DrexFactor Poi

Weird Science :: Written Posts

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

Thu, 04/16/2020 - 5:51pm by Drex Tags:

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.

Voting Breakdown for Top 10 Favorite Poi Spinners of 2019

Wed, 01/01/2020 - 12:00am by Drex Tags:

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.

Cool is Overrated

Wed, 11/13/2019 - 9:31am by Drex Tags:

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.

Talent vs Skill

Tue, 11/05/2019 - 11:00pm by Drex Tags:

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.

3 Trials, 3 Lessons

Wed, 10/30/2019 - 12:08pm by Drex Tags:

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.

Top 10 Favorite Poi Spinners of 2018 Voting Breakdown

Tue, 01/01/2019 - 12:00am by Drex Tags:

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!

If at first you don't succeed...

Wed, 08/15/2018 - 9:51am by Drex Tags:

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:

5 Myths About Creating Content

Wed, 07/25/2018 - 11:00pm by Drex Tags:

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.

What's your Poi Story?

Fri, 07/20/2018 - 11:09am by Drex Tags:

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.

How to Find Motivation

Thu, 07/12/2018 - 10:34am by Drex Tags:

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.

Overcoming fear

Thu, 06/28/2018 - 9:33am by Drex Tags:

A couple years ago I decided I needed a hobby.

I spin poi full time, creating videos and content and while I love getting to do a thing I enjoy full time it also taught me the value of having a thing in your life that you do casually and don’t necessarily need to invest yourself completely into.

When It's Not About You

Thu, 05/31/2018 - 11:40am by Drex Tags:

This past weekend was an incredibly special experience.

Five years ago, I founded a troupe in Washington, DC to send a fire conclave to Burning Man. For those who’ve never been, on Saturday night during the week of the Burning Man festival, the titular effigy of a man is burned and the entire event celebrates. The opening act are fire performance troupes from all over the world that submit audition videos in order to be a part of this very special experience.

When Mistakes Aren't Mistakes

Thu, 05/24/2018 - 9:47am by Drex Tags:

We all have this moment: we’re working on something new and unfamiliar and WHAM! The poi hits us.

Some days it’s a minor annoyance and some days it makes us what to tear our hair out and throw the poi down, never to pick them up again.

Even after more than 10 years of spinning, I still have the latter days. I still have those moments when something is so frustrating and feels so unattainable that I have trouble imagining it’ll ever make sense to me.

Poi Dancing - Yucatán Flow

Tue, 01/30/2018 - 4:43pm by Drex Tags:

Life wears us down and tends to tear us away in tiny little pieces, making it hard to remember how full of wonder the world can be.

What's really awesome is when you're able to find moments of beauty through it all. If you leave yourself open to this kind of discovery, you'll find these moments of beauty appearing more often than you might think!

Several weeks ago my girlfriend and I took a vacation to the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. I will totally admit that I was pretty grumpy and exhausted and wasn't even sure I wanted to go.

Top 3 Behind the Back Poi Tricks You Should Know

Tue, 01/23/2018 - 9:46am by Drex Tags:

I've been in the poi community long enough that I've seen several waves of tricks come through that become cool, then passe, then rediscovered all over again.

When I first started spinning, behind the back tricks were one of those tricks that were absolutely essential if you wanted to be taken seriously as a tech spinner. They've lost a lot of that sheen in the past several years but I still see people on occasion doing creative things with these tricks.

Ridiculous Thoughts | Poi Dance Choreography by Drex

Tue, 01/16/2018 - 9:22am by Drex Tags:

I'm absolutely heartbroken with the news yesterday of Dolores O'Riordan passing. The Cranberries were an incredibly important band for me as a teenager and probably the first band that convinced me that it was worth listening to music that had been recorded after 1973. I took some of that heartache and decided to make it into something beautiful with it. I hope you enjoy it.

Top 10 Favorite Poi Spinners of 2017

Mon, 01/01/2018 - 11:31am by Drex Tags:

2017 was definitely the year of string manipulations and continued our community down the road of fusing poi with juggling. I'm also pleased to see that it is the first year we've had three women in top 10 (can't wait till it's half or more!).

Chris Kelly returned to the top spot after being dethroned by Tim Goddard last year. It should be noted that they were separated by only 3 votes so if this keeps up it'll be anybody's game next year.

How much do Flow Artists make?

Thu, 12/28/2017 - 8:00am by Drex Tags:

A couple years ago I remember running across a blog post by the cellist Zoe Keating. In it she laid out in fairly explicit detail where her income for the past year and come from and how much it amounted to.

Who owns tricks?

Tue, 12/26/2017 - 8:00am by Drex Tags:

The flow arts have grown by leaps and bounds partially thanks to a culture of open source sharing--but that culture may have a darker side. I've seen many online debates over ownership of tricks and a recent conversation with a friend prompted me to reexamine my own stance on the issue.

Mayday ATL Fire Safety Blanket Review

Sun, 12/24/2017 - 11:16am by Drex Tags:

About a month ago I was sent a very special package!

A company in Atlanta called Mayday ATL is now making fire safety blankets that they hope will make the venerable duvetyne a thing of the past.

Their new blankets are made of aramid fibers, so they're both naturally fire resistant as well as machine-washable. In addition, they feature a trim of reflective material to make them easy to spot in the dark and embroidered personalization.

I decided to put Mayday ATL's blankets to the test in this review--see what I thought of them!

Leave an Open Door

Sun, 12/24/2017 - 11:12am by Drex Tags:

I spent most of the year choreographing it and I got a lot of requests for a video that was just my performance of this piece without the tutorial around it. Here it is with some minimal edits--I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed choreographing it!

Poi Spinning Combo Choreography: 2017 Routine

Sun, 12/24/2017 - 11:10am by Drex Tags:

I know from my surveys that without a doubt the content you all most like to see from me on these newsletters are my Poi Combo tutorials.

Well...I've been kind of holding onto a bit of a secret with these all year. And that secret is that every combo I've done since March was part of a full-length routine!

That's right. All the combos fit together like puzzle pieces and this morning I published a tutorial that shows you how to stitch them all together.

How to Choreograph: Blocking 101

Sun, 12/24/2017 - 11:04am by Drex Tags:

If you want to choreograph your own pieces, Blocking is an essential skill to have. This is the process of breaking songs up into smaller bits that correspond to dynamic or instrument changes.

In this video I show how this process works and choreograph a short piece as a result of that blocking. Check it out for yourself and learn this very valuable skill!

Which prop is right for you?

Sun, 12/24/2017 - 11:02am by Drex Tags:

I got asked in a recent Q&A how one can find the prop that they were meant to spin. The answer I gave was something I'll reckon the person asking didn't quite expect but in my experience it's the right one. Check out my thoughts on the matter here:

Profiles in Flow: Rachael Lust

Sun, 12/24/2017 - 10:59am by Drex Tags:

Rachael is one of my favorite hoopers out there! I'm constantly amazed not just with the creativity and dedication with which she approaches her craft, but also how deftly she balances her roles as a flow celebrity and mother.

I got a chance to sit down with Rachael last week and talk to her about her career and how she's managed to do the impossible. Check it out to get her tips on how to go viral, put together workshop tours, and manage your social media presence!

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