The London Factor. (Or 'What Makes a Successful Technical Poi

The London Factor, or What Makes a Successful Technical Poi Community.

During my visit to London I was taken back a bit by the technical level of spinners in London. Even those that had been spinning for a very short time were successfully doing high level technical tricks. Many different factors seemed to be working together to result in this veritable breeding ground for poi spinners. I thought it would be both interesting and useful to reflect on what those factors were and how they could be harnessed in other poi communities.

[Disclaimer: This is simply a reflection on why one community seemed to me to be very effective at fostering technical poi skills. It does not rank London above your city. It does not imply that those in London have larger genitalia than you. It does not put technical ability above performance or dance or love of the art. I am also taking all of the love and warmth that I received in London and setting that aside as well. I’m PURELY focusing on how what I observed could be used to better my and other communities’ TECHNICAL ability. Yes, I KNOW that there are other uber-communities like London and they’re all equally special. These are simply my observations. I also chose to put this in the ‘social’ section since most of these factors arise from social gatherings rather than technical know-how. And one more thing, I clearly spent a bunch of time on this and I’m curious to see what others think BUT if you are going to post can you do me the courtesy of reading the whole thing first? Thanks! ]

Factors which I believe fostered an effective technical poi community:
Large Exposure to Poi- Damn, there are a hell of a lot of spinners in London. It seemed you couldn’t walk through a park or club without seeing a pair of poi either being used or for sale. I think with the thousands of people exposed to poi you’d naturally get a few hundred that really got into it and then of those, quite a few obsessive people who were naturally talented. I only know of two places in New York where you can actually buy poi and I’m sure that VERY few New Yorkers have ever even heard of it.

Different Groups Within the Community- This was interesting to me. At “Poi in the Park London” there were several very large but independent groups of spinners. It seemed that no one there knew much more than half of the folks that showed up. I think this actually works to the benefit of the whole. You’ve got independent pockets, each working at developing and refining new tricks. Once a new trick is exposed, it spreads through each pocket of people who then make it their own. In contrast, my smaller poi community only works on stuff together and doesn’t have the opportunity to ‘jigsaw’ like that. The London crew counteracted some of the intimidation of its massive size by having name tags at big gatherings which was a really nice touch, especially when most of us have more than one name.

Social Circles- It surprised me that many of the poi spinners actually hung out with each other during non-poi events as well. When your true friends are out spinning poi on a Saturday afternoon, it’s easier to talk yourself into going and having a spin.

External Input and Support from Surrounding Environments- It seems that London has a large influx of people from neighboring communities as well. Scotland, Sheffield, Paris, and even various Juggling conventions help feed the influx of technical moves and information.

Juggling Background and Philosophy- This is actually a huge factor. In New York, Poi is a subsection of fire play. As long as there is fire being flung about, it’s all good and there’s no need to improve. London though seems to have an underlying juggling philosophy. A juggler learns a new trick and then asks ‘what else can I do with this?’ Can it be done on the other side, can it be done behind the back, can it be done backwards, can it be done faster, slower, what if I try it with my hands in a different position, what if I combine it with other moves and patterns? The fact that most of the poi that I saw was NON-fire poi means that people are able to really focus on the technicality of it. Jugglers also can be quite obsessive people. This is perfect for developing elite spinners.

Variety of Equipment- Sock poi, aerotechs, tennis ball poi, beanbag poi, cone poi and fire poi all lend themselves better to different tricks. Having options of tools help learn different trick. I know I’d have never gotten a hyperloop had I not had some sock poi to learn with.

Jedi- The number of elite and utterly inspiring spinners in London is mind blowing. Of course newbies are picking it up and sticking with it, there are some amazing role models to both learn from and be inspired by. Also, the Jedi can be comforted, supported and inspired by each other. It can’t be much fun being the only Jedi in town. Also, I truly respect the fact that there are a large number of elite spinners that are truly bustin’ their butts, practicing, refining and learning. They’ve put in more hours than I ever will and it shows in their community.

Organizers- Let’s face it, fire spinners aren’t the most organized of folks. You do need someone to crack heads, pick venues, organize events, post threads and send emails. London has it’s share of those who work hard to keep things organized, predictable and regular.

Education- There is also a large focus on teaching and learning. If you’re able to ask questions and get them answered, of course you’re going to learn. There seemed to be little emphasis on competition or pecking order which could hamper learning.

Opportunity- Having regular meets twice a week and irregular meets even more than that lends itself to ample opportunity to practice and play.

Of course, this is all useless whining if we’re not to focus on a solution to how one can use these factors to nurture one’s own fire community. By looking at the above, we can try to prompt the growth of these factors in a newly forming fire scene.

One should try to:
Expose as many decent people to poi as possible- I think my crew used to believe that the more people that were spinning, the more of a headache it would be. Perhaps in some ways that was true, especially with fire but with non-fire poi in the park, the more-the merrier. Technical prowess seems to grow exponentially by the number of tech spinners because they get to feed off each other.

Join the Cliques- If there are other poi groups in the hood, get them all together on a regular basis. Grab jugglers, staff spinners, drummers, diaboloers, devilstickers, and anyone else who would contribute to the scene.

Report back from other communities- Make sure people in your crew are branching out. Go on a road trip and find other poi communities to inspire and be inspired by.

Focus on regular, organized, weekly, daytime, learning, nonfire events- You shouldn’t be trying new tricks with fire, so why not spend as much time spinning socks/tennis balls/glowstics/aerotechs as possible? Keep it at a set time and a set place. Let people associate a certain day with the event. Moving it only confuses people and messes with schedules.

Treat it as juggling- OK, you can juggle 3 balls, now what about 4? 5? OK, you can do a 3 beat weave, what about 4? 5? 6? 7? Can you do it behind the back? On both sides equally. Embrace poi philosophy and technical appreciation.

Teach others- Maybe it will be depressing to teach a newbie a trick that it took you 6 months to get, but it will push you to be better AND maybe you’ll be inspired by something they get 6 months from now. Plus, fostering a warm and caring community will make it a lovelier place for you to play as well.

Make it fun- Bring things to play with as well. The poi will happen, bring a barbeque, bubbles, drinks, fairy wands, music, Frisbees, snacks, cameras, blankets, and whatever else will lend to people having a great day there. This way people will continue to come even if they don’t feel like spinning right when they get there. They can hang out until they feel inspired or just cheer others on. More learning will happen if people are having fun for 6 hours then if they are working hard for an hour, get tired and go home. Plus, it’s more fun if you have fun.

In conclusion, every fire community has it’s own personality but each community can also be influenced by seemingly minor adjustments. By learning what affects each community in a positive way, we may be able to transfer some of those qualities to communities which may lack in those areas. There is more to life then technical poi spinning indeed, but by looking at the successes of technical poi spinning communities we can learn how to promote a more technical environment elsewhere.

Love to all the technical spinners in London. Keep on pushin' the envelope.

[ 02. September 2003, 06:05: Message edited by: NYC@NYC ]

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