This article is rated C-class on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Poi (performance art) was the New Zealand collaboration from 1 May, to 1 August 2009. For details on how the article improved, see the NZC history |
see: Talk:Poi_(food) for discussion prior to spliting from Poi (food)
The last paragraph needs clarification it states: "Today, poi swinging is seeing wide popularity." Is this within Maori culture which is what the first two paragraphs deals with, or within New Zealand culture or globally? Htaccess 01:30, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
fire poi is definitely thing along the west coast of Canada — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2407:7000:8250:5941:6C01:40D9:BC7C:D83A ( talk) 02:37, 15 September 2023 (UTC)
I have reverted the latest edits. Although they were clearly well-intentioned, they failed the NPOV ("beautiful" = value judgment, even if I agree) test, were too sweeping (comments not true of all poi spinners, or even a majority), and would better be discussed in the firedancing article, since the comments could equally be applied to staff, fans, etc. I'd suggest something along the lines of "firedancers often infuse their performance with techniques from various martial-arts or dance traditions, including African dance, belly dance, capoeira, tai-chi, etc." adamrice 14:10, 18 October 2005 (UTC)
A lot of recent edits have had NPOV problems or excessively conversational tone. I am trying to clean up. This is not a how-to guide but a general introduction. If you want to write a how-to guide, we've got wikibooks for that adamrice 15:24, 24 December 2005 (UTC)
I am going to restore the HoP link. Although it is certainly a commercial site, it also has a very lively forum and a lot of non-commercial resources.
I believe the comment above is by adamrice. Adam, in reviewing links from Wikipedia it appeared that every page remotely related to fire spinning, glowstick twirling and the like had a link to Home of Poi. Home of Poi is a commercial website with lots of resources but there are now other active communities that have just as much information and less commercial focus. e.g. Spherculism, Tribe, etc. I'm open to discussion on this point but for now I'm going to remove links to Home of Poi. Fireguy 06:04, 22 March 2006 (UTC)
Sorry for any lack of NPOV on my major edit of this article -- I must confess, I'm not particularly experienced in writing articles, and it's tricky when you're passionate about a subject. My intention was, and still is, to provide a more enlightening entry for Wikipedia. Previously, this acticle actually said nothing of poi in relation to juggling culture and it's place in modern society.
And incidentally, it was never intended to be a "How-to" guide. Simply a discussion of techniques employed by many people in what is generally a do-it-yourself hobby. -- Xanthine 15:34, 25 January 2006 (UTC)
Are you sure that the wording on the safety section is right? I would advise anyone to have a go on practice poi first, not encourage any novice to try fire spinning without someone more experienced there, and fire equipment in case.
I think the article Fire poi should be merged into the fire poi section. The fire poi article is about the same size as the section in the poi article. Also much of the background information is relevent to both normal and fire poi, so the fire poi article will either repeat large ammounts of the poi article, or leave users uniformed if they do not then find the poi article. Poobarb 13:23, 2 February 2006 (UTC)
Bam, merged! Don't be afraid to be bold, folks. For something pretty cut and dry like this (merging a stub into a full article), I usually give the merge request about two weeks, and then I do it, we don't need to wait tooo long, unless there is major criticism of the idea. Peace. Phidauex 17:28, 2 May 2006 (UTC)
Does anyone else think this section is a bit pointless? It describes three different wraps which are all variations of the same basic wrap; it doesn't even mention thru-wraps which are at least different enough to be considered almost a separate move. And the diagram is a bit pointless. If nobody else objects I'll clear it up into a single more generic paragraph... spiralx 12:35, 24 April 2006 (UTC)
Butterflies
The butterfly is one of the central moves that a number of poi tricks stem from. These tricks are so named as when viewed from the front, the poi appear to be flapping horizontally like a butterfly's wings. The poi are swung in a forwards direction in phase with each other. The hands are then both moved in front of the swinger so that the poi traverse a circle in front of the spinner, the left poi spinning clockwise, the right poi anti-clockwise. One hand will be above the other one (typically the spinner's better hand) and their angles very slightly offset to prevent the poi from colliding as they cross at the top and bottom of their respective circles. Advanced variations can involve having one or both hands behind the head and hands moving through the planes in which the strings spin ("Threading the Needle").
