi. Since you know the length (you can feel the air in your face as the balls whoosh by) and you know the velocity (which is a direct function of 2 things: a) the force you feel pulling on your fingertips, and b) the rotational velocity, i.e. how fast that force is rotating around the axis of your fingertips... THEREFOR, you know the exact position of each poi at any second in time... in fact, the complete beauty of this system is, you also CONTROL the future position of the poi. There is little or no data visuals can give you that your fingertips don't already posess... blindfolded can work.
2. the only rule in poi (for purity's sake), is that the chain / line must remain in full tension at all times. in otherwords, the ball must remain a fixed distance (the length of the fully extended chain) from the axis (where your fingertips grip it) ... only exception being when you decide to wrap it in for a buzzsaw, or do a bounce off the thighs or something intentional... This idea flows perfectly into what I believe is the most fascinating piece of teh whol poi puzzle...
3. stalls RULE!!! and near stalls. There are SO many creative ways to do stalls other than simply as a transition between clockwise and counterclock rotations. The stall is the point of ZERO ENERGY, or PURE GRACE. It is a point of PURE STILLNESS in between one dynamic movement and another. It brings a fascinating possibility into the fray:
4. The continual stall. I am considering the possibility that a full tension (see #2, above) could be maintained by moving ones body around a stationery poi ball, as opposed to rotating the ball around a bodily access. Heavier poi would definitely be a bonus in this experiment... (STOP! Theory runs off to check this experientially) ... OK that was a good thought experiment, just tried it for real... basically it works in low orbits, but trying to do a full "levitating" poi in front of my body with arm pulling around is going to take some serious practice, and SPEED. Basically got to beat gravity on the way down, and modulate force the whole time so that the real "stall" is on the bodily bottom of the arc, and the max "force" is at the bodily apogee (opposite of normal poi, go figure)
POSTNOTE on 4: C has told me that this is called an "isolation"... but i'm not going for an isolation, i'm talking about a full stall with the human body orbiting the fixed poi head. isolations "freeze" the gravitational center if the chain between the poi ball and the fingertips. i'm talking, make your arm go in a large orbital circle, while the poi stays absolutely still in center.
So that's Thoughts On Poi, Part I.
BONUS: a fully tensioned poi path will form perfect "french curves"... i.e. continuous functions that can be expressed as bezier curves (via quadratic equations), with a clean and explicit tangent at each and every point on the path, with zero sharp corners or angles.
coming soon:
* poi as swordplay
* why fingertips rule
future investigations:
* light fire
* partner poi
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