POI

Gallery

To view the poi gallery click the link below:
Poi gallery

History

Pronounced like "boy", New Zealand's Maori women have traditionally used Poi for percussion, dance, story telling and exercise. Men used them as a training aid for ancient weapons like the Mere or Patu (short club). These days Poi basically consist of a ball or weight on a cord that is swung around the body, but would have been made from rocks swung from flax ropes.

Benefits

Regular use increases flexibility and strength in the wrists, hands and arms and is an excellent means of improving coordination.

Useful Links/Publications

Poi Spinning by Michael Kahn - the best Poi spinning book I have seen; plenty of good clear instructions and illustrations. Well worth the £s (£12.95 when I bought it). Also has good related info about fire poi, choreography, staff twirling, juggling and bizarrely, recipes for home made lemonade and chocolate brownies!

Kent Circus School - local website with contact information and details of circus skills training, performances etc.

www.homeofpoi.com - Without doubt the best poi site on the web. Loads of information, video clips of moves, links to related sites etc.

Poi Meetup Groups - useful contacts.

Poi Swinging - lots of related poi sites and a good collection of instructions for various moves.

Waiata Maori - Maori Music @ maori.org.nz - interesting New Zealand site with information on history of poi and other Maori performing arts.

Fire Poi etc

After mastering Poi, many people decide to try performing with fire poi. These look spectacular in the dark, especially when combined with some natty choreography. Fire poi should only ever be performed outside however and used with extreme caution (i.e. not when intoxicated!)

Events

Many performers congregate at events such as the Full Moon party on Koh Phangan Glastonbury festival even has its own Fire Performance stage.

Buy Poi

Custom made poi. All colours are according to availability, but we will endeavour to make your poi as close as possible to your requirements. Tails are all UV reactive (except black).

Red
Yellow
Aqua
Green
Blue
Orange
Pink
Purple
White
Black

Up to 3 colours per tail are available; please specify how many of each colour you would prefer (i.e. 2 x pink, 1 x purple per pair etc).

If no colour options are chosen, a matching pair will be randomly selected.  

Custom made Poi are currently available 2 formats; long (single string) (£12 per pair) and adjustable (double string; can be easily adjusted to make short or long, £15 per pair). Please specify whether you would like standard or adjustable strings. String colour may vary according to availability.  

Handles are currently only available in leather, we hope to be able to offer webbing and UV reactive handles soon.  

Payment by PayPal or cheque (to Jax Arts)
Postage & packing within the UK is £1.50 per pair - contact info@jax.org.uk for postal rates outside the UK.