You should do an interview or analysis of The Poi Mechanic. He is amazing and seems to be criminally under exposed. Or I might not know what I am talking about lol. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qnyXeYWkq8eKmJIsi=6--aRpU9n41N9krY

This is awesome!

Happy Holidays Drex! Just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to share your performances and tutorials with us. I'm only a few months into my poi journey, but discovering the art of poi dance and your channel saved my mental health this year 💕 Thank you <3

27 year old in Australia here, I first picked up Poi, devil stick, diablo, juggling and hoops as a 9-12 year old attending weekly circus classes. I practiced at home between classes and loved it. Due to illness I had so stop attending circus classes and I also unfortunately stopped practicing for many years. Over the covid lockdowns I picked up poi again and then through a new job at a theme park I picked up staff. I became obsessed and flowed almost everyday. Since then I've collected and made many different props and attend weekly flow art meet ups at my local skate park. I have attented only 1 larger fistival event in Australia and will be returning because it WAS an amazing experience but due to the cost of tickets and the increasing commercialisation of the larger festivals a lot of people in my community attend smaller more underground festivals called Bush Doofs that cap at about 300 attendees.

Banging!!! 😊

Beautiful Drex!! LOVE the background too, it's so pretty. Your performance is stellar, as always. :-) Happy Holidays to you and yours. PS-- been wanting to email you a photo of NeoPoi's sock poi, the reflective rainbow sock poi? They are nice, but the material is starting to split at the handles. I've written to them, no reply yet. Was just wondering if the ones you use by the same company are made out of the same material? They are my fav sock poi, but these UltraPoi you used, I have them too, and they are fantastic!!! Happy to be one of your patreons, even though I'm still not on your list, hee hee. Just gotta kid you a little about it. Happy New Year!!! -Molly in FL

Absolutely love the tricks. They always go perfect with the music. The Christmas tree in the background brings everything together.

Super ❤

Top!

LUV! this is the first time I'm coming to your channel after watching your 5 Cool Poi Tricks That Are Easier Than You Think and your Im okay dance video! as a beginner poiser myself your very easy to follow along with than after refreshing the page you got a Sabrina dance out!!

A question for everyone who reads. How long you sugest me to practice an exercise before advancing to others? Looks like I'll stay one month in each video because my movements are so dirty 😅

You are the best ❤ A month of following you and you became my sensei. I ve improved so much! ..and this video shows your passion, how do you feel the music.. just perfect

27 yr old poi spinner here. I got into poi through raving and had been flipping butterfly knives for a bit before that so I was already pretty into flow stuff. Here in Toronto I usually spin alone, but there is a community for flow arts here and I meetup with them when I have the time! I would love to attend more festivals like burning man and such, but I just don't have the funds right now and that is what's been keeping me from attending festivals. In terms of online engagement, I think there has just generally been a trend towards lower engagement on videos that aren't pushed to the top of the algorithm due to catchy titles and mind-melting idiocy. KZbin is very different from how it used to be... When I lookup poi spinning tutorials and try to find your older videos I might see one or two videos from you and the rest are not even related to poi... like I will get a video for some random videogame even when I type in specific poi spinning tutorials in the search bar. It really feels like the algorithms just don't push flow content nearly as much these days for whatever reason... but I still love viewing flow arts on instagram and I try to like vids when I see them because I know I will not be shown any content from flow artists I like if I do not like the videos