I have reverted the recent flagging link. While flagging is clearly related to poi and deserves mention somewhere, there's nothing in this article that leads up to it, and it's not clear to me whether the link that was provided is what flaggers would consider a primary resource. adamrice 13:18, 14 July 2006 (UTC)
The article leaves me wondering about how long poi have been in use by the Maori, how important/widespread use among them is, and how they spread to rave/juggling/etc culture... -- Akb4 18:31, 29 August 2006 (UTC)
The statement that Maori still practise poi today is slightly misleading. It suggests that it is used in a traditional context. It is not. Poi are only used to entertain tourists. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.184.41.226 ( talk) 00:36, 24 November 2012 (UTC)
Where is 'poi' the plural of poi? In the UK/ROI we say pois. Njál 14:03, 9 September 2006 (UTC)
Since when? It means "to pound or hit" in Hawaiian, and last I was aware, the translation in Maori is "to hit" as well. I suppose it could also refer to poi balls, but I don't think the word in general means a generic ball. I could be wrong, though, and I don't want to remove that unless I have a good reason to, but could someone please verify the truth in that one? — K e akealani 08:04, 28 September 2006 (UTC)
Kia ora, Ae (Yes) poi does mean ball in Maori. Patu means to hit or strike. Nga mihi
Te Whetumarama 23:19, 22 August 2007 (UTC)
I've never heard this phrase before, in connection with poi or anything else. Furthermore the note that attempts to define it fails to. Leading off the article with something as puzzling and obscure as this is ill-considered. adamrice 21:31, 21 February 2007 (UTC)
(Paragraph herewith retrieved from "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:B9_hummingbird_hovering")
Adamrice: I know that your edits are well-intentioned, but they're also very idiosyncratic. I believe that as an introduction to the subject, they're more inclined to raise questions for readers than to answer them. adamrice 15:56, 26 February 2007 (UTC)
I look 4ward to dialogue with view to establish Common ground.
Namaste in
agape
Walking my talk in
beauty
B9 hummingbird hovering ( talk • contribs) 16:26, 26 February 2007 (UTC)
... I completely failed to understand any of what you just said. Could you please explain what you mean, rather than giving us a bunch of links to research to try and piece together what your actual position might be? I had the same issue with the use of "impartial art" in the basic description of the topic, as well as its description as "clever" in the footnote -- the explanation doesn't sound clever to me at all ("impartial" versus "martial" don't seem like a very reasonable dichotomy to me), and its relative cleverness is totally subjective and doesn't seem to me like it should be included. 71.222.102.73 08:35, 30 July 2007 (UTC)
Twirling a poi is hardly art, and not exactly rocket science either. The statement that unlike "many physical arts, learning poi does not usually involve formal education". Formal education is not the usual wording for such things, I suggest "any instruction or training" would be better. 203.184.41.226 ( talk) 00:39, 24 November 2012 (UTC)
User 207.31.229.4 tagged this section with a {{fact}} tag, but I'm going to pull it altogether pending some verification:
Among the notable highly skilled poi spinners is Dae (Last name undisclosed), who is not only talented at the art, but who wields them also as a weapon through which he is capable of channeling electricity for added damage to his enemies citation needed.
If this isn't a comic book or gaming reference, then I'm a minor deity. There's nothing wrong with such references being included, but they require a clear context: in which comic book, game, or other medium does this character appear?
*
Septegram*
Talk*
Contributions* 21:44, 2 March 2007 (UTC)
What´s about non-fire-Poi? There are only pictures of Firedancers an one traditional Maori-Image. No blacklight-spinning, one glowpoi and almost firepoi in various moves. Please have a look at the german article. Happy spinning...
