Great vid, when you say tethers, do you mean the length of the poi for time to tip or just the length of the cord, and not the head and Knob? The graphic shows tip to tip but I want to be sure.
I usually spin shorter poi, but one night I tried somebody's massive sock poi and it felt so cool just having these massive circles whirling around my head.
You definitely have most control at ellbowpich-length. Too long and you loose control because of being geometrical unable to do what you want. Shorter ones will create physical problems, when it comes to angular momentum. That said people who use longer poi tend to priorities their emotions higher than poi and often also using terrible spongy tethers like the ones, that come with podpoi
DJDDM what on earth, ' people who use longer poi tend to prioritize their emotions higher poi' - what the he'll kind of dumb generalization is that? sounds like you have a bias for shorter poi, maybe because you struggle with longer ones? hahaha
I am no longer the person who originally wrote this but I can try reframing what my past self ment. The standpoint above comes from a perspective of having your poi as an extension to your arms and integrate it into dancing. The longer your poi are, the less moves you can make. A prime example for this is a butterfly on the inner side of your arms. If your poi are longer then your ellbows the heads will not be able to pass the hole between your upper arms. From this perspective, it becomes a reasonable statement that if one limits oneself, by using longer poi, to less possibilities one does not want to achieve the same degree of freedom in movement as someone with longer poi. Especially since the playstile of my past self consisted of 90% moves which are unable to do with longer poi then ellbow length. The interpretation my past self did then is that people who limit themselves like explained above are just into poi for some quick and dirty emotions instead of the struggle to master poi as an artform. In that time anything longer then ellbow length were on the same level as flag poi. ( Which I think all agree upon limit oneself quite strong.) Currently I play mini contact meteor cause half a year ago I questioned myself if the above definition of poi can be really seen that absolute. This allowed me to get more freedom, such that I were able to expand my horizon. Currently if I would have to define Poi, I would define it as taking momentum from music and expanding it into movement. However this time I am aware that this definition is only valid for what I am doing when I say that I am playing Poi, since that is all I can ever experience. If you have read all of this I would like to thank you and ask for apologise for my past self.
DJDDM Your past self is forgiven. I, too, am a different self than I was 2 years ago (or 10 years ago, or 20 years ago...). I approached poi for the freedom of movement; the dance, as it were. The joy and sheer elation of the spin and the happiness it gives to those who happen to catch me at it; in my yard, in the park, wherever I happen to be. I’m not trying to master the art, I’m out here for a good time, exercise, mental stimulation and camaraderie. My first poi were flag poi and they are insanely long but quite showy and make a pleasant sound in the wind. I’m certainly limited in what I can do with them but they have their place. Now I’m working with pod poi; heavier, shorter, more versatile (and less forgiving). A whole different animal. I admire the masters and try to emulate the movements I am drawn to but I’m not going for perfection. That, I’ll leave to others.
I always wondered why people would want to watch poi. I get the fire part of it, but I think one becomes quite quickly used to it. ( Just like fireworks are more exciting to you, when you were a kid.) I find watching poi honestly quite boring as long as I can't get new information for my own poi out of it. But that's probably the same for me with most arts. The only poi piece I find asthetic is drex partner poi and ballet video. Probably because it is also the thing I always try to combine.
Ik this is a kinda old comment but i have so much to say about this. Theres juggling for almost all props. You may see it as lame but it takes more skill to juggle poi then it does to spin them. Its honestly more impressive. However i dont see any way to spin props as lame, from body tracers to jugglers, theres beauty in all forms of expression.
I agree with you. I like to dance and juggling is such a technical thing. Poi looks much more visually appealing when the poi are spun through various patterns to create geometry, while the person dances and feels the music. Juggling is more like "hey look how skilled I am at throwing and catching objects while I stand perfectly still like a column. I'm not downing juggling or denying the skill that is required, it just doesn't suit my taste.