Hi, I know I'm late but here goes. Zillennial (25) small-time professional fire spinning performer and instructor here! I've never been to a festival, but I'd love to go. Problem is, I can't afford to yet! I learned about flow arts through multiple sources. My mom got me a set of flower sticks at a garage sale when I was a kid, and I loved them and still do (though that pair broke,) but I didn't know about the wider world of flow arts for a long time. In High School, I trained myself in kung fu, particularly rope dart, but I didn't know people performed with it on fire or anything. It wasn't until I went to college, and saw someone spinning poi on campus and went up and asked them to tell me about what they were doing, that I learned about the wider world of flow arts. I picked up poi quickly! That same day, I found the then-just-glowsticking club on campus and signed up to audition, joined a month later, and within 3 years I'd helped to expand the club to flow arts as a whole. I've found every new prop I've learned or heard of, as well as moves/tricks/tutorials for them, through word of mouth, random lucky encounters in person, and the internet. It's amazing what you can find if you simply know what words to type into Google. As far as how I find new flowmies today, it's mostly through chance meetings, them joking my circus troupe or classes, or discord. I'm part of a multi-collegiate club discord server now, as well as a puppyhammer server, and I hope to find more. I find flowmies through friends I already have in the real world, as well. And since I'm a performer and instructor, when it comes down to it I occasionally find new flow friends as my audience members or students! The reason I'm always drawn back to flow is it's a way to experiment with ideas while connecting with myself on a physical level. I used to do martial arts, and currently do stage/film combat as well as circus arts, but flow arts have really pulled me in unlike anything else. There's simply so much to explore on both a creative and technical level, that it satisfies not only my creative self, but my academically interested self as well as my prop builder side. It brings so much of what I love doing together in a unique way, and there's always more to discover, whether a new set of moves, a new mathematical model or tech setup (most recent one for me is The Kinetic Alphabet for double staff on Instagram), or a new prop entirely! I spin so many props because I'm just enamored by all of them, even the ones I don't spin. As someone with a degree in mathematics, I love breaking down everything about a prop and coming up with as precise and atomized fundamental building blocks as possible to use in the construction of new moves (planes, timing/direction, control points for rope dart, that sort of thing), and just experimenting with what is and isn't possible. As a performer though, I tend to stick with what I can do consistently and what will get reactions from the crowd, which is often not the super technically advanced flow with any prop. Except maybe rope dart. I also find flow in my every day life. I spin my keys, I find the most flowing or efficient way to sweep at my day job, etc. It really infects my brain at all hours of the day. I hope this wasn't too long and rambling 😅 I have more I could say but I gotta be somewhere

I think this video is worthy of a longer video as I still don’t get it and i’m spinning over 4 years now….so i’d say there are also others who would appreciate a more detailed video on the differences of these 2 fountains, as well as myself !

What about the static rope fire poi from JugglingCalling? Do you ever use them still? 😊

Hi please tell me why when I want to do for the second wrap my hands positioning itself facing top to top so that my palms are outside directions ???

I believe this shift is being caused by an oversaturation of music festivals. The reason festivals are experiencing a decline in attendance is because there are so many in any given region while at the same time they tend to book a lot of the same musicians. Last year I went to four festivals that had 4 of the same artists and 2 of them had around 8 of the same musicians. And these were headliners or headliner adjacent. So attendees who used to have maybe 2 options a year for music fest in their region now have 4 or more options and the lineups are similar enough that people pick 1 or 2. I feel the same way about social media. There are a lot more people spinning now then there was 10 years ago. And with apps like Instagram which don't require much work to put out a video, everyone with a couple years of experience is now trying to be an influencer and make tutorials for Instagram. So when it used to be that if you wanted to learn poi you had a handful of options on KZbin now there are hundreds on Instagram. So basically even though the pie is bigger today than it has ever been, the pie is being shared by way more people/events. And that means the pie is being spread thin. I also think that previously people who got into spinning a particular prop got very into it. They were serious about it. I think nowadays you can't go to a festival without seeing a ton of people spinning something. A lot of people go to these festivals even if it's their first time at a festival, they see people spinning and think it's cool. Then they go out and buy a prop, and the only time they touch it is when they are at a festival. Or they buy it and play with it for a week and never use it again. So prop sales are up because it's extremely visible, but engagement is down because the number of serious spinners is growing at a slower rate than the number of non serious spinners, and the resources for learning is also vast. If every serious spinner starts an Instagram account and post tutorials then what you end up with is the people consuming and creating content are the same.