I have removed the obscure, unhelpful, and indeed duplicated references to something called "impartial art". It is not at all apparent that this term "cleverly associates juggling arts with Martial arts" nor is it clear that its "poignant point-counterpoint contrasts the inherently non-violent aspect of juggling disciplines"
The term may have appeared in a minor book published 15 years ago. But "impartial art" does not appear in this sense anywhere on Google, except of course in the Wikipedia article itself, and other articles derived from this! In other words, the only currency the term has gained has been generated by the unfortunate Wikipedia article itself. Geronimo20 01:36, 1 November 2007 (UTC)
I agree with the reversion. Searching for the term "impartial art" on Google, I can't find any indication that the term is anything but original research on the part of an obscure book author. A bunch of hits do come up, but many refer to this Wikipedia article and the rest don't relate to martial arts or Poi. = Axlq 03:49, 9 November 2007 (UTC)
Please don't add to this article dubious information with uncited analogies to martial arts. Please also consider the feedback on the Talk page here and here- Geronimo20 06:43, 8 November 2007 (UTC)
B9 hummingbird hovering: Please read and understand the following Wikipedia guideline before you edit this article again: Wikipedia:Do not disrupt Wikipedia to illustrate a point.
The facts remain:
Unless you have a solid source to back it up, don't put it in. And if you disagree with any other uncited claim in this article, tag it with {{fact}}
which will cause "citation needed" to appear after the sentence. For now, I am reverting your edit again. =
Axlq 04:32, 9 November 2007 (UTC)
All I can say is, read WP:POINT and WP:3RR. Please do not delete text about Poi, and do not add in extraneous information about "impartial art" that appears to be original research by one non-notable source. Do make contributions that are constructive. At the moment, you are being a tendentious editor. Please stop. = Axlq 05:35, 9 November 2007 (UTC)
Hopefully the stub on Poier's Adjustable Knot can be merged here, or else improved. See also comments at Talk:Poier's Adjustable Knot. Thanks, Jonathan Oldenbuck ( talk) 10:18, 23 November 2007 (UTC)
As a New Zealander, I find the idea that poi is a form of juggling to be bizarre and mildly offensive, ditto for the use of the word "tricks". I would suggest that the article be moved to Poi (artform) or poi (performing art). Also, the article seems to have attained undue weight on the non-traditional forms that have achieved popularity outside New Zealand. I will propose the page as a candidate for a WikiProject New Zealand collaboration. Possibly it should be split to articles on traditional and non-traditional forms? dramatic ( talk) 06:51, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
My wife (who grew up in ruatoria) has serious doubts about some of the material in the reference TKI - she says the purpose of poi was to develop dexterity for weaving, not weaponary, and doubts if we would find any early reference or image to a male using poi. (The source TKI uses, Jump Rope for Heart has an agenda to make poi sound attractive to primary schoolboys. I'm off to the library later in search of better sources. dramatic ( talk) 19:40, 1 May 2009 (UTC)
PhD researcher Karyn Paringatai quite correctly states that 'poi' were originally balls in ancient Maori society, developed directly from the Pasifika ball implement called 'pei' which were brought to NZ by the first waka. So 'poi' really does mean ball. The traditional balls were weaved from flax and many ball games were traditionally played. Poi as balls on a string used in dance developed centuries later, perhaps even after first European contact as there are NO validated historical accounts of poi being used by Maori women in dances until first sighted and recorded by Europeans in 1814 - some 45 years after Captain Cooks first visit in 1769. It is more realistic that dance poi developed from those first used by warriors in pre-contact times, as some forms were used as weopons, attached on long ropes with rock poi heads to concuss attackers hiding below pa pallisades under rock ledges. If you ignore the warrior origins of poi (which does get a by-line in the History of Poi) you then tread on thin ice regarding poi as 'traditional'. Ripeka —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.160.127.105 ( talk) 19:45, 2 January 2010 (UTC)
I'm surprised that HOP isn't on the list here considering every poi spinner I've ever talked to has mentioned it or known about it. It's a long standing community that, yes, has a commercial aspect but so do others on the list. And since Poi Lessons is now seemingly defunct, I have added HOP and taken Poi Lessons off. - Kitanne ( talk) 00:20, 12 May 2009 (UTC)
I've revised the general and modern poi introductions to make them a bit clearer. In the general introduction I tried to clarify that 'poi' can refer to both the performance art and the tools used for it. In the modern poi introduction I tried to show that traditional and modern poi are both practiced today, give a high-level overview of some of the differences, suggest places where people might see it performed, and emphasize the community element.
