The Flow Arts are a fun pastime that allow people be creative while connecting to other people with the same passion, but do they have any additional benefits to the people who practice them?

Today, we’re going to talk about the health effects of the Flow Arts, good and bad, and what that means for the people who practice them.

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.

Last week I got tagged in what turned out to be an incredibly badass and informative post by Cory Oliver from Florida. He’d discovered that Amazon has added a feature wherein they will donate .5% of your purchase to the charity of your choice. Currently all the charities they have listed to donate to are those that appear on Guidestar, so regrettably some of my favorites are not there.

For a while now I've been wanting to use my video blog to document elements of fire culture as I travel and meet people. This is my first attempt to do so: last weekend I went up to Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT for their Prometheus Club's Winter Fire Arts Festival for some epic geekage and workshops. Here are some of the highlights of the weekend as well as a brief interview with the two ladies who made me coming there possible.

wesleyan2011.mp4

Another one of those poi avenues that I've either barely touched or just haven't bothered to polish since I started playing with it: contact poi! In this case I've been working on the subtype wherein you're treating the poi head like a contact juggling ball. I'm totally awful at contact juggling (though learning), but I'm still trying to work through this related type of manipulation. Here are four manipulations that Elemensce helped me through at Wildfire and the tips that made them work.

techblog98.mp4

More 1.5 and pendulum variations, including behind-the-head, a meltdown variant, turning with 1.5 opposites and same direction, and an interesting take on meltdowns. Sorry about the crappy audio--my normal camera wasn't working.

techblog2.mp4

A bunch of variations on 1.5s and Pendulums--both same and opposite direction variants in wall and side planes as well as behind-the-back.

Video Tech Blog #1