Oddballs juggling in the UK

So much beneficial info on this live so sorry I missed it

hey drex, thanks for the spiral wrap tips, ive basically given up on them. i struggle with the unwrap portion..i started with loops and now have knobs but i hold them like loops. id tried changing to your holding position before with turtle and had no luck. but now i tried it again and i think there is hope. its definitely one of my favourite tricks along with air wrap, which i can do. i was wondering why you dont post more vids or shorts on intermediate transitions? im not really good at figuring things out..ive watched many of your tutorials including your vlogs. my favourites are about flow fests. ( im in south africa). but i havent watched many of your tech blogs because i cant figure out the moves without a breakdown. i want more transitions because i cant really flow yet.so maybe you should start doing tutorials on the moves from your tech blogs? with a link to the specific tech vid in question. id really love that actually! im hopeful!. and thank you for everything youve done for us. youre great !

I DID not know this was happening. :-( Drex, I finallly got my reflective rainbow NeoSock Poi and my first thought is wow, their weight is amazing! But they were SO dark. I thought they were more silver. When the lights hits them at night, they shine/reflect up, but now right at the knobs, where the fabric twists, they are losing their color and tearing. :-( I hope you get to feeling better! I am going to start a new channel, of me, the 'blind poi spinner' posting. videos of me struggling to learn. Hoping if I can post some videos using that Lumineer app (or whatever it was called) app that you mentioned, I paid $3 for it, but it's too cold to go out at dark to practice and make a video. Hoping to post it, and get some feedback. Thanks for this livestream. I wish I had known about it sooner.

Millennial here. From personal experience, I'd say it's due to an across-the-board decline in people's means of living. Many fewer can travel these days, and many of us could never travel to begin with. The arts are suffering because they are a luxury next to things like food and shelter. Until we solve the economic crisis, things will continue to get worse. I want to flow more, even bought a staff that I practice a little with. But I just don't have time. Thankfully my programming pursuits are going to pay off in a big way very soon though.

you are making me laugh, and at the same time making me learn poi super fast, you are awesomee! thank you!

This is kind of perfect timing. Fire hooper here started in 2010. Used to perform for small gatherings. I haven't used fire in 10 years but was debating on entertaining my coworkers at the Xmas staff party. I am gonna postpone that to JULY 4th 2025 party. I can get a little bit more comfortable again. A message to my fellow fire spinners.... you can be the most talented skilled spinner. What makes you a PROFESSIONAL is your SAFETY PLAN! 💦 🔥 🚒

People aren't going to Burning Man now as they have to bring everything with them as there is no running water there. Even their own showers and toilets. Also, they have to hire or buy everything they need in the nearest town if they have flown in from another country or from across the country. How do they dispose of anything they bought afterwards if they have to fly home again? There are often sand storms, so they have to take shelter, and that means having a camper van instead of a tent.

Hi! I just turned 28 and I have quit a mixed experience. I’ve been flowing for about 10 years now with a focus in hoops and secondary interests in dragon staff, poi and juggling. But I came to hoops first and foremost for health. I had (and do have) chronic back pain from an accident at 17 yro and finding large adult dance hoops at 18 literally helped me relearn to use my body and walk without pain again. As a result, my flow journey has been primarily in isolation with a focus on integrating my unique physical therapy based approach to the practice. I’ve developed small groups of friends over the years but by the time I felt physically bold enough to engage with a larger community the pandemic hit and that became less of an option again. My very first festival was 2 yrs ago and I LOVED IT. I have done several since. But even with only having been to a few I already have a large preference for smaller fests as I am based on the USA west coast and I’m drawn to bass music. I’ve done beyond wonderland and bass canyon but my all time fav was sound haven in Tennessee which was a little more mixed than the “music only” fests and felt more connected and the massive ones.

Hi! I just turned 28 and I have quit a mixed experience. I’ve been flowing for about 10 years now with a focus in hoops and secondary interests in dragon staff, poi and juggling. But I came to hoops first and foremost for health. I had (and do have) chronic back pain from an accident at 17 yro and finding large adult dance hoops at 18 literally helped me relearn to use my body and walk without pain again. As a result, my flow journey has been primarily in isolation with a focus on integrating my unique physical therapy based approach to the practice. I’ve developed small groups of friends over the years but by the time I felt physically bold enough to engage with a larger community the pandemic hit and that became less of an option again. My very first festival was 2 yrs ago and I LOVED IT. I have done several since. But even with only having been to a few I already have a large preference for smaller fests as I am based on the USA west coast and I’m drawn to bass music. I’ve done beyond wonderland and bass canyon but my all time fav was sound haven in Tennessee which was a little more mixed than the “music only” fests and felt more connected and the massive ones.

