I found out last night that I won first place on Home of Poi’s “Circles of Light” competition.

I’m still incredibly happy, this is a dream come true for me!

Huge thanks to my friends in Poland who helped me film this

Congratulations to Meg and Keith for winning 2nd and 3rd place, both of them really deserved it.

The DVD is available for download on HOP, and also for sale – here.

I really recommend buying it and supporting the awesome people at HOP, they deserve it!

My COL entry

My good friend and amazing juggler Eden had a birthday party at Sandciell circus school in Israel. It was pure awesome, with workshops, an amazing cabaret show, and lots of beautiful awesome people.

This is my routine from the cabaret show.
Big thanks to Ronan, Cyrille, Keith, Sa, Rastaxel and Nulleamai for being my inspirations.

Happy birthday Eden, thanks for organizing this amazing party and inviting me to perform, keep being awesome!

The second tutorial in my Contact Poi series, this one is about inner forearm rolls.

Important tips and tricks to this move:

• Keep your forearm flat at all times
• Use your wrist to flip your hand to allow you to catch the poi head.

If you like these tutorials, use the share button at the bottom so more people will know how to contact poi. You can also subscribe to my newsletter on the left to be updated on new tutorials and future workshops.

Enjoy the video, happy spinning!

Poiboy.

This Poi tutorial is the first in a series of Contact Poi tutorials I’m currently making, I’ll be teaching some basic contact poi moves, as well as exercises that help learn them and clean them up.

To follow this blog for new poi videos and tutorials, subscribe to my newsletter

Here’s the video, enjoy:

Related Posts:

• Contact Poi Lesson 2: Inner Forearm Roll
• Learn Poi – spinning videos and tutorials, poi tips, movements, tricks and lessons, see me at the KFF Fire fest!
• Online Poi Lessons
• Circles of Light 2010 – First Place!
• Contact Poi Lesson 3: Outer Forearm Roll

Poi Throws – By Poiboy – Asaf More

The Physics of Poi Throws – What affects throws, and how to clean them up:

Before I get started explaining how throws work and why- Rule #1 of throws: NEVER chase your throws.
This is probably the most common mistake with throws, and I found it makes learning the more advanced throws near impossible. Generally, if you have to move to catch your poi you’re doing something wrong, instead you should plan where you want to catch, and aim your poi so it gets there.

There are 6 main factors that affect throws- Grip, Planes, Angle, Catch, Wrist movement, and Arm movement.

How to grip your poi for throws

Grip:
If you want to make your throws a lot easier, hold your poi between your thumb and index finger (fig. 1), this makes it much easier and smoother to release your poi, gripping in a different way would usually result in the poi getting caught up in your fingers.

Fig. 1 shows correct planes, Fig. 2 shows the result of bad planes.

Planes:

As with most poi moves, planes are extremely important for throws, if you keep your poi in perfect plane, you won’t have to run around and chase them, they would stay close to your body and land back in your hand with very little effort (fig. 2, 3)  [In the illustrations, the purple poi is where the poi lands, and the red poi is where the poi is released.]

Fig. 3: A poi released at 90 degrees.

Angle of release:
Releasing at the right time is vital to perfecting your throws, a poi released when it’s horizontal will have the poi head fly up and down, while the

A poi released at 45 degrees

handle circles around it, coming back to your hand, if given the right amount of spin (fig. 4).

If the poi is released later, at a 45° angle, it would fly in an arc, to be caught on the opposite side of your body (fig. 5).
Throwing too early or too late will make your poi fly too far, either in front of you or behind you.

A poi caught when it's horizontal

Catch:

There are a few different ways to catch the poi, each will have a very different result.
Catching with the poi horizontal, falling into your hand (Fig. 6) will make the poi change direction, the same applies when you

A poi caught vertically, with your hand held to your side

catch the head in horizontal positions (you would need to throw a half beat instead of a full beat)

Catching with the poi vertical and your hand held out (Fig. 7)will stop the poi’s momentum, making it stall, this also works with catching the head (again, you need to throw a half beat instead of a full beat to do this)

Stall Catch - A poi caught vertically, with your hand held out in front of you

Catching with the poi vertical, and your hand held out to your side (Fig. 8 ) will allow the poi to continue its momentum. This also works with head catches.

Wrist Movement:
Your wrist is used to control the amount, plane and direction of spin. If the poi is released when it’s horizontal (a Zero Point), you can throw in any plane or direction, simply by flicking your wrist in the desired direction.

Arm Movement:
The rest of your arm is used to control the height of the throw. If you start your throw from an extension, or a float, your throw will fly much higher, without affecting the amount of spin. A throw without any arm movement would have the poi head almost isolated.