Given that community teaching is a major feature of poi, I'd like to add links to some of the popular learning forums (under External Links). If there are no objections, I will add links to the tutorial areas of Poi and Friends, Home of Poi, and Playpoi. Are there any other community-driven poi sites that would be worth listing for readers who want more information on poi?
Wordscratch, 3 August 2011 —Preceding undated comment added 03:22, 4 August 2011 (UTC).
Following up on the last revisions, I added links to some of the most active community learning sites for modern poi. I also moved some fire safety and construction material to the fire dancing topic, since it was making this article unbalanced and overly focused on fire-related poi topics. (It was all good content, but seems better suited to an article focused on fire arts.)
Wordscratch, 13 September 2011
Needs etymology of word poi. Gordon410 ( talk) 15:51, 30 September 2016 (UTC)
It would be good to include a clear image of poi (equipment). Current ones are useless, nothing can be seen on them. Setenzatsu ( talk) 18:42, 22 May 2019 (UTC)
I would love to include Lady Shaka's use of poi at her Boiler Room set because I feel like it's an interesting example of modern usage, especially one with such a large international audience. Would a "Modern Performances" or similar section be appropriate? I'm surprised that there's no mention of Poi E or Te Matatini either, so those might also be good additions. Alternatively if this section is too sparse for inclusion, I could try and find a photo with the appropriate copyright for use? AtticEdit ( talk) 03:50, 28 February 2024 (UTC)
This article is rated C-class on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Poi (performance art) was the New Zealand collaboration from 1 May, to 1 August 2009. For details on how the article improved, see the NZC history |
see: Talk:Poi_(food) for discussion prior to spliting from Poi (food)
The last paragraph needs clarification it states: "Today, poi swinging is seeing wide popularity." Is this within Maori culture which is what the first two paragraphs deals with, or within New Zealand culture or globally? Htaccess 01:30, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
fire poi is definitely thing along the west coast of Canada — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2407:7000:8250:5941:6C01:40D9:BC7C:D83A ( talk) 02:37, 15 September 2023 (UTC)
I have reverted the latest edits. Although they were clearly well-intentioned, they failed the NPOV ("beautiful" = value judgment, even if I agree) test, were too sweeping (comments not true of all poi spinners, or even a majority), and would better be discussed in the firedancing article, since the comments could equally be applied to staff, fans, etc. I'd suggest something along the lines of "firedancers often infuse their performance with techniques from various martial-arts or dance traditions, including African dance, belly dance, capoeira, tai-chi, etc." adamrice 14:10, 18 October 2005 (UTC)
A lot of recent edits have had NPOV problems or excessively conversational tone. I am trying to clean up. This is not a how-to guide but a general introduction. If you want to write a how-to guide, we've got wikibooks for that adamrice 15:24, 24 December 2005 (UTC)
I am going to restore the HoP link. Although it is certainly a commercial site, it also has a very lively forum and a lot of non-commercial resources.
I believe the comment above is by adamrice. Adam, in reviewing links from Wikipedia it appeared that every page remotely related to fire spinning, glowstick twirling and the like had a link to Home of Poi. Home of Poi is a commercial website with lots of resources but there are now other active communities that have just as much information and less commercial focus. e.g. Spherculism, Tribe, etc. I'm open to discussion on this point but for now I'm going to remove links to Home of Poi. Fireguy 06:04, 22 March 2006 (UTC)
Sorry for any lack of NPOV on my major edit of this article -- I must confess, I'm not particularly experienced in writing articles, and it's tricky when you're passionate about a subject. My intention was, and still is, to provide a more enlightening entry for Wikipedia. Previously, this acticle actually said nothing of poi in relation to juggling culture and it's place in modern society.
