Under the legs tricks tend to pass in and out of vogue, but the underlying concept has a lot in common with the reel turns we've played with before. Here are a couple basic exercises to get the basic elements down.

utltutorial.mp4

In the final installment of this behind the back series, we'll tackle the meltdown! Meltdowns are a move in which one rapidly wraps the poi around their back, unwraps them, and then rewraps them going the other direction to create a rapid and exciting move. Here's how to build them up piece by piece.

btbpart3.mp4

Last week we worked out some basic exercises to acclimate the body to behind the back spinning--this week we'll work on the behind the back weave. Fundamentally this weave is identical to the standard three-beat weave but requires a little bit of practice to adapt to a behind the back position. Here are a couple exercises to get you there.

btbpart2.mp4

Behind the back tricks are one of those bellwethers that can take you from basic to intermediate spinning, but it can be a huge kinesthetic challenge to get to a point where these types of tricks can feel stable and in control. This week we'll start off with some basic exercises to teach control of behind the back movements before playing with behind the back weaves next week and meltdowns the week after.

btbpart1.mp4

CAPs are a great transitional move that can be used to spice up hybrids or even just on their own. They used to be considered pretty technical, but I've seen a lot of people nail them within their first year of spinning. This is the method I've seen most often succeed for teaching beginner or intermediate spinners how to do them and it's inspired by a method for teaching triquetras I saw in an old Alien Jon video.

tutorialccaps.mp4

The partner poi weave is not only easy to learn, you can teach it to a complete poi neophyte in under 10 minutes! Here's a little bit of guerilla street theatre: I found Jerod here in Lafayette Park and used him as a guinea pig to both teach the partner weave as well as demonstrate how easy it is to pick up and learn. Thanks so much to Jerod for being a good sport! :D

partnerweavetutorial.mp4

This week's tutorial covers throws that minimize the rotation of the poi, from float throws to plane-shifted throws, and finally no-beat throws. There's also a bit of inspiration here for how to play around with this type of movement and some of the fun things you can do with it.

tutorialthrowspt2.mp4

Part 1 of a 2 part series on how to do some of the most basic throws/releases with poi. This particular one is on throws where the poi continues to rotate after the release, including isolated throws and what I'd call "flower" throws. Next week we'll cover basic float throws and the like.

tutorialthrowspt1.mp4

Contact rolls are one of my favorite moves. Here is a breakdown of how to do them on both the inner and outer forearm. They take a little bit of work, but they're a great tool to have in your box :)

contacttutorial.mp4

The very first hybrid I ever learned! Here is a quick tutorial on how to perform static spin vs extension. These lessons will serve you later when you get into more complex hybrids, but I think this is a fairly easy entry into this type of spinning :)

basichybrid.mp4