I got started with poi in middle school, and now I'm still spinning in grad school. It's always been super rewarding to try a move, flail for a bit, recognize what works and what doesn't, keep iterating and practicing for days or weeks or months, and finally getting consistent with the move. I've made a lot of friends through college flow arts clubs. With the extra independence from being in college, I've started going to furry conventions and meeting fellow flow furries, and more recently, going flow retreats. It's been so much fun connecting with and being a part of such a cool and loving community!

19yo from nyc. i started flowing (mainly poi) ~5 years ago at my high school's student-run flow arts club. though theyre currently one of the largest single local flow arts groups i know, theyre relatively isolated from the rest of the festival/circus/fire community in the city, though some still practice flow arts in college clubs. in my experience, most of the gen z poi spinners ive met in the northeastern US who started very young were exposed to poi/circus arts through summer camps (ie JHCTY, mentioned in a different comment) and either continued to practice on their own or tried to start a club at their grade school (which is how my old club was founded ~20 years ago). I know a handful of other young flow artists in the northeast who started spinning other props from color guard and combat sports backgrounds. Over the past few years ive gotten to know people of all ages/backgrounds, ranging from the kids in my club i still keep in touch with, to members of various college clubs in the northeast/continental US via a discord server (and significant turnout to regional events such as wildfire), and local fire/circus artists in new york via weekly events and flowjams (though these arent as organized as places like Chicago's Fullmoon or PNW cities which ive only heard about). within the last year ive also met many members of the growing US diabolo community, which skews towards young, predominately east asian players who practiced in extracirricular schools and college clubs. many diabolo groups in the contintental US were networked under the USADA, which was principally founded by an alum of my high school in their 20s. Additionally, I see a lot of relatively higher traffic social media posts from gen z flow/circus artists in japan and east asia, namely diaboloists and poi jugglers. though the only flow festival ive been to is wildfire, im lucky to have met so many people online/locally. though others feel like younger flow artists arent as involved in the community, there are definitely plenty of us if one looks hard enough. i was initially driven to spin poi from watching alumni from my high school club, but now i actively try to immerse myself in the art in its current state and learn about its history online. in the next year im looking to teach at wildfire, organize renegade firejams, and go to more events such as IJA or flow festivals in the western US, with the hopes of connecting with as many people as possible. i hope this comment helps, ill gladly answer any questions/ further conversation

Hi! I’m 27 and I started learning flow arts about 2 years ago now. Started with juggling working my way to hoops l earlier this year and now poi. I started because my roommate showed me and I had a competitive nature to want to be better lol and then I found how movement was exhilarating for my body. A lot of my friends like to hoop and from there I found someone in the community who taught a hoops class. I took it and we became friends, I actually now live with them and am so excited to continue learning more in depth. There are local flow in the park days in summertime where I live and workshops that include a lot of kids! It’s so exciting to see that so it is out there and getting to people in other ways.

Nice work on the video, great subject matter!

Devil Walking attire and Flowstar are popular products. EDM festivals have fashion and Flowstar. Flowstar easier to bring into a music event. Also, tattoos and TikTok are popular with Gen Z. There are circus schools that kids had classes with props. Millennials and Gen X forming entertainment companies. IJA juggling festivals are popular.