And incidentally, it was never intended to be a "How-to" guide. Simply a discussion of techniques employed by many people in what is generally a do-it-yourself hobby. -- Xanthine 15:34, 25 January 2006 (UTC)
Are you sure that the wording on the safety section is right? I would advise anyone to have a go on practice poi first, not encourage any novice to try fire spinning without someone more experienced there, and fire equipment in case.
I think the article Fire poi should be merged into the fire poi section. The fire poi article is about the same size as the section in the poi article. Also much of the background information is relevent to both normal and fire poi, so the fire poi article will either repeat large ammounts of the poi article, or leave users uniformed if they do not then find the poi article. Poobarb 13:23, 2 February 2006 (UTC)
Bam, merged! Don't be afraid to be bold, folks. For something pretty cut and dry like this (merging a stub into a full article), I usually give the merge request about two weeks, and then I do it, we don't need to wait tooo long, unless there is major criticism of the idea. Peace. Phidauex 17:28, 2 May 2006 (UTC)
Does anyone else think this section is a bit pointless? It describes three different wraps which are all variations of the same basic wrap; it doesn't even mention thru-wraps which are at least different enough to be considered almost a separate move. And the diagram is a bit pointless. If nobody else objects I'll clear it up into a single more generic paragraph... spiralx 12:35, 24 April 2006 (UTC)
Butterflies
The butterfly is one of the central moves that a number of poi tricks stem from. These tricks are so named as when viewed from the front, the poi appear to be flapping horizontally like a butterfly's wings. The poi are swung in a forwards direction in phase with each other. The hands are then both moved in front of the swinger so that the poi traverse a circle in front of the spinner, the left poi spinning clockwise, the right poi anti-clockwise. One hand will be above the other one (typically the spinner's better hand) and their angles very slightly offset to prevent the poi from colliding as they cross at the top and bottom of their respective circles. Advanced variations can involve having one or both hands behind the head and hands moving through the planes in which the strings spin ("Threading the Needle").
I have reverted the recent flagging link. While flagging is clearly related to poi and deserves mention somewhere, there's nothing in this article that leads up to it, and it's not clear to me whether the link that was provided is what flaggers would consider a primary resource. adamrice 13:18, 14 July 2006 (UTC)
The article leaves me wondering about how long poi have been in use by the Maori, how important/widespread use among them is, and how they spread to rave/juggling/etc culture... -- Akb4 18:31, 29 August 2006 (UTC)
The statement that Maori still practise poi today is slightly misleading. It suggests that it is used in a traditional context. It is not. Poi are only used to entertain tourists. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.184.41.226 ( talk) 00:36, 24 November 2012 (UTC)
Where is 'poi' the plural of poi? In the UK/ROI we say pois. Njál 14:03, 9 September 2006 (UTC)
Since when? It means "to pound or hit" in Hawaiian, and last I was aware, the translation in Maori is "to hit" as well. I suppose it could also refer to poi balls, but I don't think the word in general means a generic ball. I could be wrong, though, and I don't want to remove that unless I have a good reason to, but could someone please verify the truth in that one? — K e akealani 08:04, 28 September 2006 (UTC)
Kia ora, Ae (Yes) poi does mean ball in Maori. Patu means to hit or strike. Nga mihi
Te Whetumarama 23:19, 22 August 2007 (UTC)
I've never heard this phrase before, in connection with poi or anything else. Furthermore the note that attempts to define it fails to. Leading off the article with something as puzzling and obscure as this is ill-considered. adamrice 21:31, 21 February 2007 (UTC)
(Paragraph herewith retrieved from "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:B9_hummingbird_hovering")
Adamrice: I know that your edits are well-intentioned, but they're also very idiosyncratic. I believe that as an introduction to the subject, they're more inclined to raise questions for readers than to answer them. adamrice 15:56, 26 February 2007 (UTC)
I look 4ward to dialogue with view to establish Common ground.
