Last week we talked a bit about the history of the different props that have become a part of the Flow Arts world. Today, we’re going to talk about how the Flow Arts emerged from a wide range of diverse sources, including festival culture, philosophy, and the emergence of the internet.

Last week we started our discussion of the culture of the Flow Arts by defining the term and placing it in the context of the wider movement arts world. Today, we’re going to be talking about the history of the artform and how it came to be.

Back in January, I took on the challenge of posting a video of a new trick to Instagram each and every day for 31 days (the challenge was originally for 30 days, but hey, prime numbers!). This was a fun challenge that really helped to deepen my palette of tricks with double staff and explore in depth a number of concepts that I'd only scratched the surface on or never thought to combine together before.

You’ve seen those rock stars out on the burn field, dancing with fire like they were born to it. You’ve gotten ahold of your own tool and you’ve had your first lesson--now the important question: when are you ready to spin fire?

For so many of us, the fire is the hook that draws us in. It is a primal element that makes us stand up and go: Wow, I want to do that! Many of us, when we first light up, want to look like the people who inspired us--spinning effortlessly and beautifully to an adoring crowd.

Ghost trails are a great tool for visualizing many of the tricks we play with as flow artists, regardless of the prop. Over the past few years, I've become acquainted with 5 different approaches for creating these trails using video post-production and I'm starting a video series exploring all these options. The first one is the Luminancer app for iOS--a useful app for creating LED or fire trails but one that comes with some pretty severe limitations. See my full video on the topic below:

When the Top 10 list launched in 2012, it was intended to be a way to celebrate the work of poi spinners all over the world, a method for acknowledging those who'd made an impact in the community. Since then I've come to think of it just as much as a historical document or time capsule of what the poi spinning community was like each year.

Zan Moore is one of the most talented and prolific spinners leading into the social media era of the Flow Arts. He has been a performer, teacher, festival organizer, and driver of ideas and information. In this interview, he shares the stories of his career milestones, how his outlook has changed over the years, and why the flow arts needs dedicated hobbyists.

Update 5/30/2022: So my thinking on this has changed dramatically in the past couple years and I now realize many of the conclusions I arrived at in this article were a result of sampling bias. For my current thoughts on this issue, check out this video.

Profiles in Poi begins its 3rd season with Chris Kelly! Hailing from Eugene, OR, Chris made an explosive debut on the scene a couple years ago by being on the vanguard of the 3 poi and poi juggling movement. Here, he discusses how he entered the flow arts, the genesis of his company and Team Techris, and where he sees the future of the flow arts headed.

Hi friends!

So clearly it's been two months now since I sent my last newsletter out--my apologies, my travels kept me much busier than I had hoped but I will try and be better about staying in touch from here on out! Here's what's new in my world:

http://www.patreon.com/drexfactorpoi

Six months ago I started up a little experiment, trying to crowdfund resources from the community to assist me in making my many video projects. Between tech blogs, tutorials, double staff tech blogs and tutorials, Profiles in Poi, The Month in Flow, Slow Mo Monday, and Stop Drop and Spins, I spend a whole lot of my time creating these video projects for the wider world.

For two years now, FLAME Festival has offered a unique experience inside the flow/fire festival world in that we allow our attendees to help us determine our lineup. Last year was our first time trying out this experiment and we learned a lot from doing it--a lot of what worked and a lot of what didn’t work. This year, in an effort to improve upon the system we created last year we set out to take many of those lessons learned and apply them to voting and teacher selection to do our best to assemble the best festival the Southeastern United States has ever seen.