First Poi Review

So it's time for a review of my first Poi.



I got these at Spinsterz at a festival for $35. These are hand made by this group. They do make a variety of different colors, including less glittery looking ones. Same price though, as it's just the material that is different. After learning some basic moves, I found I didn't like them much. I do like some things about them, so lets start with the good.



The Poi Heads are rather neat. They are fairly heavy. The filler is some type of small roundish bead or something. I'm not sure what. The fabric is soft Velvet and feels like a nice bean bag. The 'Flag' is sewn into the Head. I'm guessing it's actually just some sort of square handkerchief or something that they purchase. It also has a small nylon loop on the bottom for attaching a glow stick. It's a nice feature that I never use.

Unfortunately, the fabric is not very durable, and is starting to fray a bit around the top. Which, by the way, is the only thing I don't like about this Poi Head. The connector is basically just a piece of Nylon Strap with a Grommet in it. It's exactly the same grommet and strap that the double loop handles are made out of.

The cords and handle are my big complaint. I really like modular things. The cord is just a nylon cord that's knotted at both ends and then melted together. I wanted to make them shorter, and you can see in the picture I opted to tie a knot in the cord. Nylon cords are not comfortable to wrap around your fingers, and with the weight of the Poi Head, it tends to cut off circulation a bit.



The handle is uncomfortable nylon with metal grommets with sharp edges that are not comfortable at all. Some holding positions even cause the grommet to rub against the skin. While I haven't experienced any lasting damage, I suspect that if I used them often enough that I could cut my skin from the grommets.

The end result is a set of nonadjustable, mediocre Poi. They call them 'Practice Poi'. I call them 'Beginner Poi', as after a few weeks you'll want to move on to something much better. At this point I plan to chuck the cord and handle in the garbage and keep the poi head, and attach them to other leashes like my HoP ColeCord leash or something.

Beginnings

I first saw Poi when my relatively new Girl Friend dragged me to FaerieWorlds back in 2007. Unfortunately, I didn't bother to actually pick up a set while I was there. This year I went willingly (with my now not so new Girl Friend), and I picked up two sets from The Spinsterz at the Festival. Round LED Glow Poi, and their Practice Poi.

Since then, I've managed to learn quite a bit. I can do Split Time well, and Butterfly's okay. 3 beat weaves forwards, reverse, 180, and 360. I'm working on hip reels, spiral wraps, stalls, and transitioning from moves.

I suppose this progressing isn't super amazing. Though I only spend about 30 minutes a day average practicing. My practice schedule is erratic. I often will fool around for 5 to 10 minutes a few times a day. I almost always spin for at least 10 minutes before I go to bed. I don't think I've had a session yet that lasted much more then an hour.

I decided to start a blog, as there are not too many Poi blogs out there. I think a lot of people enter into Poi that come from other backgrounds, like juggling, martial arts, fire performing, dance, and theater. While I did do a couple of community musicals back in High School, I have no real background in any of those. I can juggle 3 ball, but only know the basics.

Hopefully this blog will encourage people who may not have any of these backgrounds to try out Poi. You don't have to be super coordinated or already be talented in some related form to pick up Poi and enjoy the experience.