Namaste in
agape
Walking my talk in
beauty
B9 hummingbird hovering ( talk • contribs) 16:26, 26 February 2007 (UTC)
... I completely failed to understand any of what you just said. Could you please explain what you mean, rather than giving us a bunch of links to research to try and piece together what your actual position might be? I had the same issue with the use of "impartial art" in the basic description of the topic, as well as its description as "clever" in the footnote -- the explanation doesn't sound clever to me at all ("impartial" versus "martial" don't seem like a very reasonable dichotomy to me), and its relative cleverness is totally subjective and doesn't seem to me like it should be included. 71.222.102.73 08:35, 30 July 2007 (UTC)
Twirling a poi is hardly art, and not exactly rocket science either. The statement that unlike "many physical arts, learning poi does not usually involve formal education". Formal education is not the usual wording for such things, I suggest "any instruction or training" would be better. 203.184.41.226 ( talk) 00:39, 24 November 2012 (UTC)
User 207.31.229.4 tagged this section with a {{fact}} tag, but I'm going to pull it altogether pending some verification:
Among the notable highly skilled poi spinners is Dae (Last name undisclosed), who is not only talented at the art, but who wields them also as a weapon through which he is capable of channeling electricity for added damage to his enemies citation needed.
If this isn't a comic book or gaming reference, then I'm a minor deity. There's nothing wrong with such references being included, but they require a clear context: in which comic book, game, or other medium does this character appear?
*
Septegram*
Talk*
Contributions* 21:44, 2 March 2007 (UTC)
What´s about non-fire-Poi? There are only pictures of Firedancers an one traditional Maori-Image. No blacklight-spinning, one glowpoi and almost firepoi in various moves. Please have a look at the german article. Happy spinning...
I have removed the obscure, unhelpful, and indeed duplicated references to something called "impartial art". It is not at all apparent that this term "cleverly associates juggling arts with Martial arts" nor is it clear that its "poignant point-counterpoint contrasts the inherently non-violent aspect of juggling disciplines"
The term may have appeared in a minor book published 15 years ago. But "impartial art" does not appear in this sense anywhere on Google, except of course in the Wikipedia article itself, and other articles derived from this! In other words, the only currency the term has gained has been generated by the unfortunate Wikipedia article itself. Geronimo20 01:36, 1 November 2007 (UTC)
I agree with the reversion. Searching for the term "impartial art" on Google, I can't find any indication that the term is anything but original research on the part of an obscure book author. A bunch of hits do come up, but many refer to this Wikipedia article and the rest don't relate to martial arts or Poi. = Axlq 03:49, 9 November 2007 (UTC)
Please don't add to this article dubious information with uncited analogies to martial arts. Please also consider the feedback on the Talk page here and here- Geronimo20 06:43, 8 November 2007 (UTC)
B9 hummingbird hovering: Please read and understand the following Wikipedia guideline before you edit this article again: Wikipedia:Do not disrupt Wikipedia to illustrate a point.
