DrexFactor Poi Blog

It's great not to work for exposure--we also need to stop working for validation

For years there’s been a campaign within the Flow Arts community (and let’s face it throughout the artistic world) to stop accepting exposure as a form of compensation. It places negative pressure on the value of performance and the wider community and I think it’s a good and necessary step to helping more businesses grow and allow people to do what they love for a living.

But I think it also doesn’t go far enough.

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Voting Breakdown for Top 10 Favorite Poi Spinners of 2019

This is the 8th year for the Poi Top 10 list!

Once again, manipulation, contact, and poi juggling were heavily represented in the people who made the list with a surprising return to the world of 2-poi now definitely trending.

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Cool is Overrated

Sometimes I think we all want to be it, whether privately or publicly. Some of us carry a scar from not being it when we were younger. Some of us got a taste of it at some point and want to drink deeply of it.

But what is "cool?"

The first time I remember being aware of it was in elementary school. The kids who were cool seemed to be free of worry and care. No anxieties, no cares, they were above it all. The topic came up once when the teacher had stepped out of class and I said something that brought the class to a sudden silence.

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Talent vs Skill

I've long been a proponent of the idea that talent is either overrated or non-existent but I'm finding it makes for a convenient way to frame something that I've been having a difficult time putting into words for a while now.

Frequently when people tell me I'm a talented poi spinner I balk at the idea. I worked my ass off to be able to spin the way I do. Recently I've gone through this process again by working to integrate dance into my spinning and it's a tremendously difficult process with many dead ends and plateaus.

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3 Trials, 3 Lessons

Discipline

Tell me if this sounds familiar: ever since my early teen years I had a bit of a pattern in how I tackled different skills. I would dedicate myself night and day to learning a thing until I could do it competently. And inevitably I'd crash and burn out. Then I read a book that changed my life.

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Top 10 Favorite Poi Spinners of 2018 Voting Breakdown

2018 has drawn to a close and once again we have our answer for who made a splash in the poi world this year. There's a lot of stats I want to dive into but first and powerful message with regard to this year's list and the people who voted to make it happen:

Liz Knights finally made it!!! WAHOOO!!! Seriously, it took you guys long enough to vote her on here.

With that said...let's dive in!

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If at first you don't succeed...

What’s the longest you’ve ever worked on a single trick?

Not tricks that you toy with--working on them and then dropping them as attention spans and practice time waxes and wanes.

I’m asking what’s the longest amount of time you’ve ever spent focused on learning something new?

First a little bit of context:

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5 Myths About Creating Content

Want to be a creator and have something holding you back? What if I told you that what’s holding you back is almost certainly not a dealbreaker?

It’s been nearly 10 years since I began posting my content to YouTube and in that time I’ve learned quite a lot about how content creation. I had no idea what I was doing when I first started out but through trial and error I managed to correct a lot of my own misconceptions and came to realize that the biggest thing holding me back was my own doubts.

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What's your Poi Story?

We all have a poi story--where we encountered poi and why it became a part of our lives. This is mine:

I first saw poi spinning when I went to my first Burning Man back in 2006.

My first major introduction was at a Wednesday night fire jam at Hookahdome. Sitting in the audience I was enraptured by all the artists spinning fire, regardless of tool or skill level. I remember one woman in particular spinning fire hoop that could do little more than keep it around her waist.

She was my favorite of the night.

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How to Find Motivation

We all need motivation.

Motivation to practice your art. Motivation to get your work done. Motivation to wash the dishes, pay the bills, and to stay focused on the things you want to improve on.

So how do you find this elusive motivation?

Well...you don’t.

Stick with me for a second, here.

Once upon a time I used to rely on motivation. I used to wait until the need or inspiration struck me to make things happen. And I found I didn’t get a lot done.

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