Montezuma, Costa Rica | January 19th - 31st, 2013

We are returning to Costa Rica to offer another round of poi and yoga retreats with La Escuela Del Sol! Join us for thirteen days of intermediate/advanced poi retreat yumminess with Nick Woolsey as the poi teacher, and Banyan as our yoga teacher. Retreats are limited to 20 participants so best to register early if you want a spot.

Playpoi.com retreat promo ~ Costa Rica from LucidTV on Vimeo.

The Festa del Fuoco di Stromboli is a celebration of the element of fire and the many ways we creatively interact with it as human beings. It draws fire performers, musicians and artists from around the world. It takes place September 1-15 on the island of Stromboli in Sicily. The first week there are amazing performances every night and the second week there will be many workshops, including a week long poi intensive with Thom Thumb!

Come join us August 10-12 near Austin, TX for FLOWSTORM! I will be teaching along with Ronan Mcglouglin, Chris Rovo, Sage, and many other amazing spinners. FlowStorm will be a cross-pollinating of the teachings of world renowned flow artists with the wisdom of ancient traditions such as martial arts, as well as world changing ideas such as Open Source Ecology and Permaculture. Together we can empower sustainable flow communities and training spaces and show the world that these arts are more than showing off, they are a trans formative way of life! Find out more at http://www.flowstorm.info

My friend Annika is involved with an awesome social circus project called The Rickshaw Circus, part of The Afghan Mobile Mini circus for Children (MMCC). The general aim is to support circus arts as a therapeutic tool and to work with children and youth affected by war, natural disasters and other forms of trauma. They teach juggling, poi spinning, clowning, acrobatics, contact juggling, dancing and theatre, next to other educational programs. The MMCC has worked successfully for over ten years now in Afghanistan, but they are facing major problems in their funding now, as the troops pull out of Afghanistan. That's where we come in! Want to join us in supporting them? If so, visit their website to learn more and go to their Indiegogo campaign to offer them some support!

For those coming to the EJC: We're teaming up with Sam of poifriends.com to offer the entire beginner series as an 18 station "golf course." Each station will teach a simple move or a small group of skills. We'll run the course for 5 days. Each day people can start where they finished the day before.

The station will run from 4-5pm each day from Monday to Thursday. We need at least 18 volunteers each day. The top priority is people who can commit to all 5 days. We would love to have two or more teachers at each station, so there is room for many more teachers than that. If we get enough volunteers we can keep the course open longer.

If you're coming to the EJC and you like teaching poi, reply to this email now! We'll be easy to find at the EJC. Just look for the sign-up sheet at the workshop schedule or visit the Feuershow.de booth.

Sam has created a discussion thread on poiandfriends.com. That will be a good place to work out some details.

More details will be posted here soon. If you want to help, contact us to let us know.

Use Spin to This to find and share music to spin to - with over a thousand spinners from around the world!

Listen on Youtube for the entire collection of shares and playlists made from music shared by the community, and hop on over to Facebook to share your favorite tracks. So choose a playlist, turn on the shuffle, and spin to this!

Fundtheflowarts.org is an exciting project initiated by Sean and Prisna at Flowtoys.com, Khan Wong, and other Flow artists.

It's a non-profit organization to support the development and spread of the flow arts around the world!

We had a great third year in Bali! Check out this album for a peek!

Thanks to Shin and Alistair for their beautiful photos.

Granby, Colorado, USA | July 17 - 21

Colorado's got it going on, and up! This mile high flow arts conference will include a range of two-hour in-depth workshops led by master instructors from the hoop and poi community and guided lab workshops with lab instruction on a variety of spin disciplines.

It's worth the travel - check out the growing instructor list (including Alien Jon), and get ready for some seriously beautiful scenery! For details, visit thespinsummit.com.

My friends Illzao and Banyan just made a trip to Sumatra, to perform a circus show for children, disabled groups, and retirement communities. Not much poi but lots of love and smiles and inspiration!

Alberta, Canada | June 17 - 19

This June in Alberta, Canada, join instructors and enthusiasts from around Canada, the states, and the world for three days of workshops, dance parties, and fun!

Hooping with SaFire and Babz
Poi with G, Alien Jon, Thom Thumb, and Jay Hale
Staff with Joey Vedres
Sabres/Swords with Daniel Tamagi
Dart with Ninja
Aerial hoop and silks with Spark
Belly dance with Laura West
Yoga with Spark

For details and registration, visit the SPIN OUT website!

We've wrapped up our third annual Swiss Poi Retreat at the Balmeggberg! It was great fun -- spinning, sauna, and yummy organic food.

Check out our Swiss Poi Retreats album on Flickr for some beautiful photos, and check out our vlog from a day of training!

Include #playpoi or #playingpoi in the text of your message to shout out to other playpoi community members.

Listen to PlayPoiHere for updates from all around the world.  Tweet when you're going out for a spin, to arrange a meet-up, or to see what's happening.

Follow for tons of opportunities to play poi :)

Nick, G, and Pali trekked to Singapore for a super secret project with the illustrious Karen. See the silliness, and get a behind-the-scenes look at what we've got in store.