Hi Drex! I'm 28-year-old poi spinner from Lithuania, living in Manchester, UK. I've been spinning for a bit over 1 year. I knew of fire spinning prior to me starting, but only from seeing it online. I always found it fascinating but never really thought of trying it myself. Summer 23 I was attending this small (300people) festival organised in the middle of the woods in Lithuania - Samanos. I call it a professional friends gathering as it was that informal, invites only through word of mouth. At that point, I've never seen any flow arts in person. There was this guy who just randomely started spinning fire during the night. I was amazed and the next day saw him practising and asked to teach me some moves. I had my own poi the next day and been practising ever since. Officially started spinning fire a year later. Now, here is my experience in Lithuania. This summer, 24, I've performer for the first time in the same festival, now in front of 400 people. There were so many who told me it's first time they are seing it live. The audience there is people in their 20-30s. I've never seen anyone perform flow arts in Lithuania with an exception of 2 or 3 professional fire performers who do hired gigs - usually those hired in weddings, but also city or national celebrations. I've been to a few festivals in Lithuania and have never come across any of flow artists. So I think in Lithuania, it's very novel. Older people also can associate it with circus/weirdness/drugs. In the UK, after some digging I found through Facebook events that there is local Manchester based fire jam that happens once a month. While attending I met people where then I was told of a weekly meetup organised in an inside venue. I've been attending weekly ones regularly now and I'd say the attendance varies between 10-30 people. It is a merged session for flow arts and circus skills. I think it tends to be that way in Europe as the scene for either separately is too small. We also just had a free staff workshop organised, for which there was deffo 30+ people in the room. The ages seem to vary, I'd say majority are 23-35. But half of the people attending seem to be earning from their craft doing gigs. So to sum up, you get into this community through word of mouth really... I've also attended Primavera festival in Barselona, and was the only person there (that I saw) with flow props. And people again seemed to be amazed by it. So from my personal experience, and maybe it's just because I tend to go where flow arts are not a norm, but many people that I speak with always say they've never seen it before and asks to try. I always have a spare set for people to play around as well and find a lot of joy when they get some basic moves. I've also read all comments thus far, and saw that some don't share it because they think it would affect their image and create unwanted associations in a workplace or their communities. After doing a few years of therapy, I feel quite the opposite. I feel that doing a novel thing like poi (or any flow arts - all is novel in the social circles I'm part of) it's what makes me unique. It's a great conversation starter, it peaks people's interest and also a great way to meet new people. I have only been praised for doing it and haven't had a negative association applied to myself. Now, I picked poi up because I found it mesmerising and really enjoyed learning a new physical skill - something that brought me the same level of joy as playing or doing sports when I was a kid. I realised I lost that part once I became adult. Now, I've branched into other avenues (fiber whip, fans, and unrelated but tickles the same part of my brain - playing a handpan). The reason I've sticked with it all is also because I realised how much I enjoyed performing. I come from gymnastics and being a cheerleader, so rediscovering performance in a more adult appropriate way was a godsent. And thus flow practice gives me both - the practice and clear progress journey and at the same time performance and feedback loop. Anyways, that's a long answer describing my experience. Thank you for asking the questions, making us think on a bigger picture while also teaching us skills! Let me know if you ever find yourself in Lithuania 🇱🇹

Hi, I'm a Gen Z flow artist! The first time I became interested in flow arts was in the summer of 2022, after seeing a video of an 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' cosplayer using veil poi to imitate waterbending (lol). All of my knowledge of flow arts has come from the internet. I flow alone and don't attend any flow events. If there's a flow community where I live, they must be really good at hiding because I can't find them. I will say I'm pretty reclusive and pretty broke, so I might be an outlier. I find flow arts to be very fun and also meditative. I hope to share it with more people but haven't had much luck. Also if any Canadian flow artists read this, I'd like to know if the lack of flow communities is a widespread thing, or perhaps more regional or based on demographic or something. I'm Albertan to be specific.

I'm on the boarder between millennial and gen z, I run a circus school in UK. From my experience (we run an intro to fire spinning course and open burns) most gen z that come along have mostly trained alone and at home and our courses are the first time they are spinning with groups. It used to be the other way around (had done some with some local or uni groups ) but not most have learnt off youtube and are looking to go further and meet others doing flow arts. I will say gen z are not the majority of the interest we get, I think the whole festival and large groups meets up just didn't really catch on, gen alpha are another story we've had soooo much interest and our most dedicated spinners are by far the 14-22ish age range. I think maybe because most of them have never really been allowed to play around risk before they are thirsty for that kind of play (also very cautious and looking to understand) also the act of performance seems to be very fresh and new to them, even those who do theater and dance groups really struggle with the basics ( but in a very engaged way) I think most are used to fitting in and not used to standing out. The sub cultures we grew up with don't really seen to be a thing in nearly the same way. But there's a want and need to the identity. I don't know hopefully something in the rambling is useful to answering your question.

