How long should my poi be?

Poi tethers and more specifically poi tether length is something every poi spinner must figure out for their unique needs and style. For jugglers and contact spinners, poi leash length may be quite long whereas for tech spinners or people playing inversions poi leashes may be quite short. I'm going to try and break down the best methods for figuring out how long should poi tethers be and in the process hopefully give people a starting point on figuring out the answer to that age-old question: how long should my poi be?
In general you want to start off with a length of roughly that of your arm--essentially from your first thumb joint up to the crease of your shoulder. This is long enough that tosses and contact work should still be very doable and short enough that things like buzzsaws are still doable.
If you like poi juggling or contact poi, you should also give some thought to longer tethers as they give you a bigger target for catching your tosses as well as more momentum for your contact tricks.
For people who prefer inside tricks like lovelacing, inversions, or toroids, a length from thumb joint to mid-biceps or even elbow is a safe bet.
Bottom line: start out with your poi at arm's length and see what tricks you want to play with. Then switch up your poi length to suit your style as it evolves!
New to poi? Check out my 9-video beginner series: • Beginner Poi Tutorial ...
Use the promo code "drexfact0r" for a discount on your order from Flowtoys at Flowtoys at flowtoys.com
or LanternSmith
lanternsmith.co...
or Ultrapoi
ultrapoi.com?aff=drexfact0r
or Emazing Lights
www.emazingligh...
Check out my 1-minute tutorials for bit-sized snippets of poi spinning knowledge: • 1-Minute Poi Spinning ...
Learn how to learn poi in my 5-part series on linear extensions: • Poi Spinning Tutorial:...
Be sure to follow me on Instagram for the latest cutting edge tricks I'm working on: / drexfactor
Big thanks to the Friends of the Channel:
Dark Monk: dark-monk.com
Emazing Lights: emazinglights.com
Flowtoys: flowtoys.com
Spinballs: spinballspoi.com
Ultrapoi: ultrapoi.com
Support these videos on Patreon: / drexfactorpoi
A huge thank you to this month's Flow Supporters:
Lane Lillquist
Ben Reynolds
Anonymous
Andrew Hammond
Julian Campolo
Ultrapoi
Knut L
Matt Schmidt
Darren Russell
EJ Frost
Myles McNamara
notan3xit
behroze choudary
Kyle Beacham
Alexis Krohn
Dominic Lamatrice
Terry
Laura Conner
Fikret Manoglu
Richard McKimm
Michael LaHood
FlowFests
Kelly King
Dennis Dyall Wallin
Jonathan Maltz
IReverend Brainskan
Jaquob Harrison-Allen
Jimi Dennison
Kelli Mack
Jeremiah Johnson
Antonio Zyx
Wes Baggett
Anthony Laney
Scott Atherton
Mark Brailsford
Whitney Adrenaline
Erin Cunningham
Jonathan Benozio
Andrew Joyce
Elisira Auchter
Elley Jimenez
Jason Wilson
Honza Zeman
Matthew Riordan
Bryce Schubert
Madeleline Clarke
Brian Huddleston
Lisa Ann Caparra

[@foxyroxy7421]

Very informative thanks drex

[@AliasWalen]

Very helpful as always !

[@7nmw]

excellent video bro, thank you

[@littleBEAR19]

Great vid, when you say tethers, do you mean the length of the poi for time to tip or just the length of the cord, and not the head and Knob? The graphic shows tip to tip but I want to be sure.

[@Kaiasky]

I usually spin shorter poi, but one night I tried somebody's massive sock poi and it felt so cool just having these massive circles whirling around my head.

[@earthianmike]

@1:26 "and EVEN myself for a time" you're very full of something Drex...

[@djddm8760]

You definitely have most control at ellbowpich-length. Too long and you loose control because of being geometrical unable to do what you want. Shorter ones will create physical problems, when it comes to angular momentum. That said people who use longer poi tend to priorities their emotions higher than poi and often also using terrible spongy tethers like the ones, that come with podpoi

[@Nemaruru]

DJDDM what on earth, ' people who use longer poi tend to prioritize their emotions higher poi' - what the he'll kind of dumb generalization is that? sounds like you have a bias for shorter poi, maybe because you struggle with longer ones? hahaha

[@hellinahandbasket2]

How did emotions get into this?

[@djddm8760]

I am no longer the person who originally wrote this but I can try reframing what my past self ment. The standpoint above comes from a perspective of having your poi as an extension to your arms and integrate it into dancing. The longer your poi are, the less moves you can make. A prime example for this is a butterfly on the inner side of your arms. If your poi are longer then your ellbows the heads will not be able to pass the hole between your upper arms. From this perspective, it becomes a reasonable statement that if one limits oneself, by using longer poi, to less possibilities one does not want to achieve the same degree of freedom in movement as someone with longer poi. Especially since the playstile of my past self consisted of 90% moves which are unable to do with longer poi then ellbow length. The interpretation my past self did then is that people who limit themselves like explained above are just into poi for some quick and dirty emotions instead of the struggle to master poi as an artform. In that time anything longer then ellbow length were on the same level as flag poi. ( Which I think all agree upon limit oneself quite strong.) Currently I play mini contact meteor cause half a year ago I questioned myself if the above definition of poi can be really seen that absolute. This allowed me to get more freedom, such that I were able to expand my horizon. Currently if I would have to define Poi, I would define it as taking momentum from music and expanding it into movement. However this time I am aware that this definition is only valid for what I am doing when I say that I am playing Poi, since that is all I can ever experience. If you have read all of this I would like to thank you and ask for apologise for my past self.

[@hellinahandbasket2]

DJDDM Your past self is forgiven. I, too, am a different self than I was 2 years ago (or 10 years ago, or 20 years ago...). I approached poi for the freedom of movement; the dance, as it were. The joy and sheer elation of the spin and the happiness it gives to those who happen to catch me at it; in my yard, in the park, wherever I happen to be. I’m not trying to master the art, I’m out here for a good time, exercise, mental stimulation and camaraderie. My first poi were flag poi and they are insanely long but quite showy and make a pleasant sound in the wind. I’m certainly limited in what I can do with them but they have their place. Now I’m working with pod poi; heavier, shorter, more versatile (and less forgiving). A whole different animal. I admire the masters and try to emulate the movements I am drawn to but I’m not going for perfection. That, I’ll leave to others.

[@djddm8760]

I always wondered why people would want to watch poi. I get the fire part of it, but I think one becomes quite quickly used to it. ( Just like fireworks are more exciting to you, when you were a kid.) I find watching poi honestly quite boring as long as I can't get new information for my own poi out of it. But that's probably the same for me with most arts. The only poi piece I find asthetic is drex partner poi and ballet video. Probably because it is also the thing I always try to combine.

[@anunknowndude]

I was so disappointed when I discovered juggling poi was a thing haha, it's so lame to me

[@nohandlepls]

Ik this is a kinda old comment but i have so much to say about this. Theres juggling for almost all props. You may see it as lame but it takes more skill to juggle poi then it does to spin them. Its honestly more impressive. However i dont see any way to spin props as lame, from body tracers to jugglers, theres beauty in all forms of expression.

[@anunknowndude]

@@nohandlepls I'm just saying it as a juggler myself hehe... I prefer just nice poi figures in a well structured routine.thats just me though

[@bryanbryan6108]

I agree with you. I like to dance and juggling is such a technical thing. Poi looks much more visually appealing when the poi are spun through various patterns to create geometry, while the person dances and feels the music. Juggling is more like "hey look how skilled I am at throwing and catching objects while I stand perfectly still like a column. I'm not downing juggling or denying the skill that is required, it just doesn't suit my taste.