The Learning Process with Throws:

When practicing throws, you will drop. A lot. This is usually frustrating, but it doesn’t have to be. If you try learning from your drops, they can become the key to learning (and ultimately, dropping less.). If you throw while standing still, and drop your poi for whatever reason, look at it, try to analyze where it fell, and why? If a poi thrown in wheel plane was to land too far to your right, that probably means your planes were off when the poi was released. If a poi thrown in wheel plane falls too far in front of you that generally means you released it too early. If you can’t seem to catch the handle, maybe you need to add or remove spin.

Look over the 6 factors I wrote above, remember them, and try to think of them when you practice, see where your throws are going wrong, and try to correct that. Once you have an idea of the correct way to do a specific throw, you should drill it a lot of times (I try to do anywhere between 10-50 successful throws when I’m drilling). The harder on yourself you are when drilling throws, the better, if you make a small mistake that forces you to chase the poi, count that as a mistake, even if you do catch, since this is a lot harder, you’ll end up with much cleaner throws.

Some Basic Types of Throws and Catches:

Flat Throw: A 0 beat throw, using only arm movement. This is done by starting a float and simply letting go (this is easiest with a thumb+index finger grip) of the poi, then waiting for it at the bottom. The poi should land in your hand when it’s horizontal.
You can try catching the head, and doing another flat throw to catch the handle again.

Isolated Throw: A 1 beat throw done without any arm movement. these start when the poi is horizontal, and using your wrist, can be done in any direction or plane you want, and with any amount of beats. The poi should land in your hand when it’s horizontal.
You can easily catch the head here, you will end up holding the head while the handle spins in the same direction as it was thrown.

No extra beat throw (half beat throw): This throw continues a normal spin’s circle, it’s released at about 45°, with a very slight pull to the right (if the poi is spinning clockwise) to slow it down. The poi should land in your hand when it’s horizontal, and you can continue this throw as many times as you want.
To catch the head, you can either catch when the poi is vertical (Head over handle), to stall your poi, or you can catch when the poi is horizontal, and then either push the poi head back, or keep the handle spinning the opposite way.

Circular throw: This is a 1 beat throw released at 45°, it’s caught either with the same hand or the opposite hands, and lands when the poi head is over your hand. If caught with the same hand, you can continue this throw as many times as you want.
From this throw you can do a stall catch, by catching the handle when the poi is vertical and the handle is over the poi head.

Antispin Throw (Top): This throw starts from an antispin, and right after the poi passes the shoulder on the way up you release it, while slightly flicking the handle. You should catch the poi with the opposite hand. After catching you can keep throwing continuously.

Antispin Throw (Bottom): This throw starts from an antispin, at the bottom of the bottom petal.
As the poi makes its way up from the bottom petal, let go of it while slightly flicking it with your wrist, trying to keep it isolated (This is essentially an isolated throw happening at the bottom of an antispin).

Body Throws and the 5 hole theory:

An artistic illustration of the 5 hole theory with Poi and Staff.

This is a theory I’ve seen many people use with staff spinning, I’m not sure who came up with it, but that theory basically divides your body to 5 main zones:
Over Left Arm, Under Left Arm, Over Right Arm, Under Right Arm, and Under The leg. (Note: behind the head is right between points 1 and 3, and is a 6th position for catching and throwing)
Under the leg and over and under the opposite arm can all be entered from behind as well.

So, how does the Five Hole Theory fit into poi? You can try throwing or catching in each of these positions, a good way to find new throws can be picking a throwing position and a catching position, and seeing how you can throw between them. Can you throw in wheel plane? In Wall plane? Horizontally? Catching the poi head? Stall-catching? Throw flats? In all directions? Catching the head?

Notice that if you throw, then take a step, so that your body has turned 180°, you can catch your poi behind your back with the same hand, while your poi remains in the same plane.

Another thing I’ve been experimenting with, is a throw going between more than 2 holes, so for example a poi thrown under your left arm, going over the left arm and right arm, and caught under the right arm will through 4 holes before being caught.

Thanks for reading, if you liked this, please share this using the share button below.
Poiboy.

www.asafpoi.com

I’ve been making lots of video tutorials in the last year or so, all of them are available on my youtube channel, as well as the Homeofpoi.com Library. There are some older tutorials I want to remake, as well as completely new ones I have planned. To be updated on new poi tutorials, video lessons, and poi workshops, you can subscribe to my newsletter

These tutorials are great if you plan on attending one of my poi workshops, These will give you a good base to expand upon, and will allow me to help you explore poi even further.

Here they are, broken down into categories:

Contact Poi:

Throws:

Stalls and Wraps:

Flowers:

Fire Shows

Photo by Oleg Mirsoyan

I’ve been spinning fire since 2003, and I’ve done many fire shows, both by myself and with larger groups.