As a 25yo from the homeland of poi, Aotearoa, I got into the traditional 'millenial' style scene here which centered around events and festival scenes. What I found as a young person in these scenes is they're quite cliquey (that's partly cultrual here too) and basically the older millenials seem very reluctant to see change in the culture and power dynamics of the scene and many practice gatekeeping and discourage people from becoming a part of the community. There seems to be a fear that the 'authentic, underground' vibes will be tainted by the new wave of internet kids and there's a perception that the motivations of young people are more vain and shallow which will 'corrupt' this previously underground subculture. Basically some wooks are scared of fire and flow becoming mainstream because it debases their social capital. Many people who are interested in flow for the nerdy side feel threatened by sexy hoop girls and their mass appeal. Social media has definitely changed peoples perception of what/who spinning is 'for' and the performative aspect of flow seems to be overtaking the hobbyist, community oriented side of just having fun with your friends, which is reflected in the decline of casual spinning events and the rise of more showcase based events for people who are already inducted. Just wanted to provide some of my perspective on the social motivations within the scene as I've seen it!

There’s a growing flow arts /fire scene in LV.. but they are definitely hidden. I have instances where I am finding an event with lat./long. - strategies, literally because it’s what I was given to get there! I feel like people gather locally to keep it filtered. To keep the vibes good, when people get comfortable around others and feel the energy they want to feel from that certain group. A standard when flowing: good vibes, good flow.

We lived through the golden age. It is, however, over. Yes, there are lots of people spinning props but an entropy has spread them from concentrated communities more broadly into the mainstream. I see people with flow props quite often, however, I don't think they're necessarily involved in a community based on it. They're usually some kids who went to a few EDM festivals and bought props from the vendors. And, while there are plenty of places online to buy or learn to spin a prop, Covid put something of an abrupt end to our community events, thus, we didn't have an opportunity to properly teach the next generation how to build or lead such a community. Thus the current generation are a bit aimless, it seems, and is going to have to start over on creating new communities and events.

I‘m 22, and I first picked up poi in a children-vacation-circus-week in Germany when I was 14. Circus for kids became quite widely spread in Germany as far as I heard. Then I found a local community for juggling and flow arts by chance, and got really hooked when visiting a juggling convention with them and getting to know some really good poi spinners.

I am Gen Z (23 years old). I was doing capoeira, and something about a half of our group was also in fireshow 😂 I just saw some photos with my friends spinning fire props in social media, and it was "wow, I want to try it!". When I came to my first lesson in that fireshow team, I didn't even know what poi was, I just wanted to learn everything I could 😊 Now I am already 3 years doing flow arts. We have our local fire festival "Night Of Flame", but it's for those who already can spin, it's a place where you can share your experience with flow artists from other cities. We also have some open performances twice a year, where other people can see what fireshow is. And many of my friends in flow arts started doing it after seeing these open performances

Super interesting to think about! I'm 25 based in UK and first saw flow arts at Noisily. When lockdown hit I was so sad i couldnt work festis so decided to bring the festival to me and pick up a hoop, i started learning from people on youtube but this was rapidly taken over by instagram....4-5 years on I now spin fire with fans, staffs, poi and hoop. For most of this time I have practiced on my own, being the odd weird flowy person at the back of a party with one or two friends I know that picked it up not long after me but this year I have really found more of community through festivals, city firejams and local circus conventions. As someone who works festivals every year and heavily rooted/biased towards independent, grass roots events it is so sad to see non-commercial festivals struggle so much. I think your insight on the main reason kids don't go definitely aligns with what i've heard from other people but i also think the competition by commercial festivals is a huge factor. While it's not my approach to selecting an event to attend, i think alot of people now rely on following a certain idol who they want to see, if they don't recognise a headliner or performer that they follow on social media etc, they aren't likely to go. I personally seek experiences where i can find new inspo and people and i know there are many others who feel simialrly but i'm not sure thats the same for everyone...

