Alien Poi Workshops: Woodley Park
Sunday August 13th, 2010
Alien Poi Workshops usually cost between $30 to €35 (~$42) for each workshop, depending on where in the world I'm teaching.
That said, my ideal vision is to move towards a sliding-scale, or even totally donation-based payment system. I'd love to be able to continue to pay rent and keep traveling to spread the Flow Arts love and knowledge this way, wile offering people a chance to contribute from within their own financial means.
Since I have new workshop material I'd like to further refine, I'm using it as an opportunity to test donation-based workshops as well. Suggested donation is $15 to $20 dollars per class. If you feel like it was worth more and you can afford it, give more. If you feel it was worth more, but can only afford less, that's fine too: you can give by being a positive part of the group experience! Give what you can and take what you need.(If anyone wants to bring snacks and drinks that would be awesome!)
Directions to the Workshops
- Woodley Park
- 6100 Woodley Ave
- Van Nuys, Ca 91406
- Take all routes to the 405 north.
- Exit Burbank Blvd - go Left (west).
- Go to the first light - WOODLEY AVE - go Right (north).
- Go 0.6 miles and turn Right into the SECOND DRIVEWAY.
The Schedule looks like this:
Pre-Workshop Spin Jam
Time: 11:30am - 12:00 pm
Experience Level: All
Prepare to become a human spirograph!
Show up, warm up, and free-style spin jam with other participants. I'll be available to answer poi questions.
Poi Geometry
Building blocks for linear moves & flowers
Time: 12:00pm - 1:30 pm
Experience Level: Intermediate to Advanced
Prepare to become a human spirograph!
This class is a different approach to learning linear moves, flowers, and poi geometry in general. If we are going to paint beautiful geometric pictures with poi, first we learn the brushstrokes. Instead of being overwhelmed by learning difficult tricks, we will focus on mastering the building blocks that the tricks are made out of (the difference between being gifted a fish or discovering how to catch fish).
Empowered by these techniques and new understanding, you will be able to more methodically approach flowers & linear moves wile keeping clean planes, discover novel transitions, and eventually create your own geometric moves.
Poi-Fu
Foundation Body Mechanics & Forms for Poi
Time: 1:45pm - 3:15 pm
Experience Level: All
Regardless of whether we are beginners or advanced spinners, when playing at the edge of our technical ability, there is a tendency to plant our feet, lock up our body, and put all of our focus into what our hands are doing with the poi.
This workshop gives you the forms and understanding you need to unlock your body and increase your freedom of movement. It will teach you economy of motion and how to drive the poi with your body movement rather than brute force, all wile keeping your planes clean.
You'll develop the tools you need to easily take that trick or pattern you're learning, integrated it into your flow, and move your body freely with it.
Partner Poi
Sharing time and Space with poi partners
Time: 3:45pm - 5:15 pm
Experience Level: All
What is even more fun than spinning poi? Spinning poi with a partner!
In this workshop, we will learn how to share specific timing modes with our partners, to make beautiful visual patterns. Then we will learn to share space and interlocking poi patterns with a partner.
Come ready to collaborate with other participants. Bring a friend if you like!
Check out some of my videos
Poi Spinning with friends
- Poi in Paradise (with Nick Woolsey, Burning dan, & Baz)
- Nick's footage of me in Costa Rico airport
- Encyclo-Poi-dia 2 DVD trailer
- Fire Dance Expo 2009, Nevisoul & Alien Jon
- My video blog featuring an antispin-weave fountain (with Slow-Mo)
Video class notes from other workshops
Visit me at alienjon.com
About Alien Jon
I'm known around the world as a playful, yet thorough, teacher of Flow Arts. Equal parts Flow artist and Flow scientist, I love innovative ideas and the spark of creativity: in my students, myself, and my performance art.
I got my start spinning things in early childhood, starting with myself, and then expanding to external objects found around the house and in the woods of Maine.
In 1995 I made the life-changing decision to picked up my first pair of flower-sticks (juggling sticks), and thus I officially entered the world of object manipulation. Then in 1999, founded on my love of flower-sticks, I discovered glow-sticking and poi spinning at electronic music events in Colorado.
Drawing inspiration from T'ai Ji and Aikido, other object manipulation quickly followed including contact staff & double staff, contact juggling, and diabolo, which led to the joys of multi-prop cross-pollination. These skills have been melded with a love of music and dance, including liquid, illusional, and funk styles.
During my diverse exploration of the kinetic Flow Arts, poi established it's place as a favorite. Now I teaches poi classes, workshops, and retreats all over the world.
Some teaching highlights:
- Double Rainbow Ranch (2004)
- Boulder Circus Center (2004)
- 1st Annual Boulder Juggling Festival (2004)
- Shepherd Valley Waldorf School (2004)
- SphereCamp East and SphereCamp Texas (2006 - 2010)
- Domba & Mystic Jewell dance Studios (2005 - 2007)
- Fall Wildfire (2007)
- Clearwater Festival (2007 & 2008)
- Florida State University (2008)
- Renaissance Festivals around the USA (2004 - 2008)
- Open Air Circus (2007 & 2008)
- Fire Drums (2008 - 2010)
- Playpoi.com UK workshop tour (2009)
- Feuershow.de German workshop tour (2009)
- EJC 2009 (Spain)
- Cortona Week 2009 (Italy)
- Playpoi.com poi retreats w/ Nick Woolsey, in Costa Rica, Bali, Switzerland, and Italy (2009-2010)
- Flow Temple classes (2009 & 2010)
- Fire Groove workshops (2010)