Spinning!
I like to spin. If you youtube "fire spinning", you'll find out what I mean. I haven't yet actually spun fire, but I've been spinning my glowsticks and non-fire props for several years now, and I'm pretty dang good, if I say so myself! I started spinning at the University of Virginia (props to my Brown College spinners, and the short-lived poi club!) but now, living in Somerville, Massachusetts, I spin twice a week at the Medford Spinjam (at Tufts!) and the Boston Spinjam (at MIT). Check out their facebook pages to see when and where they meet, if you want to see me (and a bunch of others!) spinning our hearts out.
Poi!
Poi was the first prop I learned. Once I managed to do a three-beat weave, I zoned out until my partner poked me that they were tired, and I realized that I was completely pooped, as I'd just spun for three hours without even thinking about it. That was in 2011, and I've been spinning poi off-and-on (and other props!) since then.
I like poi becasue it's relaxing. I can get into it and just spin for hours, and let the prop guide my movements. Gets boring, though!
Here's a list of the tricks I can do. If you don't spin a lot, feel free to ignore this. If you do, I apologize for the ones I have kooky names for.
- In-plane spinning
- Turns
- Butterfly
- Thread the Needle (forward only)
- Pac-Man Twist
- 3-beat Weave
- Weave extensions
- Wrap-beat weave
- 5-beat Weave (forward only)
- Reels
- Chasing the Moon, Chasing the Sun, Moon Chasing Sun
- Chasing where the Sun Don't Shine (same time only)
- Windmills
- Air Wraps
- All manner of bicep wraps and leg wraps
- Spiral wraps
I spin a pair of flowlights with crystal cases. I've got the Sol coloration, and I love them dearly (although they have a tendency to turn off at the wrong times). I'm hoping to get a pair of Spectrum flowlights, or possibly build my own. I also have a pair of tailed poi I need to fix - they're so fun to spin!
Someday I'd like to build a pair of accelerometer-powered glowpoi - they could change color depending on the acceleration they're feeling. When you're spinning in a circle, that's directly dependent on speed - it could make for really nifty effects!
Staff!
Since the end of 2012 I've also been very into spinning staff. I use a full-length staff that I made myself for super cheap - it's heavy as a car, but it's balanced alright. I spin a mix of traditional and contact staff, because what else would I do?
I like spinning staff because it's fun. Poi is relaxing, meditative; staff is, to me, much more energetic. I feel like I'm getting to play with this giant whirling toy, whereas with poi I feel like I'm guided by the inertia of the props.
Here's a (partial) list of tricks I can do:
- Rotors
- Weaves up to 5 beats (I think)
- Half-Steves (right-to-left consistently, shakier on left-to-right)
- Halos
- Angel Rolls (only right-to-left)
- Shoulder-Neck-Shoulder
- Neck wraps, shoulder wraps
- Fishtails (forward only, right hand only)
- Rainbow Stalls
I'd like to learn to spin a dragon staff someday.