The facts remain:
Unless you have a solid source to back it up, don't put it in. And if you disagree with any other uncited claim in this article, tag it with {{fact}}
which will cause "citation needed" to appear after the sentence. For now, I am reverting your edit again. =
Axlq 04:32, 9 November 2007 (UTC)
All I can say is, read WP:POINT and WP:3RR. Please do not delete text about Poi, and do not add in extraneous information about "impartial art" that appears to be original research by one non-notable source. Do make contributions that are constructive. At the moment, you are being a tendentious editor. Please stop. = Axlq 05:35, 9 November 2007 (UTC)
Hopefully the stub on Poier's Adjustable Knot can be merged here, or else improved. See also comments at Talk:Poier's Adjustable Knot. Thanks, Jonathan Oldenbuck ( talk) 10:18, 23 November 2007 (UTC)
As a New Zealander, I find the idea that poi is a form of juggling to be bizarre and mildly offensive, ditto for the use of the word "tricks". I would suggest that the article be moved to Poi (artform) or poi (performing art). Also, the article seems to have attained undue weight on the non-traditional forms that have achieved popularity outside New Zealand. I will propose the page as a candidate for a WikiProject New Zealand collaboration. Possibly it should be split to articles on traditional and non-traditional forms? dramatic ( talk) 06:51, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
My wife (who grew up in ruatoria) has serious doubts about some of the material in the reference TKI - she says the purpose of poi was to develop dexterity for weaving, not weaponary, and doubts if we would find any early reference or image to a male using poi. (The source TKI uses, Jump Rope for Heart has an agenda to make poi sound attractive to primary schoolboys. I'm off to the library later in search of better sources. dramatic ( talk) 19:40, 1 May 2009 (UTC)
PhD researcher Karyn Paringatai quite correctly states that 'poi' were originally balls in ancient Maori society, developed directly from the Pasifika ball implement called 'pei' which were brought to NZ by the first waka. So 'poi' really does mean ball. The traditional balls were weaved from flax and many ball games were traditionally played. Poi as balls on a string used in dance developed centuries later, perhaps even after first European contact as there are NO validated historical accounts of poi being used by Maori women in dances until first sighted and recorded by Europeans in 1814 - some 45 years after Captain Cooks first visit in 1769. It is more realistic that dance poi developed from those first used by warriors in pre-contact times, as some forms were used as weopons, attached on long ropes with rock poi heads to concuss attackers hiding below pa pallisades under rock ledges. If you ignore the warrior origins of poi (which does get a by-line in the History of Poi) you then tread on thin ice regarding poi as 'traditional'. Ripeka —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.160.127.105 ( talk) 19:45, 2 January 2010 (UTC)
I'm surprised that HOP isn't on the list here considering every poi spinner I've ever talked to has mentioned it or known about it. It's a long standing community that, yes, has a commercial aspect but so do others on the list. And since Poi Lessons is now seemingly defunct, I have added HOP and taken Poi Lessons off. - Kitanne ( talk) 00:20, 12 May 2009 (UTC)
I've revised the general and modern poi introductions to make them a bit clearer. In the general introduction I tried to clarify that 'poi' can refer to both the performance art and the tools used for it. In the modern poi introduction I tried to show that traditional and modern poi are both practiced today, give a high-level overview of some of the differences, suggest places where people might see it performed, and emphasize the community element.
Given that community teaching is a major feature of poi, I'd like to add links to some of the popular learning forums (under External Links). If there are no objections, I will add links to the tutorial areas of Poi and Friends, Home of Poi, and Playpoi. Are there any other community-driven poi sites that would be worth listing for readers who want more information on poi?
Wordscratch, 3 August 2011 —Preceding undated comment added 03:22, 4 August 2011 (UTC).
Following up on the last revisions, I added links to some of the most active community learning sites for modern poi. I also moved some fire safety and construction material to the fire dancing topic, since it was making this article unbalanced and overly focused on fire-related poi topics. (It was all good content, but seems better suited to an article focused on fire arts.)
Wordscratch, 13 September 2011
Needs etymology of word poi. Gordon410 ( talk) 15:51, 30 September 2016 (UTC)
It would be good to include a clear image of poi (equipment). Current ones are useless, nothing can be seen on them. Setenzatsu ( talk) 18:42, 22 May 2019 (UTC)
I would love to include Lady Shaka's use of poi at her Boiler Room set because I feel like it's an interesting example of modern usage, especially one with such a large international audience. Would a "Modern Performances" or similar section be appropriate? I'm surprised that there's no mention of Poi E or Te Matatini either, so those might also be good additions. Alternatively if this section is too sparse for inclusion, I could try and find a photo with the appropriate copyright for use? AtticEdit ( talk) 03:50, 28 February 2024 (UTC)