Forums > Videos > Fishing for Constructive Criticism :3

Posted: 11th Jul 2013
Okay, first off I'm just gonna say that I'm don't really perform, and I'm not a particularly good spinner either. Anyways, just the stuff I'm sort of seeing in your videos:

On the really basic stuff first, your planes drift a little while you're spinning. More so when you're turning a lot in circles and stuff, but planes are always something worth drilling imo, performance and presentation wise. Especially so since most poi moves (excepting 3D stuff, I guess) only really look nice when viewed from certain angles.

Also, unsure whether or not this is true, but you sort of look a little uncomfortable with your weaves (with fire at least), mainly 'cause you do them with your arms straight out and pretty far from your body, which looks a little awkward to me. Nothing that doesn't disappear with practice, I guess, but it's worth practicing with the intent of being comfortable with your weaves - and all moves, really - being close to, or just anywhere in relation to your body.

I also noticed you turn a lot with your weave, but not really quite so much with your reels. Imo, reels are much better for turning and moving around and general shenanigans with, so maybe look into that too? (Unless you already do it and I missed it like a retard).

In terms of moves, what I got from the videos was weaves, reels and butterfly. Definitely a lot more you can learn, but from this point I would suggest maybe learning stalls or flowers (both is fine too if you like learning multiple things at once). Both of those encompass a really wide range of things and patterns you can do, and they're also pretty nice for transitions and such.

Transitions are mostly just a matter of practicing things and thinking, "Well, this point of this move is the same as this part of another move, so maybe I can put it together like this?", and trying that stuff and practicing it until it works. Stalls are one method of switching the direction of your poi, so they happen to fall pretty nicely into transitioning between opposite and same direction spins, hence my suggestion. Not to mention that stall patterns are just fun in general.

So to recap (or if TL;DR ) :
- Keep practicing what you already know, and get even more comfortable with it
- Imma suggest learning flowers and stalls, 'cause they're cool, and nice, and stalls are good moves for transitions.
- Yes, there is definitely a lot of work you can do on transitions, just cause there are so many of them, and it takes ages to practice all of them
- Also movement and dancy-ness. Moar movement and dance! (even goofy boppiness).
- More than anything, keep practicing, keep learning, and don't stop never stop. Performing professionally isn't such a crazy dream, it just takes much practice and dedication. You'll get there.


P.S. If you happen to be learning stuff from the Youtubes, can I just suggest looking at Drex's and Dave Statik's channels? Both of them are pretty awesome at teaching and explaining things, and have a formidable collection of tutorial videos full of moves and ideas.

"If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error."