I wish poi and other flow skills had been around when I was younger as an alternative to racquet sports. I only knew about juggling in the 90s. Hula hooping was difficult, and then I came across a large heavy hoop on an organic farm which was easy to use. Then bought my own in a class which was smaller and lighter to use but still larger and heavier than children's toys. There is someone poi spinning in Ibiza in the film Kevin And Perry At Large.

24 years old poi spinner from Chile here. I started spinning 3 years ago, as one of my roommates had a pair of pois and had traveled across South America backpacking and performing at stoplights. He thaught me a couple tricks and then I kept learning by myself and through online content like your channel. At least in Latinamerica, I'd say that it is very common to see these kind of artists that travel across different countries and earn money by juggling, spinning, and much more at stoplights. It's something you'll see everyday and everywhere, so these arts are present on a daily basis for people who live here (although they might not necesarily engage with it), and artists are usually well received and wellcomed at every community they stop by. You'll also see a lot of juggling and flow arts at underground techno raves and medieval "festivals". The circus scene is also very present in Chile and S.A., specially small, community-based circus "companies". From what I know, flow arts festivals are not to be found at all in my country, but there are weekly/monthly encounters at public places organized on social media (mainly at the capital, Santiago, so very community-based). You will see juggling and circus festivals, but they're usually expensive and difficult to access to (of course with exceptions) because of prices, geography, and lack of good, affordable connections. This is why I reconn that, at least in this part of the world, flow arts (and juggling) are mainly associated with street-culture, the small circus scene, and underground techno parties. The flowarts-networks you can find are usually (if not only) community/city/region-based and are kept through social media (Instagram in this case, which is very popular in Chile). Last year I did an exchange semester in Germany (Uni-Leipzig) and the universityt offered juggling and flowarts lessons, I was amazed by this because in Chile this cultural scene is not that institutionalized. I hope this can be usefull :)

I am 68..been making poi, and teaching people for 25 years🎊 I recently sold poi to my youngest spinner, he was 3 and a half 😊 I also am teaching people my own age and all ages in between. South Africa still spinning.!

If you go to furry conventions, there are always people doing flow arts during the raves. I definitely recommend checking them out, especially if you manage to sneak in for free ;)

🤔 Over-saturated flow arts event market?

Big part is society is recovering from this lefty woke ideological devastation and returning to a more conservative and normal world view. The hedonism of the 2000s and 2010s is over, people don't want to get outed as a festival degenerate. I don't spin poi around people in public, because many people make assumptions about you over this stuff. Even the people in my private life largely regard it as a silly novelty waste of time or outright stupid, and they also make insinuations about everything from sexuality to drug use as it pertains to flow arts. I would never let my boss see me do this stuff, for example. Might as well offer him a tab of acid and a Skrillex mixtape as far as how you will be perceived. Be aware that the main thing most books are judged by IS the cover, whether that is right or not.

I have asked myself similar questions about the flow art community. I am 23 my first time viewing poi as a prop was in a highschool performance, where local area has lots of Islander heritage. I started to poi shortly after attending my first music event. I have a few local flow art friends, one of whom helps hold “flow jam” evening once a week as often as possible. I have now signed up to attend a silk fan class in January and am so excited. Wanting to continue to step into my flow 😇

Zillenial here. IMO People are just becoming more independent. Weakening communities as cities become more popular and in some cases necessary places to live, events like COVID, social media allowing other sources of interaction are all forcing us to be okay with and taking pride in ourselves (or go crazy otherwise). While it will never completely go away as a (I hope) artistic expression, the expression doesn't need to be shown. People are becoming more comfortable with themselves and that being enough. More and more seeming like an individual thing or small group. Why post if you are fulfilled by what you already have? Why spend hundreds, if not thousands to attend events that only end up making you feel worse? 95% of my practice and the folks I know who spin are on their own. We get together to hang out because we want to hang out, not because we want to flow together. If it turns into a flow hangout or a backtard burn, great. We have potlucks, game nights, etc and if flow doesnt happen to fit in, no biggie, we'll just keep on keeping on by ourselves with it. The reason it isn't visible might just be because... it isn't and isn't intended to be?