Srikanta, the only fire spinner I know who performed for Cirque Du Soleil, is continuing to make instructional videos, this one is on under-the-legs.
We'll continue to post his videos on playpoi because he's awesome and we like him! If you also think he's awesome you may want to check out his upcoming poi retreat in Costa Rica.
It's going to be an exciting spring in Costa Rica!
Feb 5th-18th we're offering two weeks of poi retreats with Rob Thorburn as our guest poi teacher and Banyan as our yoga teacher.
March 4th-10th we're offering our first ever beginner poi retreats with Alien Jon as guest poi teacher and Banyan once again for yoga.
March 11th-17th we're partnering with Paul Hughs and Thom Thumb to offer our first ever Flow Empowerment Retreat! If you see poi and flow arts as a way to enter states of bliss, then this may be the retreat for you!
If you can't make those dates, don't worry! Zan and Aurora are offering their own poi retreats from January 22nd-Feb 4th, and Srikanta is offering retreats in both poi and staff from Feb 19th-March 3rd. For details on all these events, visit the La Escuela Del Sol website.
To top it all off, our beloved yoga teacher, Banyan, is offering a week-long yoga retreat March 17th-24th. So if you've come to love yoga as much as poi, this is your chance to go deeper.
We're equally excited to announce Fundtheflowarts.org. This is an exciting project initiated by Sean and Prisna at Flowtoys.com, Khan Wong, and other Flow artists to create a non-profit organization to support the development and spread of the flow arts around the world.
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!
Another thing that breaks my heart in Bali each year is the plastic problem. 100 years ago Bali had not even entered the industrial revolution, so until recently Bali had no waste management problem because they hardly had anything inorganic to throw away. I.e. they wrapped food in banana leaves and they'd throw the banana leaves onto the ground. This was fine as banana leaves are part of the local ecosystem.
Bali has a homeless dog problem. Every year it's one of the things that makes me a bit sad. It's also a bit sketchy because they form packs at night. BAWA is one of the organizations working to help. They capture, neuter, cure them of worms and other diseases, and find them homes.
Every year my friend Andrea organizes the amazing SPARK Circus project in Thailand. 15-25 flow-arts volunteers gather to bring the awesomeness of flow arts and circus to disadvantaged children, especially those living in the refugee camps in the north. These camps are for people who have fled the current Burmese military government, and their lives are not easy. SPARK makes sure they at least have some games and toys to play with, along with helping them in many other ways. We were able to give them $400USD to help buy clown noses (among other things).
I write from a plane to Toronto, exhausted, inspired, and happy. Alien Jon (contender for world's greatest poi artist), Burning Dan and Teafaerie from flowtemple.org, and Baz just visited me in Costa Rica for 2 weeks. It was great. They were helper elves for the last Costa Rica poi retreat, and then we spent a week shooting photos and videos, playing poi everywhere, and sharing our visions of the future of poi and the flow arts.
Check out this inspiring video of a Chinese dance performance from the opening ceremonies at the Beijing Olympics. It would be mind-blowing even if you didn't know that all the women are deaf (!). Wouldn't it be great to do something on this caliber, except with poi and fire?
Another thing that breaks my heart in Bali each year is the plastic problem. 100 years ago Bali had not even entered the industrial revolution, so until recently Bali had no waste management problem because they hardly had anything inorganic to throw away. I.e. they wrapped food in banana leaves and they'd throw the banana leaves onto the ground. This was fine as banana leaves are part of the local ecosystem.
Every year my friend Andrea organizes the amazing 