I regularly perform in the Israeli Juggling Convention’s Fire show as one of the top acts, as well as shows for private events.
Poi is my main prop, and I have a history of amazing crowds with it. I also use Contact Staff, Double Staves, and Fire Orb in my performances, all with a great fusion of clean, advanced technique, dance, martial arts, and theater.

Fire shows can be either one continuous show (great for corporate events or birthday parties) , or can be presented as short “breaks”, where separate routines are performed during a longer period of time (great for clubs and bars).
For festivals, juggling conventions and similiar events I perform my fire poi routine, my contact poi routine, and teach some of my workshops.

As I’m currently travelling, I have a lot of workshops and performances planned, so it’s best to contact me as far in advance as possible. Depending on where I currently am, group performances might be available. Prices vary depending on type of event, type of show, location, and amount of performers.

For booking and info:

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I often get replies to videos asking what gear I’m using, here’s a list of what I currently have and use regularly:

Pendulum Poi from HOP:

I got my first pair of pendulum poi from Ronan, his design is slightly different than HOP’s, they use thicker string, which I found really helps with contact moves and throws, as it’s more visible and spins slower, which means contact will be much easier. The contact ball poi heads are also great due to their weight, which allows a lot of control for stalls and floats for example, but their not too heavy so they don’t wear down your shoulders when doing flowers, for instance.

Home of Poi – 80mm Pendulum Poi

4 inch Mura stitched fire poi from HOP:

Having to quickly and cheaply replace my fire heads, I ordered these. They’re great, they have pretty large flames due to their surface area, and burn for about 3-4 minutes with Lamp Oil. They’re very good and have a very good price, personally I find them a bit too light, but I’ve grown used to home made monstrous Isis poi which were way too heavy, so light is better this time around.

Home of Poi – 4inch Mura Fire Poi

Pro Series Chains with Wooden Ball Handle:

So far these are the best chains I’ve found, and the ball handles makes these perfect for throws. They are one piece with a quicklink at the end to allow switching poi heads, they have 2 swivels, one attached to the handle and one right before the quicklink, coupled with the chain, which is very durable, these allow for orbitals to be performed without any risk for the chain (unlike ball chain). The fact that they’re one piece also means they’re much safer and less painful than their counterparts with many split rings and large quicklinks all over the place.

All in all these are really worth their price and are definitely the best chains I’ve ever used.

Home of Poi – Pair of Pro Series Chain Cords w/ Ball Handles

This is my latest video, I made it to show some of what I can do before heading off to Europe:

See you at the Workshops!

Poi Workshops

These are the workshops I currently offer:

• Introduction to Poi – 2 hours (Beginners): This workshop covers the basics of poi spinning, including plane control, weaves, butterflies, and all the positions around the body you can spin.
• Pendulums – 1 hour (All levels): In this workshop I teach some basic pendulum patterns to beginners, while teaching some more advanced patterns to intermediate and advanced students.
• Stalls – 1 hour (All levels): This workshop covers the basic of stall for the beginners, while I teach plane shifts and advanced stall patterns to the advanced students.
• Floats – 1 hour (All levels): If you can stall, floats are the next step, we will learn the 4 basic types of floats with each hand, as well as 2 handed combinations and more advanced patterns.
• Throws – 2 hours (All levels): This workshop is about all the different types of throws, as well as some theory on how to clean them up. Since we have 2 hours for this one, we can get very as far as some really advanced patterns. Can be broken down to 2 separate workshops.
• Introduction to Throws – 1 hour (Beginners, Intermediate): I do this workshop when a 2 hour workshop isn’t possible. This workshop covers all the basic types of throws, as well as some theory and variations.
• Contact Poi – 1 hour (All levels): This workshop is about the basic moves in contact poi, including some exercises to improve your rolls.
• Body movement and Performance – 1-2 hours (All levels): Probably the most important thing in poi, is body movement, noticing things like posture and footwork, as well as the different dynamics in spinning and movement will help you develop your style and make your performance more well rounded. If we have 2 hours, this workshop will also include choreography construction.
• Flowers (Intermediate-Advanced) – 1 hour: One of the most famous poi moves, as well as one of the most difficult to begin. Good control of planes is a must, but beginners attending this workshop will be taught exercises to help improve their planes.
• Isolations, Cateyes, and Unit Circles (Intermediate-Advanced) – 1 hour: These 2 driving styles are difficult at the beginning, and require lots of practice to perfect. Through understanding unit circle theory and some practice tips, students should be able to understand and do both of these.
• Hybrids (Intermediate-Advanced) – 1 hour: Previous knowledge of the different driving styles is required – Extensions, Antispins, Inspins, Isolations, and Cateyes. You don’t have to know all of them, but the first 3 are a must.