Poi vs. Hoops

I have LED poi that I got for Christmas, and my sister has an LED hoop. When the weather is good, we go outside on our driveway. She hoops, I poi. People always stop to stare, or scream out the window of their car as they pass by, or slow down and look. But every time someone stops, they say to my sister, "that is a great hula-hoop" and then they look at me and go, "and what are you doing?" then when I say I'm poiing, they stare blankly, like "What is that?"My standard response is "it's like tennis balls on strings". They stare for a minute, then turn to my sister and watch her, going "Wow, look at that!" Or, screams out car windows are "Nice hula-hoops!" It's poi, not a hula-hoop.

Yeah I sometimes get people like "What the hell are you doing?" Like I'm nuts. But everybody knows what hula hoop is.

Staff is better then both anyways.

Does it really matter what other people say? Sure, it might feel nice to be recognized once in a while, but at the end of the day, aren't you spinning poi for the fun of it? Spin poi for yourself, because you enjoy it, not because it will impress people or make you look cool.

On that note, you should have heard me try to explain the Flow-Wand to my mother over the phone. When I told her I was going to buy one once Sean and Prisna restock them, she responded with "why?" hahaha

Its basic poi psychology. People like things that they can see themselves doing. They see the hoop, their mind goes "Hey I had one of those when I was little, I could get one of these! Then people would look at me!" and their brains light up and do a little happy dance. They look at the poi, and dont see skill or amazingness, they see practice and their brain says "I dont wanna/I could never do that" therefore they shut down. General audiences dont tend to like things that they know they couldn't do. If they come to see something "Spectacular" then they want to see something they can't do. But for basic performances they want to be able to see themselves doing it or they reject it. I once did a fire eating performance for a small group of peers. You could have heard crickets when I finished. No one applauded. No one said "wow" or even "that was cool" there was just silence. Then one asked why I didn't breath fire instead.

In a nutshell, its a jealousy thing.

I hooped for my school talent show this year. You wouldn't believe how many cheers I got even before I did anything. I won third place, but sometimes I look back and say, "If I did poi, I wouldn't have even gotten into the talent show." People don't understand that just because something is "out of the norm" doesn't mean it's bad. Like swallowing fire, or getting a flow wand. It isn't only jealousy, it's fear. (sound weird, but it's true) I think that people believe that if you do something others don't know of, then you will be an outcast. But it isn't like that-it makes you feel great, happy, invincible, even. (at least me :P) Sometime when I'm poiing and someone asks me what I'm doing, or why, I want to hand it to them and say "Just try it."

Side that!

Not sure why Hoola(Hoops) will appeals more than Poi... must be in the movement... but: have you considered to learn some Hoop yourself? Embrace the challenge

Definitely agree I've only been spinning poi for a couple months, but one of the things I love about it how different it is. You don't see people spinning poi around here, and most people have probably never even heard of it. While I still feel kind of awkward when I go to the public park to practice (apartment = no yard), it doesn't matter when you're enjoying the flow. I think it's the flow itself that makes you feel invincible, just that feeling of being in a completely different world while you're spinning*.


(*spinning is used as an example, you can replace this word with any other action and the fact remains the same.)

I hoop too. I love to hoop, but recently, after learning more poi tricks, it appealed to me more.

Not being mainstream is very much cool and has been for ages, don't let the jealous ones ["Haters gonna hate" types] make your personal discovery any less satisfying because they weren't in the know or thought to do it first. Do what you like to do and if you wish to cross train do that as well, don't worry about what others think and remember why you were inclined to explore spinning.

Nothing wrong with doing your own thing or being a trendsetter in your area, just keep it real and do what feels right for you!

I primarily spin poi (glow and fire), but on the side I've gotten into Club Poi as well as Contact Staff and Devil Sticks. Most of my concentration stays in Poi-land because it feels the most "natural" as a dancer, but I still enjoy jumping to my other hobbies for a change of pace and use the learning to aid my poi understanding. Yep, yep...

I have a feeling that will be my next venture!!!