Forums > Beginner Poi Moves > Any Beginners looking for a Personal Teacher....Talk to me

Posted: 21st Aug 2008
hmmmm. I don't know what I did with my webcam. Could I upload videos to youtube? It would be a bit of a slower process. Would that be okay?

I really need help with over the head and behind the back planes. They just go all wonky. I'm not sure if it's a flexibility or a technique issue.

Posted: 21st Aug 2008
awesome, do we need to wear pants?
it's winter over 'ere

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Posted: 21st Aug 2008
Upload the video to youtube for sure, swirlygrrl, I'll chuck in my two cents as well. ^_^

And Kevin... you should probably provide some example of your skills so people know what you can help them with. Some peoples idea of beginner is different from other peoples idea of beginner.

I still classify myself as beginner-intermediate because i've only been doing it a year and there is SO much to learn, but in terms of the way its classified elsewhere I'm probably advanced.

Posted: 21st Aug 2008
beginner can also be relative to your community.
being able to perform a 3 beat weave in antartica would be an advanced skill, whereas if you were at a twirling festival then it be a beginner skill.

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Posted: 21st Aug 2008
bender, you are so right. I'm a cool as hell here in southern Louisiana, USA, but if I were still in Portland, I'd be a total n00b. As cool as it is being a big fish, it'd be nice to have bigger fishes around to learn from.

With school just starting I'm slammed, but I hope I'll be able to get the videos up over the weekend. Thanks!

Posted: 21st Aug 2008
Yeah, thats damn right... and my community is HoP! Thats all, really. I've met ONE person that can poi while I've been doing it that I did not personally teach from scratch, so since we've got all the amazing people on here as part of the community I belong to, I classify myself a beginner.



Bender... do you poi?
EDITED_BY: Mother_Natures_Son (1219380273)

Posted: 22nd Aug 2008
MNS: I still think you have gotten some more difficult concepts and patterns in your year than I have in my two.

I would not say a year is beginner. At least not if you are pushing yourself to learn. I would call myself intermediate, if only because I know the basics at beginners learn (ie, 3bt, 3bt rev, butterfly (both ways), I can stall, TTN (both ways), hip and shoulder reels, corkscrew and move between everything.) This is actually a different topic though....

Back on topic:
bratboy1010: It might be an idea to specify a timezone. I can see you are in DC. But having vaguely set times might make things easier.

Something like you are "able to help 21:00 to 23:00 EST on weekdays, 21:00 to 24:00 on weekends, at best."

Although that can be done once contact is made I guess. *shrug*

'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: 22nd Aug 2008
i must say that after 4 years of spinnin i still cant 5 bt properly of do behind the back weaves on the other side of things i can whip catch, wibble and stall and tranistion and flowers in spin and anti spin so.... Begginers not a term i would use inthe poi community for anyone

he he i am mike the amazing gloscircus person who is mike.

Officaly an exception to the Poi Boys are Girls Thing

Posted: 23rd Aug 2008
sure that could work


my account is thesuburbsshow

Posted: 23rd Aug 2008
my skils are



crossers, opposites, butterfly, reverse butterfly, btb butterfly, 4 beat butterfly, butterfly flower, butterfly antispin flower, two beat weave, three beatweeve, 5 beat weave, all those weaves behind the back, 9 beat weave (yes it is possible). windmill, hipreels, water mill, chasing the sun, shoulder reels and much more

Posted: 24th Aug 2008
aston. But on your idea of zones, I guess I could offer myself up for the Aussies, usually on in the aussie night, sometimes this can be the American morning, or late in the american night, depending where you are.

My email is prancingminstrels@hotmail.com I have MSN atm, I can get an account for other IMs (I use trillian, so its all in the same program anyway)

I can't do crossers or the 9 beat weave, I have a reasonably good knowledge with most of the poi stuff... I'm not quite offering myself up as a poi teacher... but I am a teacher. :P I'm happy to offer myself up as a peer who is more advanced, less advanced or on par... willing to discuss.

Even if I can't do the movements I can usually devise a way in which I could learn them and pass that on as I've got a fairly good grip on the fundamentals of the way the poi move in relation to ones body.

(Who knows, I may be talking myself up too much, but I'm happy to help flesh out ideas or instruct if I've got sufficient knowledge, if there are people out there that would like that. )

*End convoluted post*

Posted: 24th Aug 2008
hey doods,
i really encourage you guys to record your lessons for personal reference - it's absolutely essential to evolving your body movement. Also, it would be primo material to polish into a submission for the HOP lessons - if not for a twirling move not already covered then it could be an additional video for an existing lesson providing an alternative perspective or approach.

innovative, motivated peeps like youse could really turn this video conferencing lesson idea into a lasting contribution to the hallowed HoP lessons

Laugh Often, Smile Much, Post lolcats Always

Posted: 24th Aug 2008
Yeah, I'm not innovative or motivated, thats why I need people talking to me about poi to prompt me to make videos so I can help people learn!

Posted: 25th Aug 2008
motivated? i will give you delicious cheese.

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Posted: 25th Aug 2008
You drive a hard bargain, bender, I'll make a few videos by tomorrow, this cheese had better be as delicious as you say...

Posted: 25th Aug 2008
Is 4 bt butterfly "thread the needle"?

Posted: 26th Aug 2008
Well, 2 bt butterfly is thread the needle, 4 bt is pausing for a beat with arms crossed (The halfway point of the regular thread the needle) putting an extra beat on each time the hands swap positions.

Does that make enough sense on its own?

Posted: 26th Aug 2008
MNS, the way I have been doing a 4bt TTN is where for each beat the poi also alternate between being forward and behind; in a 2bt TTN the top hand's poi is forward, the bottom is behind, but in a 4 beat the top hand has one beat forward, one beat behind (that second beat takes place with the arms paused in the crossed position). And of course for reverse TTN it's the opposite. Otherwise I just consider it a regular TTN since you can do a butterfly with your hands in any position; the soul of the TTN involves the poi alternating forward and behind.

Just thought I'd throw that out there, but feel free to correct me if I have misunderstood the essence of threading the needle!

Bouncing Baby Pipe!

Posted: 27th Aug 2008
I think I get what you're saying and I think its a slightly better explanation than the one I gave.

I can't fully explain whats going on with the poi, perhaps I never really got 4 bt thread the needle, perhaps I just can't explain it well... I'll do a bunch of vids tonight sometime and I'll include the 4 bt thread the needle in that...

Posted: 28th Aug 2008
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS7Efm1q03s

Posted: 28th Aug 2008
I should have done a search first...



His is better than mine... and he is better than I am at poi...
But I've got a sexy Australian accent... and a groovy shirt. (Its my favourite shirt...)

Posted: 28th Aug 2008
Yeah Nick definitely explained it better than I did haha! MNS, it's hard to tell in your video but it looks to me like you're doing exactly what I was trying to describe...

Although I think at this point we're getting slightly off topic! Haha.

Bouncing Baby Pipe!

Posted: 28th Aug 2008
Not really, the topic is poi teaching, we're just using the community of learners approach to education.