DrexFactor Poi Blog

Video Tech Blog #57: diagonal atomic weave, Charlie's 9-square transitions

A couple updates from moves of the past week: a quarter-time float out of the now-familiar stall-switch pattern and learning how to plane-shift in same direction. This leads to an atomic weave performed in diagonal planes, which I demo a variant of the Notcoleman3 in here. Finally, a couple thoughts on "hard" versus "soft" transitions based upon charlicopter's 9-square poi theory videos. There is definitely some potential here and I like the idea of moving between grids as well as adding pendulums into the mix.

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Video Tech Blog #56: plane-bending linear isolations, pendulum stalls, diagonal planes

A quick break from the past two weeks' theory-heavy blogs. Here are a couple random moves I've been working on in the interrim that I wanted to show off. First is drilling my way through a type of plane-bending that G is now famous for--switching between inswing linear isolations (they could also be CAPs) and horizontal linear isolations. Next are some exotic pendulum stalls I picked up from watching a recent Ronan video. I'm a huge fan of these types of stalls and keep finding new applications for them.

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Poi Tutorial: How to make contact ball poi

Over the past year I've gotten lots of queries into the stage ball poi set I've come to use most frequently in my tech blog the past few months. I've not seen another tutorial out there on how they are made (at least not on YouTube), so here goes. Hopefully if you've been interested in them, this will tell you everything you need to know to make your own set. I think Ronan had the original design, but used the end caps of juggling clubs for his handles. The use of furniture feet is an idea I borrowed from Alien Jon.

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Video Tech Blog #55: Composites, hybrid theory update

First up, I have a new website that is now hosting all my videos and minutia: please visit me on the web at http://www.drexfactor.com

Next, a quick update to last week's musings on hybrid theory. A possible hole and a fix to it...beyond that, a reply from Alien Jon got my creative juices flowing and here are five results of thinking of CAPs as segments of motion and hybrids as opposing versions of the same types of motion. These are awkward but I can see a lot of possibilities as to where thinking of motion this way could lead.

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Video Tech Blog #54: What is a hybrid?

Thanks to Insignia's excellent post on hybrids, I've spent the past week reexamining the concept and working through some of the logical conundrums it presents. I find the idea of a hybrid being "a combination of two driving styles" problematic because I can't find a definition for driving style that isn't loose enough that potentially any type of movement could be considered a driving style. I think there is a simpler way to define them and it is presented here. Please please send me feedback on this one--let me know if this definition makes sense.

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Video Tech Blog #53: Insignia's hybrids

This past week, Insignia posted a note to Facebook trying to map out all hybrids by matching up all the driving styles he knew of: isolation, extension, cateye, antispin, pendulum, and CAP and going through them one-by-one till he'd identified all the combinations possible between them. Here is a demo of all the hybrids he listed (though I just realized I forgot cateye vs. CAP--whoops). Some of these have an interesting aesthetic value to them while some are just an utter pain in the ass.

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Video Tech Blog #52: Yuta-stall flowers, Icon tech, octagonal planes

This blog starts off with a demo of a 5-beat behind the back waistwrap that is still awkward and sloppy but I'm noticing I'm reaching for it in my BTB weaves now. Next is some explorations of the use of Yuta stalls to create horizontal flowers by stalling into an inversion rather than outswing as one usually does with this type of plane-bending. There's also some theory here as to how to use the Rastaxel stall shift pattern to create octagonal planes and finally a very special shout-out and a couple pieces of tech courtesy Mike Icon.

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Hoop Tutorial: Horizontal Cateyes and Unit Circle Theory

By popular demand: a follow-up to my last hoop tutorial, this time on the horizontal equivalent of the cateye pattern I demoed last time. It breaks down in a very similar fashion to the vertical, but requires a bit more wrist strength at a couple intervals. I've also included a brief discussion on how you can use both vertical and horizontal cateyes in conjunction with isolations and extensions to flow between tricks. This is a variation on Alien Jon's unit circle theory. For more info on this, visit his YouTube channel. Enjoy! :)

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Video Tech Blog #51: cateye flowers, antibrid cateye cross, CAP/antispin plane-bending

Starting off with an update on the pattern I showed off last week. Insignia had posted a comment about plane-bending in and out of it and here is a demo of the combination he mentioned. Also, I got a request for a demo of a cateye flower a couple weeks ago and here are four extrapolations of the idea. Ultimately one can look at this concept as either a flower with multiple points of rotation or as a variant on the unit circle grid idea. Please share thoughts on this as I haven't seen it demoed before.

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Flow practice 9/28/09: Double Staves

My first doubles video! Be kind...:)

Not the greatest doubles routine in history--I get tripped up in this one a lot, but I at least wanted to show off some of the fun stuff I've learned since I picked up doubles back in February. I recorded this one right after my most recent poi flow video on Sunday afternoon at the Malcolm X park drum circle.

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