shanmonster | Progressional Poi

I'm still working on the air weave. I can do it about half of the time, once I'm good and warmed up. That's not good enough. It has to be 100% of the time, including when I'm not warmed up.

Every time I get my poi out, I seem to figure out new stuff. I figured out four things today:

Body directional change with kick: Not so much a poi thing as a dance/poi combination. Kick leg out in high front kick. Keep leg in air. Do a corkscrew with poi simultaneous with a body turn, using spin out on front kick for momentum. Showy and not very hard to do.

Directional change off hamstring: Do a forward "skipping rope" movement. Like a kick change with poi, only instead of bouncing poi off foot, bounce it off hamstring of raised leg. Poi should be circling to the outside of leg, not inside. Nota bene: If you miss your hamstring, there's a damned good chance you're going to knock yourself good and solid in the crotch or bunghole.

Simultaneous directional change off hamstring and kick: Do a forward "skipping rope" movement. Do a high left front kick. Bounce left poi off hamstring at the same time as you bounce right poi off ball of left foot. Same for other side, of course.

Torso wrap with hip twist: Works with corkscrew poi movement paired with a forward hip twist (raqs sharqi style). As you do the hip twist, let both poi circle around your waist. When you unwind the hip twist, the poi do a directional change, winding off body. (I did this combo before, but the hip twist element is new as of today. The twist adds a nice line to the movement, and also decreases the amount of arm work necessary).