Tonight I'm going to talk about poi for Elizabeth, and everyone else who uses a wheelchair.
Poi are balls on cords or chains, and are spun around the body. The daring amongst us might even spin fire, but not me. And it's really not recommended for beginners at all. Some don't recommend it for anyone because it can be toxic and/or deadly hot.
Beth asked me if someone in a wheelchair could spin poi; the answer appears to be "Of course!" Modifications you'd arrange for wheelchair adaptation would be to use lighter weight poi balls, shorter chains (cord would be lighter), and, ideally, something soft, 'cause hitting yourself in the head and, er, "naughty bits" with a tennis ball isn't fun. "Trust me on that," he said, in a funny, squeaky sort of voice...
The moves you'd use from a chair would differ slightly, in that you can't spin as close to your side as we able-bodied show-offs, and you can't, obviously, pass them under your legs. You could get lots of mileage spinning above and around the head, and with the balls fairly far from the sides.
There's a forum at homeofpoi that will answer manymany questions about poi.
One person who answered my question suggested that someone in a wheelchair should try contact juggling. That's where the ball rolls around the hands and arms, mostly. And yes, it's very cool, but for someone with deteriorating small muscle control, it would be a real challenge. Beth??? See http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=8335132654793565672&q=EJC and http://youtube.com/watch?v=sIUcLDcIIF8&feature=related , where someone shows her OCD side.
As for my poi skills, I'm at a plateau already. I can do the basic moves I was taught a month ago, and I've learned a couple more, but there's moves called weaves that are completely beyond me for now. I'm having fun trying them, though.
Until next time...
3 comments:
Thank you for the follow up info, I was thinking the other day about juggling and if I could still do it with the hand eye coordination. I think I like sports that don't require ABSOLUTE hand eye coordination which poi seems to fit, at the basic level. Body juggling would require, I am pretty sure the ability to FEEL the ball without looking at it, something I can't quite do in a lot of places. I can however set my hand on fire (one time only sort of trick). I think I will go browse the website and see what else can be done with poi. I am tired of people thinking about things in a body way, like just eliminating everything that would involve legs - they do this with dance too. But I can balance on my back wheels, can they? I can rock from side to side on one wheel, can they? So surely there must be some sort of poi trick I can do BECAUSE I am in a rigid wheelchair. I will have to think on this. I wonder if I could spin a poi chain off my footplate while in a wheelie, using the back and forth of my hands to keep my upright so the ball is whirled by the back and forth of the chair but looks to be done by the toe or something like that?
Beth: you're DEFINTELY channeling Gonzo!!!!
But yeah, I think you kinda need to be able to feel where the ball is to control it.
Actually, you wouldn't need to eliminate everything that involves legs; just use the legs differently. Maybe there's some move that could be invented where you wrap the cord/chain around one foot, then change the direction of spin as it unwraps.
Like the Mac commercials say: Think different!
Or, be like Beth and think totally outside the hollow cardboard rectilinear hexahedral storage device.
Sounds fasinating!
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